Environmental Science Newsworthy Project

 

An environmental issue is referenced up to 20 times in every edition of every newspaper everyday in the United States. These articles may be about obvious environmental issues such as water quality, pollution, plate tectonics, volcanic eruptions or changing weather patterns. Many of the articles you will encounter have political and social implications as well.

 

Read two articles from the newspaper or online newspaper.

Article must be at least 3 paragraphs long.

Article must be about something dealing with environmental science. E.g. Bill to Ban Phosphates Spurs Duel, Tree Diseases Muddy Fall’s Brilliant Colors (These all appeared in the Westchester section of the NYTimes on Sunday, Oct. 19th, 2008

Cut out the article and glue or tape it to a piece of notebook paper.

Label the article with the following information

a. Name of newspaper or publication (URL if it’s a website)

b. Title of article

c. Date of article

d. Author

Some suggested sources and websites:

Time Magazine, Natural History, Discover

http://www.worldscientist.com/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032493/

http://topics.nytimes.com (pick environment as a category)

New York Times Electronic Edition

To log on from home or school:

http://classroom.nytimes.com

User Name: 600227102

Password: 600227102

2. For each article include the following:

Bibliographic information (see above)

What is the author’s purpose in writing this article?

In four sentences, summarize the article.

Locate a minimum of three words that you needed to define. Highlight the sentence they appear in and write their definitions.

What perspective does the author have regarding the subject matter?

What is your reaction to the article?

3. Choose one of your articles and complete one of the activities.

List of Possible Activities

Draw a cartoon about the article.

Make a poster using the information in the article. You may glue the article to the poster.

Write an email to a friend telling them about what you learned from the article

Make a pop-up card about the article.

Create a PowerPoint presentation about the article. Maximum 6 slides. Email the PowerPoint to me or print it out, six slides per page.

Write a letter to the editor about the article. State a question or an opinion about the article. Use correct letter format

Write a letter to the author taking a different perspective

You are a T.V. reporter. Write a script for the article you read.

Assume the identity of a person in the article. Write a journal entry reflecting your ideas, values and daily life.

Draw a picture to illustrate the article. Make sure the main idea is displayed in the illustration.

Write a campaign speech supporting or rejecting the ideas of the author.

If you have another idea, see me for approval before you begin!

SCORING GUIDE

 

 

Element

Total Points

Your Score

Appropriateness of articles

20

Complete (all elements present)

40

Appearance

10

Creativity

30

 

Total Points ________

 

Due Date: ___________________

Note: There will be a deduction of 5 points for each day the project is late. Don’t lose points!

 

 

 

 

 

Name ____________________________________