High School

What could we do?

Students may understand this concept better if they are provided with an opportunity to visit a local natural area and see examples of human impacts, both direct and indirect. Take them on a hiking or driving tour and ask them to list all of the human impacts that they observe, categorizing each as harmful, beneficial or neutral. Conduct a discussion about the observations and categorizations. Do all of the students interpret these impacts the same way? Did they all notice the same impacts? Did they include invasive species as an impact? Many invasive species are the result of human actions. What do they feel are the most important impacts? What could be done to monitor and minimize these impacts? What types of issues would need to be addressed in doing so? In the classroom, have the students develop a method to make the most reduction in the human impact with the least amount of monitoring needed. Test it, if possible.

Where could we go?

Illinois state parks, city parks, national wildlife refuges, forest preserve district sites, nature centers, conservation district sites, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sites and other locations