Y9 Permaculture: Environmental Science

Ecosystems consist of communities of interdependent organisms and abiotic components of the environment; matter and energy flow through these systems (ACSSU176) 


​Activity: print worksheet

• Research a current world event

​         Zika virus

• Research an event close to home

​        Chicken mites:
        Cause, symptoms, cure
        As a group: Decide on a practical
            solution to apply to attempt to
            resolve the problem.  
        Apply the solution, taking before and
​            after footage, note taking, etc.

​Watch the film: “Earth 2050” https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=yFr-OocOb7Y

• Distillation: Make ethanol:
  Ginger beer

        sugar + Yeast --> ethanol

• Biofuels: 
  

​​Theory notes 
http://biofuel.org.uk/biofuels-for-kids.html
How ethanol is made (4 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59R-NqykoXs
Making ethanol at home
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txm7eu8KxVI

EFFICIENCY

• RESEARCH efficiency between making ethanol using corn and making ethanol using sugar.  Why is efficiency important?
• (21 min in) Explore www.shell.com  website
  Take notes on how to drive a car more efficiently
• Platooning (25 min in): Research why animals and bicycle riders fly/run/ride in packs close together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBZq5GMuBAc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKSZtbSEmwg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JuzuQjc5bg

• SEARCHING FOR UTOPIA (29 min in)
  Compare the city of Masdar to the "tiny home movement" taking the globe by storm!

​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYhtKE-oEEM
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR8S59bL6AE​
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTPsASRO7WA
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgBpyNsS-jU

Cycles & Recycling

Cycles:
Explore the cycles of Nitrogen, Carbon, Water, Phosphorus, and Potassium. 

• Experiment with growing plants using different levels of P, K, N and understand what effect these elements have on plant health

Global systems

Global systems, including the carbon cycle, rely on interactions involving the biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere (ACSSU189)

• ​Explore the issue of global warming and what affect this will have on future food security.
• Watch the film: “Overpopulation: The future of our planet” https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Hn5sEipg5tc

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More stuff...

Multi-cellular organisms rely on coordinated and interdependent internal systems to respond to changes to their environment (ACSSU175) 
   

• Experiment with hormones in plant cuttings.  
• Experiment with plants tropics (geotropism, hydrotropism, phototropism)

The transmission of heritable characteristics from one generation to the next involves DNA and genes (ACSSU184)

• Explore plant sexual and asexual reproduction techniques
• Investigate GM crops and Monsanto Seeds research. 
  
• ​Discuss the ethics involved in knowing where our food comes from.
• Watch this film on GMO and seeds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biQU9RnnGoM