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The Anthropocene: Human Impact on the Environment

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Illustration of a cross-section of a land area

Topic

  • Environmental Science
  • Human Population & Impacts
  • Natural Resources
  • Earth Science
  • Geology

Resource Type

  • Interactive Media
  • Click & Learn

Level

High School — GeneralHigh School — AP/IBCollege
Saved By
92 Users
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Description

This interactive module explores key human impacts on the environment and how they have affected Earth’s landscape, ocean, atmosphere, and biodiversity.

Human activities are reshaping our planet in profound ways. The changes that have occurred in the last 50 to 200 years have led scientists to propose a new geologic epoch, called the Anthropocene. In this Click & Learn, students explore data on how human population growth, air pollution, agriculture, mining, water use, and other human activities have impacted the environment and will affect the fossil record.

The accompanying “Student Handout” guides students’ exploration. The “Educator Guide” contains several suggestions for implementing this Click & Learn in class, as well as discussion questions and additional background information.

The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.

The “Poster” PDF provides an accessible version of the content in this Click & Learn.

Student Learning Targets

  • Describe how different human impacts affect the ecosystem.
  • Interpret and summarize data presented in graphs showing human impacts on the ecosystem.
  • Describe specific types of evidence that can be used to determine whether humans are changing their local environment.
  • Predict how different impacts will change over the next 100 years based on the information and data provided.

Estimated Time

One to two 50-minute class periods.

Key Terms

atmosphere, biodiversity, biosphere, coastal habitat, farming, geologic record, invasive species, mining, ocean, water use

Terms of Use

The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.

Accessibility Level (WCAG compliance)

PDF files partially meet criteria.

Version History

Date Published 01.06.15
Date Updated 09.03.21

NGSS (2013)

HS-ESS2.A, HS-ESS3.A, HS-ESS3.B, HS-ESS3.D

AP Biology (2019)

ENE-1.N, SYI-3.F, SYI-2.B, SYI-3.G, EVO-3.H; SP6

IB Biology (2016)

C.2, C.3

AP Environmental Science (2020)

Topic(s): 5.17, 8.2, 8.4, 9.10
Learning Objectives & Practices: STB-1.G, STB-3.B, STB-3.E, EIN-4.C, SP5, SP7

IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)

1.3, 2.3, 2.5, 3.2, 4.1

Vision and Change (2009)

CC5

Materials

Resource Google Folder (Link)
Educator Guide (PDF) 387 KB
Student Handout (PDF) 1 MB
Poster (PDF) 7 MB
Desktop App - macOS 10.10 or later, 64-bit (ZIP) 55 MB
Desktop App - Windows 7 or later, 64-bit (ZIP) 55 MB

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