Ned Tillman has written two evidence-based books that integrate life science, environmental science, earth science, and history. They are published by The Chesapeake Book Company and available from www.amazon.com and the National Book Network.
The Chesapeake Watershed: A Sense of Place and a Call to Action
Saving the Places We Love: Paths to Environmental Stewardship
The books provide context and evidence on ecosystem dynamics, human impacts on natural systems, energy sources and options, behavior change, and the importance of individual initiative. They are useful as a reliable print source for: introducing topics, putting problems into a broader context, student research, citing evidence, constructing arguments, integration of charts, maps, and graphics with text, etc. They are being used from 4th grade through college level courses.
Here are a few examples of where they support Next Generational Science Standards (http://www.nextgenscience.org/) at different grade levels.
| HS-ESS3-4. | Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of data on the impacts of human activities could include the quantities and types of pollutants released, changes to biomass and species diversity, or areal changes in land surface use (such as for urban development, agriculture and livestock, or surface mining). Examples for limiting future impacts could range from local efforts (such as reducing, reusing, and recycling resources) to large-scale geoengineering design solutions (such as altering global temperatures by making large changes to the atmosphere or ocean).] |
| MS-LS2-4. | Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on recognizing patterns in data and making warranted inferences about changes in populations, and on evaluating empirical evidence supporting arguments about changes to ecosystems.] |
| 4-ESS3-1. | Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment. [Clarification Statement: Examples of renewable energy resources could include wind energy, water behind dams, and sunlight; non-renewable energy resources are fossil fuels and fissile materials. Examples of environmental effects could include loss of habitat due to dams, loss of habitat due to surface mining, and air pollution from burning of fossil fuels.] |
Saving The Places 