Science Barge
Green Education Program Activity Choices
Elementary Grades 1-2 **(All NEW for FALL 2012!)**
Scope and Sequence Standards
Grade One
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Interactions between living things and their environment
Food Production and Energy for Life
Diversity and Adaptation
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Animals and Plants in Their Environment
Interactions of Air, Water and Land
Grade Two
Plant Animal Interactions: Scavenger Hunt & Garden Friend or Foe
Game **New program for Fall 2012**
 Recommended for 90 Minute program (30 minute tour of barge with
scavenger hunt + 30 minute bee role play + 30 minute garden game
activity)
 During their tour, students will take clues from their tour guides to fill in
their coloring sheets about plant-animal interactions. Examples will
include: ladybugs as predators, worms as decomposers, caterpillars eating
crop leaves, and bees as pollinators. After the tour, students will have an
opportunity to share their findings and color in their discoveries.
 Students will learn how honeybees are so important, and do a roleplay to
discover the many “hats” a worker bee wears in her lifetime and how
queen bees, worker bees, and drones all differ. Then we’ll all do a
honeybee DANCE to learn how they communicate to each other in the
hive.
 Students will play as 3 teams, trying to create the best organic garden to
help their crops grow by selecting commonly found organisms from
pictures on a game board. Students will quickly learn that some are
beneficial to the garden (ladybug, dragonfly, worm); some are neutral
(spittle bug, millipede); and some are detrimental (vine weevil, cabbage
moth caterpillar, rabbit).
Food/Botany/Planting: Plant Part Chart, Basil Planting, and Food for
Life Game **Newly offered for 1-2 graders for Fall 2012**
 Recommended for 90 Minute program (30 minute tour of barge + 30
minute planting activity + 30 minute Food for Life Game)
 Students will discover that they EAT examples of each plant part by
assembling a plant part chart.

Students will get the opportunity to become urban farmers by growing
their own hydroponic basil that they will care for at home or at school.
 Students will learn to appreciate the importance of a varied and balanced
diet by playing a Food for Life. First students will learn that different
types of crops/food give different vitamins and nutrients that will help you
become smarter, faster, or have better endurance. Then teams will have
to assemble their three different dinner plates using different fruits and
vegetable combinations: one for sprinter; one for a doctor; and one for an
astronaut.
Biodiversity: Habitat Relay & Food Web Twister **Newly offered for
Fall 2012**
 Recommended as a 90 minute program (30 minute tour of barge + 60
minute biodiversity activities)
 Students will construct their own Food Chains using predators, prey
animals, insectivores, and plants. Students will discover that the source of
all energy for plants and animals is the Sun.
 Students will learn about different habitats and biomes (Desert,
Rainforest, Temperate Forest, and Grasslands) and their associated
biodiversity by playing the Habitat Relay Race. Two teams will race to
match up different animals to their appropriate biome.
Elementary Grades 3-5
Scope and Sequence Standards
Grade Three
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
Plant and Animal Adaptations
Matter
Energy
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
Animals and Plants in Their Environment
Interactions of Air, Water and Land
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
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Exploring Ecosystems
The Nature of Science
Food and Nutrition
Earth Science
Grade Four
Grade Five
Plant Animal Interactions: Scavenger Hunt & Garden Friend or Foe
Game **New for Fall 2012**
 Students will form teams to fill in their scavenger hunt without the aid of
their chaperones. They will have to find exampled around the barge of
how plants and animals interact in symbiosis (aquaponics), parasitism

(carnivorous plants), mutualisms (pollination) and antagonisms
(herbivory).
Students will play as 3 teams, trying to create the best organic garden to
help their crops grow by selecting commonly found organisms from
pictures on a game board. Students will quickly learn that some are
beneficial to the garden (ladybug, dragonfly, worm); some are neutral
(spittle bug, millipede); and some are detrimental (vine weevil, cabbage
moth caterpillar, rabbit).
Biodiversity: Habitat Relay & Food Web Twister **Updated for Fall
2012**
 Students will learn about different habitats and biomes (Desert,
Rainforest, Temperate Forest, and Grasslands) and their associated
biodiversity by playing the Habitat Relay Race. Two teams will race to
match up different animals to their appropriate biome.
 Students will begin to answer the basic question, “What is food?” Students
will participate in our Food Web Twister activity with each student playing
the role of a producer, consumer or decomposer within the Hudson River
estuary. Students will gain knowledge regarding the relationships between
organisms and will parallel that knowledge with a growing understanding
of food and food waste.
Food/Botany/Planting
 Students will first split into teams and collaborate to draw and label their
own plant-part chart.
 Students will discover that they EAT examples of the different plant parts
by assembling a plant part chart using different vegetables and fruits.
 Students will get the opportunity to become urban farmers by growing
their own hydroponic basil that they will care for at home or at school.
Students will learn to appreciate the importance of a varied and balanced
diet and will gain a sense of environmental stewardship by growing and
caring for their plants.
Carbon Footprint: Hungry Planet + How Many Miles are on my Menu?
**Updated Fall 2012**
 Students will examine 3 different households from around the planet,
using a map to find and describe the geographic location of each country
depicted. Then students will make observations about: (1) the size of the
family, (2) the diversity and nutrition in the food, (3) the amount of food
eaten in a week, and (4) the amount of packaging and processing of the
food shown. Students will then be encouraged to draw conclusions about
the food available in those regions, the ability to grow food, and how
healthy their diet is.

Students will be encouraged to consider their impact on the environment
by discussing how food moves around. Students will use their math and
geography skills to complete our “How Many Miles are on my Menu?”
worksheet and activity. Students will incorporate these lessons into their
considerations of future food choices.
Climate Change: Greenhouse Effect Role Play **Updated for Fall
2012**
 With the unique backdrop of our greenhouse as a case study, students
will act out the greenhouse effect as “heat” and “greenhouse gases”(much
like Red Rover Red Rover) and discover how it contributes to global
warming. They will identify common sources of greenhouse gas
emissions and define stewardship.
 Looking at the “Model Green Home,” students will consider ways to curb
their own emissions at home, and leave with an Energy Conservation
Action Sheet.
Intermediate Grades 6-8
Scope and Sequence Standards
Grade Six
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
Simple and Complex Machines
Interdependence
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Interactions Between Matter and Energy
Dynamic Equilibrium: The Human Animal

Humans and Their Environment: Needs and Tradeoffs
Grade Seven
Grade Eight
Scientific Method: Water Quality Puzzler
 Students will examine each step of the scientific method and will use their
scientific skills to hypothesize, experiment and share data with their peers
regarding sampling and testing the water characteristics of the Hudson
River, rainwater and nutrient rich water from our aquaponics system.
Students will gain an intimate knowledge of the ecology of estuaries, acid
rain and the nitrogen cycle.
Carbon Footprint: Hungry Planet & How Many Miles **Updated for Fall
2012**
 Students will examine 3 different households from around the planet,
using a map to find and describe the geographic location of each country
depicted. Then students will make observations about: (1) the size of the
family, (2) the diversity and nutrition in the food, (3) the amount of food
eaten in a week, and (4) the amount of packaging and processing of the
food shown. Students will then be encouraged to draw conclusions about
the food available in those regions, the ability to grow food, and how
healthy their diet is.

Students will be encouraged to consider their impact on the environment
by discussing how food moves around. Students will use their math and
geography skills to complete our “How Many Miles are on my Menu?”
worksheet and activity. The intermediate sheet will include not only food
transportation miles, but also processing/packaging miles” and “meat
miles” (extra miles to ship feed to lots where cattle or chicken are raised
on grains). Students will incorporate these lessons into their
considerations of future food choices.
Sharing One Earth: The Tragedy of the Commons and Sustainability
**New for Fall 2012**
 Students will form teams of 3-4 and participate in several rounds of roleplay regarding sustainability in the fishing industry. Each consecutive
round will involve a change to the industry (ie: technological advances,
regulation changes, or the ability of some groups to move into
international waters) that will make it easier or harder for some groups to
fulfill their survival needs. At the end of each round, we’ll discuss how the
changes to the industry affected both the fish breeding populations and
the success of the local people, and their sustainability.
 After the activity is over, students will discuss the concept of “The
Tragedy of the Commons” and how advancements in technology
sometimes have severe consequences to broader ecology and long-term
sustainability.
Energy, Climate Change, and You: **New for Fall 2012**
 Students will learn about the history and evolution of energy production,
what electricity is, and how fossil fuel burning contributions to global
climate change. Using a propane lighter and an eliopile, we will
demonstrate how fuels are burned to boil water to create steam-powered
spinning generators. To illustrate what electricity is, students will use
magnets to move electrons in an iron rod to pick up paper clips. Then
they’ll make a circuit using a battery, copper wiring, and an iron nail to
create a temporary magnet.
 Students will discuss climate change and how it affects food production,
health, and the environment.
 Students will learn more about Alternative Energy and Energy
Conservation by splitting into teams; each team will choose “five
features to energy savings” for our “Model Green Home.” We’ll tally up
the energy savings and determine a winner.
High School Grades 9-12
Scope and Sequence Standards (*new scope offerings)
Chemistry


The Physical Nature of Matter
*Chemical reactions (Photosynthesis)
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
Maps and Measurement
Climate




Scientific Inquiry
Ecology
Human Influences on the Environment
*Water, Carbon, and Nitrogen Cycle
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Cultural differences
Agriculture around the world
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Energy
Projects and Problem Based Learning Activities
Earth Science
Living Environment
*Social Studies
Physics
Earth’s Cycles and Processes: Photosynthesis, The Water Cycle, and
The Nitrogen Cycle **New for Fall 2012**
 Students will learn about the chemical reaction of photosynthesis by
collaboratively using models of carbon dioxide and water molecules to
make a glucose molecule and oxygen.
 Students will play our N-Around the World game to learn about how
nitrogen cycles through the agricultural system. We’ll discuss the
importance of soil nitrogen to crop production and the difference between
artificial sources of nitrogen (fertilizers) and organic sources (compost,
manure) and their affects on the environment (eutrophication, etc.)
 Students will help make a class worm-composter to identify organic forms
of nitrogen, and other plant nutrients.
 Students will learn more about how the carbon cycle and water cycle are
affected by industrialization, non-point pollution and climate change.
Sharing One Earth: The Tragedy of the Commons and Sustainability
**New for Fall 2012**
 Students will form teams of 3-4 and participate in several rounds of roleplay regarding sustainability in the fishing industry. Each consecutive
round will involve a change to the industry (ie: technological advances,
regulation changes, or the ability of some groups to move into

international waters) that will make it easier or harder for some groups to
fulfill their survival needs. At the end of each round, we’ll discuss how the
changes to the industry affected both the fish breeding populations and
the success of the local people, and their sustainability.
After the activity is over, students will discuss the concept of “The
Tragedy of the Commons” and how advancements in technology
sometimes have severe consequences to broader ecology and long-term
sustainability.
Energy, Climate Change, and You: **New for Fall 2012**
 Students will learn about the history and evolution of energy production,
what electricity is, and how fossil fuel burning contributions to global
climate change. Using a propane lighter and an eliopile, we will
demonstrate how fuels are burned to boil water to create steam-powered
spinning generators. To illustrate what electricity is, students will use
magnets to move electrons in an iron rod to pick up paper clips. Then
they’ll make a circuit using a battery, copper wiring, and an iron nail to
create a temporary magnet.
 Students will discuss climate change and how it affects food production,
health, and the environment.
 Students will learn more about Alternative Energy and Energy
Conservation by splitting into teams; each team will choose “five
features to energy savings” for our “Model Green Home.” We’ll tally up
the energy savings and determine a winner.
Scientific Method: Water Quality Puzzler
 Students will examine each step of the scientific method and will use their
skills to hypothesize, experiment and share data with their peers
regarding sampling and testing the water characteristics of the Hudson
River, rainwater and nutrient rich water from our aquaponics system.
 Students must work in teams to discover the point of origin of their water
samples which will require a degree of insight into ecology and the
process of elimination. Students will gain an intimate knowledge of the
ecology of estuaries, acid rain and the nitrogen cycle.
Carbon Footprint: Hungry Planet & The Story of Food **Updated for
Fall 2012**
 Students will be encouraged to consider their impact on the environment
by exploring the story of food from production to consumption. They will
examine industrial and local food systems critically and compare the
impacts of each system on people and the environment.
 Students will examine food labels & packages to glean information on
ingredients, production methods, origin, and waste. Working in teams,
students will use the combined knowledge gained from their examination
of both food systems and labels to creatively illustrate the story of a food
item from “farm to fork”.
Green Design Challenge + Biomimicry **Updated for Fall 2012**
 Students will learn how some of the greatest technological and design
dilemmas – from self-cleaning paints to passive-cooling buildings – have
been solved by mimicking nature’s solutions. This is called Biomimicry!
 Students will be given the opportunity to examine green design and green
building techniques by learning more about sustainable materials and easy
ways to green their homes.
 Students will be asked to work in small groups to complete our Green
Design Challenge where they must creatively come up with ways to
design attractions or individual buildings that align with particular
sustainable design parameters. Students will be encouraged to use their
imagination and will be invited to share their designs with their peers.