Maryland Public Television celebrates Chesapeake Bay Week

April 17th, 2013 by Catherine Krikstan

The annual programming initiative will explore issues facing the watershed.

Image courtesy Maryland Sea Grant.

Maryland Public Television (MPT) will celebrate the nation’s largest estuary with a week of Chesapeake Bay-related programming, to begin on Sunday, April 21.

During Chesapeake Bay Week, a dozen programs will explore some of the most pressing issues facing the watershed, from the future of the agriculture and seafood industries to the health of iconic critters and waterways. An hour-long special called “Who Killed Crassostrea virginica?” will take a look at the demise of the Bay’s native oyster, while a 30-minute program called “The Last Boat Out” will follow a family of Virginia watermen as they question staying in the business of seafood harvesting.

Bay history, too, will be part of the annual event: “Black Captains of the Chesapeake” will highlight African Americans who have captained on the Bay, while “Growing Up on Tilghman” will explore what it was like to grow up in this quiet watermen’s community on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

“There is really rich content within these shows,” said Betsy Peisach, MPT’s managing director for education marketing and outreach. Peisach encourages teachers, in particular, to bring these programs into their classrooms where possible. And for those who teach middle-school science, MPT has developed an online interactive that allows students to explore the Bay, whether it is through a virtual tour of the Bay’s varied ecosystems or an online cinema that features clips from Outdoors Maryland.

MPT will wrap up Chesapeake Bay Week with a concert and volunteer-a-thon to connect viewers with volunteer opportunities across the watershed.

The Chesapeake Bay Program is a sponsor of Chesapeake Bay Week this year. Learn more.

This content originally appeared on ChesapeakeBay.net

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Catherine Krikstan is a web writer and social media specialist at the Chesapeake Bay Program.

Chesapeake Chills and Thrills

October 22nd, 2012 by Sarah

What scary Chesapeake tale will you tell your students this Halloween?

Spooky stories, creepy critters, monster hunts, and more.  There are plenty of ways to teach about the Chesapeake Bay watershed this Halloween.  Many even provide an opportunity for in-depth investigations into watershed history or science.  Which scary Chesapeake activity will you choose?

  • Here there be Monsters – What’s lurking beneath the surface of the Chesapeake Bay? Is it an unidentified sea monster that hasn’t yet been discovered? Are people possibly mistaking another animal such as a manatee or sturgeon for a sea monster? Or, is the mysterious and elusive Chessie the sea monster, a hoax or the product of some wild imaginations? Using the Bayville interactive, Here There Be Monsters, students unravel the mystery of Chessie the sea monster, using their own powers of investigation and deductive reasoning to make an informed judgment about whether or not Chessie is real.
  • Death at Jamestown – What Really Happened at Jamestown? In this jigsaw lesson plan, students learn about four different, supported reasons behind the mysterious deaths that occurred in the early days of the colony of Jamestown.  In this lesson, middle and high school students will discover different scientific methods for evaluating historical events, research and present information on proposed explanations of a historical event, and evaluate explanations of a historical event based on supporting scientific evidence.
  • Celebrate Halloween by Teaching about Creepy, Crawly Marcoinvertebrates - It’s Halloween in the Chesapeake Bay watershed! This is a perfect opportunity to introduce your students to the creepy creatures lurking beneath rocks in your local stream.  While benthic macroinvertebrates may appear gruesome at first glance, a closer look reveals that these organisms are perfectly adapted to live and feed in their environment.
  • BOO!s of the Bay: Nine scary Chesapeake stories for Halloween – Look around the Chesapeake Bay watershed this time of year, and you’ll find ghost tours all over the place: Annapolis, Gettysburg and Richmond, to name a few. And why wouldn’t there be ghosts here? The Chesapeake region was among the first areas in the United States settled by English colonists. Since that time, the Bay has experienced land-altering and life-taking hurricanes, mysterious shipwrecks, and bloody battles during the nation’s early wars. Just in time for Halloween, the Chesapeake Bay Program has compiled an eclectic list of hauntings, sightings and purely strange spooks from throughout the Bay watershed. Share these spooky stories with your students, have them research the facts behind one, or use them to inspire your students to write their own Chesapeake ghost stories!
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Sarah Brzezinski works for the Chesapeake Research Consortium as the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship and Education Workgroup Team Staffer. She also serves as the content manager of Bay Backpack.

Why Teach About the Clean Water Act?

October 15th, 2012 by Sarah

Bringing in the catch on the Chesapeake Bay during the 2011 Youth Fishing Adventure. Image credit: Janet Krenn/VASG

Do you think we should be able to safely fish and swim in our nation’s waters?  It may sound like a pretty basic goal, but these rights have not always been protected with the same vigor as they are today.

Though it was originally enacted in 1948 as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the Clean Water Act was totally revised in 1972 to give the Act its current shape.  This federal regulation set a new national goal “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters”, and set an overarching environmental goal that all waters in the United States be “fishable” and “swimmable.”

Why Should YOU Teach About The Clean Water Act?

This October marks the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act!  On October 18, 1972, Congress passed the Clean Water Act, providing a comprehensive strategy for dealing with water pollution.  Whether you are teaching about science, civics, history, or law, the Clean Water Act is a great topic to focus on. The Clean Water Act is especially relevant in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the first estuary in the nation to be targeted by Congress for restoration and protection!

How Can YOU Teach About The Clean Water Act?

With the 40th anniversary of this legislation upon us, some great teaching resources have been coming out.  Here is a list of some great lesson plans and resources you can use to teach about the Clean Water Act in your classroom:

  • Clean Water: It’s The Law – This is a great lesson plan from Discovery Education.  In this activity, 3-5 grade students will describe the serious state of U.S. water systems before the Clean Water Act was passed, summarize the importance of laws protecting the environment and natural resources, and the challenge of creating laws that are fair to all water users, and discuss the concerns surrounding nonpoint sources pollution.  Students will also list ways that people can help minimize water pollution.
  • The Water Sourcebooks – The Water Sourcebooks contain 324 activities for grades K-12 divided into four sections: K-2, 3-5, 5-8, and 9-12. Each section is divided into five chapters: Introduction to Water, Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment, Surface Water Resources, Ground Water Resources, and Wetlands and Coastal Waters.  This EPA environmental education program explains the water management cycle using a balanced approach showing how it affects all aspects of the environment. All activities contain hands-on investigations, fact sheets, reference materials, and a glossary of terms, and the 3-5, 5-8, and 9-12 grade level editions of the Water Sourcebook all feature lesson plan(s) on the Clean Water Act.
  • You Be the Judge – In this PBS lesson, students in grades 9-12 will research and evaluate a U.S. Supreme Court case that reviewed the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act and assesses environmental and business interests. Students will debate case arguments with classmates using data collected from research activities, analyze case information, and write about the decision they would make if they were members of the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • Water Quality Teacher Resources – Are you looking for a specific type of educational resource about water quality?  Check out Bay Backpack’s inventory of water quality teacher resources.  Search for water quality resources by subject, school level, resource type, or alignment to state/national curriculum standards!
  • EPA Water Education Resources – EPA’s Office of Environmental Education offers many educational resources for students, parents and educators.  This collection focuses on water education.
  • Chesapeake Bay Program History –Since the Chesapeake Bay Program’s formation in 1983, several written agreements have guided the partnership’s pollution reduction and ecosystem restoration efforts. Share a “local” example of water policy with your students by learning about the history and policies that guide the Chesapeake Bay Program.
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Sarah Brzezinski works for the Chesapeake Research Consortium as the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship and Education Workgroup Team Staffer. She also serves as the content manager of Bay Backpack.

Why Teach About Marine Debris?

October 9th, 2012 by Anna Manyak

An accumulation of microplastics and other debris items in the waters of Hanauma Bay, Hawaii. Photo courtesy of NOAA PIFSC CRED.

Marine debris refers to any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned in the marine environment or Great Lakes.  It comes in many forms, and can be sourced from both land-based and ocean-based activities.  Items range from haphazardly discarded cigarette butts all the way up to abandoned vessels.  Most marine debris items do not biodegrade, and therefore persist in the environment for a long period of time.  Because the oceans have no borders, oceanic currents can move debris items far away from their source.  In some remote areas of the ocean, marine debris accumulates in areas known as ‘garbage patches.’  Much of the debris in these areas consists of microplastics, which are small pieces of plastic that result from the breakdown of plastics exposed to the sun.  Unfortunately, marine debris has many negative impacts on marine organisms and environment.  Accidental ingestion of plastics by marine organisms can cause choking or starvation, and potentially lead to death.  Entanglement in discarded nets or ropes can cause drowning or strangulation.  Even marine habitats can be impacted through smothering by large pieces of marine debris.

Why should YOU teach about marine debris?

We all live in a watershed where everything runs downhill.  No matter where you live, the trash that you see on the streets can pass through a storm drain, head to the Chesapeake Bay, and eventually reach the ocean, where it becomes marine debris.  The best way to combat marine debris is to share knowledge about where it comes from, how it impacts the environment, and what anyone can do to prevent it.

How can YOU teach about marine debris?

The NOAA Marine Debris Program offers many educational resources to teach students more about the sources, impacts, and solutions to marine debris.

Other marine debris educational resources can be found here.

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Anna Manyak is the Northeast Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program. For more information on marine debris, please visit www.marinedebris.noaa.gov or contact Anna at Anna.Manyak@noaa.gov.

Stream Restoration & Riparian Buffer Lesson Plans

September 17th, 2012 by Sarah

Everyone in the watershed lives within a few miles of a river, stream or creek, which are like pipelines from our communities to the Chesapeake Bay.

More than 100,000 streams, creeks and rivers thread through the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  Many of these streams have been impacted by people and are in need of help. Restoration and riparian buffer projects provide a great opportunity to engage your students in real-world service learning projects.  These projects can help you get your students outside, physically active, AND learning about the environment.  If you live in Maryland, you can even request technical assistance and apply for funding for your project through the Stream Restoration Challenge!  Here are some great lesson plans, activities, and guides that you can use to help make your project a meaningful watershed educational experience:

  • Healthy People, Healthy Water – The goal of this curriculum guide, developed by project WET, is to make complex concepts of water quality relevant and meaningful for you and those you teach.   The program offers 25 hands-on activities, an Educator’s Guide, testing kits, training, and much more. Healthy Water, Healthy People is for educators or citizens interested in learning and teaching about contemporary water quality topics. This guide has been aligned with Maryland State curriculum and environmental literacy standards.
  • Restoring a Stream – This activity is a part of Virginia’s Water Resources – A Tool for Teachers, and is a great guide for educators looking to participate in the Stream Restoration Challenge. In this activity students will research and understand the importance of protecting and restoring streams and conduct a focus project on designing, establishing, and maintaining streamside forest buffers.  Students will then identify a local stream habitat in need of protection and restoration, develop an action project protect and restore the local stream habitat, seek technical assistance from local and state agencies, and  implement and monitor their restoration activity.
  • Lessons from the Bay: Riparian Buffers – In this Virginia Department of Education Lesson Plan, students will conduct research to learn the roles of riparian buffers, build a watershed model to illustrate the role of riparian buffers in protecting waterways from polluted runoff, form hypotheses, conduct an experiment, report findings and draw conclusions.
  • To Protect Your Streams, Protect Your Mountains – Penn State University’s College of Agriculture developed this lesson plan to help students define key watershed terms.  Through this lesson plan students will learn about point and non-point solution and will be able to how a healthy riparian buffer zone can improve non-point source pollution problems
  • Pollution in a Watershed – In this Chesapeake Bay FieldScope activity from National Geographic your students will be introduced to the role of wetlands and riparian buffers in the Chesapeake Bay as natural filters for sediment and nutrients that can negatively affect our waterways. Students will use what they learn about land cover and human actions to predict where pollution might occur.
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Sarah Brzezinski works for the Chesapeake Research Consortium as the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship and Education Workgroup Team Staffer. She also serves as the content manager of Bay Backpack.

Have a Recycling Relay Race!

August 13th, 2012 by Sarah

Relay races are a great way to get students outdoors, physically active, and engaged in learning! Image courtesy of USDAgov via Flickr.

Did you know that you can help your students learn about and practice recycling through a simple relay race? Here’s how:

Gather some recyclable and non-recyclable materials and split your class into appropriately sized teams. Have each team form a line at the start line and give each team a selection of recyclable and trash items (each team should have the same total number of items).  Put a trash can and a recycling bin an equal distance away from each team.  For the relay, a team member from each team will have to select an item, run to the trash/recycling bins, place the item in the appropriate bin, and run back to and cross the start line before their next team member can take a turn.  As the relay takes place, make sure that all trash and recyclable items have been placed in the correct bin.  If an item is sorted incorrectly, a team member must take an “extra lap” to run out, identify the item that was incorrectly sorted and run back to their start line with it so another team member can run back to the bins and sort it correctly.

The relay will continue until all of the teams have sorted all of their items correctly. The team that completes the task in the shortest amount of time will win!  You can complicate the relay in a variety of ways, such as having the last student “shoot” the recycle/trash item into the appropriate bin from a certain distance away (like basketball), adding a “reuse” bin for objects that do not have to be recycled after just one use, etc.

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Sarah Brzezinski works for the Chesapeake Research Consortium as the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship and Education Workgroup Team Staffer. She also serves as the content manager of Bay Backpack.

May is American Wetlands Month!

May 7th, 2012 by Sarah

Sunset over the marsh on Tangier Island.

A marsh and eroding island near Hoopers Island, Maryland

This May marks the 21st anniversary of American Wetlands Month! Wetlands are the transitional areas between land and water that are defined based on their soil and vegetation type. All wetlands are dominated by hydrophytes, which are plants that are adapted for life in wet soils. Wetlands also have hydric soils, which are soils that are periodically saturated or flooded.

Did you know that two major groups of wetlands are found in the Chesapeake Bay watershed? It’s true! In this region, we have estuarine and palustrine wetlands. Estuarine wetlands are tidally-flooded and range in salinity from fresh to salt water. Estuarine wetlands include the marshes found mainly along the shore of the Chesapeake Bay and tidal portions of rivers. Palustrine (non-tidal) wetlands are freshwater bogs, marshes, and swamps bordering streams and rivers, filling isolated depressions and fringing lakes and ponds.

Wetlands provide many significant benefits for fish, wildlife, and people.  Not only do they provide important habitat for fish and wildlife, their unique natural characteristics include floodwater and stormwater storage, coastal protection, and increased water storage and supply. Wetlands can also help protect and improve water quality, an important factor in Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts.

American Wetlands Month is a time to celebrate the important role wetlands play in our Nation’s ecological, environmental, and socio-economic health.  It is also a great time to inspire a better understanding of these vitally important ecosystems.  Bay Backpack’s Teacher Resource page includes Wetlands as a “keyword” and provides a wide variety of lesson plans and activities that you can use in your classroom to participate in American Wetlands Month.  Here are some featured resources that can help you plan your wetland-related educational activities:

  • American Wetlands Month website – This EPA website provides some great information about why we celebrate American Wetlands Month, including the history of American Wetlands Month, 2012 events, and information about wetlands.
  • Chesapeake Bay Program Field Guide – Wetlands and Marshes – Do you want your students to learn about some of the plants and animals that live in wetlands? This extensive, online recourse was created and is managed by Chesapeake Bay Program. It is a great tool, and is searchable by habitat or critter!
  • The Fragile Fringe – This free USGS website acts as a guide for teaching about coastal wetlands. The information and activities that are provided can be revised to accommodate different learning levels of students.
  • Why Teach About Wetlands? – This Bay Backpack blog will fill you in! It provides some basic information on wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay, and information on why and how you can teach about them.
  • WOW the Wonder of Wetlands – This instruction guide for educators provides a wealth of curricular materials to help you teach about wetlands.  It has been recommended by the National Science Teacher’s Association, and is available for purchase on Environmental Concerns website,
  • Teaching about Wetlands Flyer – The EPA produced this flyer to briefly explain why wetlands are important, why you should teach about them, and how you can teach about them.
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Sarah Brzezinski works for the Chesapeake Research Consortium as the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship and Education Workgroup Team Staffer. She also serves as the content manager of Bay Backpack.

Celebrate Earth Day with These Featured Lessons and Activities

April 16th, 2012 by Sarah

For Earth Day or EE Week, have your students learn about Math by examining your school's recycling habits! Image courtesy of Tulane Public Relations via Flickr.

This year Earth Day falls on a Sunday, so you can encourage your students to celebrate with their families by being active outside over the weekend.  Whether they help their parents with yard work and gardening, participate in a stream clean-up, or plant trees at a community celebration your students will be getting some exercise while enjoying the outdoors.

Though your students will not be in class on Earth Day, this week is National Environmental Education Week (EE Week), and it is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the earth in your classroom. During the week, there are plenty of ways to celebrate Earth Day, no matter what subject you teach.  Here is a selection of some activities you could use:

In Social Studies – Have your classes learn about the First Earth Day and watch these video clips of Senator Gaylord Nelson’s April 21, 1970 Earth Day eve address. Your class can discuss why we celebrate Earth Day, how the social, political, and environmental climate of the 60s and 70s may have influenced public support for the grassroots movement, and how that support impacted federal policies and priorities (the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, etc.). Your students can also check out the EPA@40 website from 2010 to learn about some of the progress that has been made since the 70s.

In Math – Have your students inventory your class, cafeteria, or school waste to determine how much recycling and trash is produced.  You can also have them calculate how much of the trash could actually have been recycled.  This type of activity can feed into a longer term Waste-Free Wednesday or Litterless Lunches initiative in your school.  For more information on how to use such programs as teaching tools, please refer to our Waste-Free Wednesday and Litterless Lunches blogs.

In Science – One of the most important components of any Earth Day/EE Week Celebration is simply to get your students outside, and outside your options are limited only by your imagination.  For example, you can get your students outside and teach them about the Chesapeake Bay with the Grasses, Grasses Everywhere Lesson Plan; in which students investigate the properties of aquatic grasses (SAV) and compare them to the grass in the schoolyard.  Alternatively, you could use the Succession and Forest Habitats Lesson Plan. This lesson has several components, and for the last one your students will collect data on trees in the schoolyard, use the information to predict how many birds will be found in the schoolyard, and devise a plan to improve habitat for migratory songbirds in the schoolyard.

In Language Arts – It may seem obvious, but a great way to celebrate Earth Day with your students is to have them read environment-related books (especially outside).  The Lorax by Dr. Seuss is a great option for younger students, and selections from Silent Spring by Rachel Carson would work well for advanced readers.  For more literature selections, please refer to Bay Backpack’s Reading the Environment blog, the National Environmental Education Foundation’s Green Reading List for Educators, or the EPA’s Wetlands Reading List for Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12.

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Sarah Brzezinski works for the Chesapeake Research Consortium as the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship and Education Workgroup Team Staffer. She also serves as the content manager of Bay Backpack.

Bay-Friendly Valentine’s Day Crafts

February 13th, 2012 by Sarah

Happy early Valentine’s Day! There is something special about a handmade Valentine’s Day gift.  In many elementary schools, making these home-style gifts is a part of a structured Valentine’s Day celebration tied to art curriculum standards.  Instead of making crafts from new resources this year, turn your art class into a real-world lesson in reusing and recycling!  Here are three bay-friendly craft ideas (with links to instructional craft websites) to help make recycling paper a fun, Valentine’s Day themed classroom activity:

Your students can make a Valentine's Day wreath out of recycled paper, felt, scraps of fabric or old clothes. Image courtesy of Moonlightbulb via Flickr.

1.   Make a Valentine’s Day wreath – Have students color both sides of paper from your classroom recycling bin pink and/or red, cut out swirl designs (provided in the links below), roll the paper into a flower bud-shape, and glue them to a heart shaped piece of paper or cardboard.  The paper or cardboard base should have its center cut out in the shape of a heart before students glue their “flowers” to it. These rosettes could also be made with bits of felt or old clothing, if your school allows it. Get complete directions via the following links:

If you make a plantable Valentine's Day card with your students, be sure to use native seeds! Image courtesy of Little Birdies via www.makeandtakes.com

2.   Make a seed-paper Valentine’s Day card – Have your students tear your paper recycling into little pieces, put the pieces into a blender, add water, and blend the paper into pulp.  Drain off the excess water and add seeds from a plant native to your local environment. Stir the seeds into the pulp (not using the blender!) and squeeze out any excess water.  Give each student some of the paper pulp and have them shape it into a heart or flower.  Allow the shapes to dry overnight and turn them into cards!  Full directions can be found at:

There are several types of decorative garlands you can make with your class to celebrate Valentine's Day. This is a 3-D version was created and photographed by Jessica Jones (via How About Orange blogspot).

3.   Make a decorative heart garland – Turn your class’s paper recycling or used child-friendly magazines into a garland by having students cut out heart shapes. Alternatively, students can create 3-D hearts for the garland by layering different sized hearts on top of each other, stapling the centers together and fanning out the individual pages. Once the hearts are created, the class can work together to string their individual hearts together using leftover twine. Complete directions for these craft ideas can be found at:

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Sarah Brzezinski works for the Chesapeake Research Consortium as the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship and Education Workgroup Team Staffer. She also serves as the content manager of Bay Backpack.

The STEM of Super Bowls: Teach About It!

February 6th, 2012 by Sarah

The Science of NFL Footbal was created by the NFL, NSF, and NBC Learn.

Are your students talking about the Super Bowl today? Did you know that you can use their enthusiasm about football to get them interested in Science, Technology, Math, and Engineering (STEM) fields? It’s true! There are plenty of resources available to help you use football as a tool for teaching STEM subjects.

In particular, The Science of NFL Football video series stands out as a great resource to help you teach about STEM content using one of America’s favorite pastimes. This informative series features 10 videos, each of which lasts about four to five minutes. Each video addresses a different topic, so you can decide if you want your students to learn about geometric shapes, Newton’s Laws of Motion, Kinematics, the Pythagorean Theorem, and more. Who would have thought that you can have former NFL quarterback Joey Harrington (and scientists and professors) talk to your students about vectors?

Lesson plans to accompany each of the videos are provided at http://www.lessonopoly.org/nfl. All of these resources are available for free online. These videos and lesson plans are a great way to get students who have not been traditionally interested in STEM subjects engaged, and can reinvigorate the interest of your top students.

There is also a wide variety of articles that can help you connect football to STEM subjects. Learning about these topics can help your students understand some of the cool STEM careers associated with the Super Bowl! This was the topic of our previous blog, The STEM of Super Bowls: Career Paths. You can also use these resources to talk to your students about some of the innovative technologies that have been used at Super Bowls:

Who knows? Maybe one of the students you inspire with football-related STEM lessons will grow-up to work on issues related to the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed!

Are your students talking about the Super Bowl today? Did you know that you can use their enthusiasm about football to get them interested in Science, Technology, Math, and Engineering (STEM) fields? It’s true! There are plenty of resources available to help you use football as a tool for teaching STEM subjects.

In particular, The Science of NFL Football video series stands out as a great resource to help you teach about STEM content using one of America’s favorite pastimes. This informative series features 10 videos, each of which lasts about four to five minutes. Each video addresses a different topic, so you can decide if you want your students to learn about geometric shapes, Newton’s Laws of Motion, Kinematics, the Pythagorean Theorem, and more. Who would have thought that you can have former NFL quarterback Joey Harrington (and scientists and professors) talk to your students about vectors?

Lesson plans to accompany each of the videos are provided at http://www.lessonopoly.org/nfl. All of these resources are available for free online. These videos and lesson plans are a great way to get students who have not been traditionally interested in STEM subjects engaged, and can reinvigorate the interest of your top students.

There is also a wide variety of articles that can help you connect football to STEM subjects. Learning about these topics can help your students understand some of the cool STEM careers associated with the Super Bowl! This was the topic of our previous blog, The STEM of Super Bowls: Career Paths. You can also use these resources to talk to your students about some of the innovative technologies that have been used at Super Bowls:

· Engineers in the End Zone – This article about college football stars who are also studying engineering.

· Top 5 Ways Super Bowl 2012 Supports the Environment – Did you know that nearly 60 tons of aluminum cans, plastic bottles, cardboard and glass were recycled at the Indiana Convention Center & Lucas Oil Stadium in 2010? Learn more about Super Bowl XLVI’s green initiatives and share the information with your students!

· Engineers Help Detect Football Injuries – Learn about how engineers are working to design football helmets that not only protect an athlete’s head from injury, but also measure the force of any impacts to determine a player’s risk having of a concussion so medical attention can be promptly provided.

· Super Bowl Replay Technology Draws on Carnegie Mellon and Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center Expertise – Did you ever wonder about the technology that allows viewers to see a Super Bowl play as if time is frozen while a camera circles around the action? Learn more in this article.

· Going Deep: Future Technology in the NFL – This MSNBC article discusses some of the technology we could see in future NFL games. Maybe one of your students will be the person to invent it!

· Top 5 Technologies in NFL Stadiums – From enormous HDTVs to retractable grass, this article will inform your students about some of the cool technology that was used at Super Bowl XLIV.

Who knows? Maybe one of the students you inspire with football-related STEM lessons will grow-up to work on issues related to the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed!

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Sarah Brzezinski works for the Chesapeake Research Consortium as the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship and Education Workgroup Team Staffer. She also serves as the content manager of Bay Backpack.
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