Students who demonstrate understanding can: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.*
Clarification statement: Examples of the design process include examining human environmental impacts, assessing the kinds of solutions that are feasible, and designing and evaluating solutions that could reduce that impact. Examples of human impacts can include water usage (such as the withdrawal of water from streams and aquifers or the construction of dams and levees), land usage (such as urban development, agriculture, or the removal of wetlands), and pollution (such as of the air, water, or land).
Official wording from the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013). NGSS is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the NGSS were involved in the production of this page, and they do not endorse it. View on nextgenscience.org
Unlike most science standards, this one asks students to act like environmental engineers. They pick a real human impact, such as runoff from a parking lot, water pulled from a stream, loss of wetlands or litter in a schoolyard, and design a way to measure it and to make it smaller, applying scientific principles to justify their choices.
Designing well starts with understanding the problem: what is causing the impact, how big it is, and which data would show whether things are getting better or worse. Students then consider which solutions are realistic given cost, space, rules and community needs, and evaluate their design against clear criteria. Monitoring is essential, because without before-and-after data nobody can tell whether a solution works.
Good projects stay local and specific. A rain garden that soaks up runoff, a sensor that logs stream temperature, or a plan to reduce cafeteria waste with measured weekly totals all fit. The asterisk on the code marks it as an engineering design standard.
Without monitoring data from before and after, there is no evidence that a solution reduced the impact. Measuring is part of the design.
Small local impacts, like runoff from one parking lot, add up and are practical for students to study and improve.
Engineering problems have many possible solutions; the best depends on criteria, constraints and trade-offs.
Every solution has trade-offs, such as cost, maintenance or new impacts, which must be weighed.
After storms, muddy water runs off the school parking lot into a creek. Design a way to monitor and reduce this impact.
Answer: Measure creek turbidity before and after, install a rain garden to soak up and filter runoff, and use the new data to judge whether the impact dropped.
Begin with a local walk or photo survey so students choose an impact they can see and measure. Simple tools such as rain gauges, homemade turbidity tubes, trash audits or thermometer loggers keep monitoring achievable. Use a decision matrix to compare solutions against criteria and constraints, then build and test models of the best idea.
Assessment typically asks students to critique or improve a proposed monitoring method or design, explaining the scientific principle involved.
Original questions written for this standard. Choose an option or type your answer, then press Check. Every question has a worked explanation.
Answer: B) It provides evidence of whether the solution works
Before-and-after data show whether the impact actually decreased.
Answer: C) Installing a rain garden or permeable pavement
Rain gardens and permeable surfaces let water soak into the ground instead of running off.
Answer: D) Changes to fish migration and downstream water flow
Dams change river flow and can block fish migration, so these are worth monitoring.
Answer: turbidity (also accepted: clarity, water clarity)
Turbidity measures how cloudy water is, often from soil carried in by runoff.
Answer: B) A limited budget
Constraints are limits such as budget, space or time that a solution must work within.
Answer: rain garden (also accepted: a rain garden, bioswale)
A rain garden collects runoff so it can soak into the soil and be filtered by plants.
Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earthโs resources and environment.
Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.*
A full lesson with slides, activities and an exit ticket on monitoring and reducing human impact, pitched to grades 6-8 and editable in PowerPoint or Google Slides.
Make a lesson โA printable, differentiated worksheet on MS-ESS3-3 with an answer key, ready in about a minute.
Make a worksheet โTurn monitoring and reducing human impact into a quiz students answer online that marks itself, with a class summary for you.
Build a test โWater use such as withdrawals and dams, land use such as development, agriculture or wetland removal, and pollution of air, water or land.
The asterisk marks a performance expectation that integrates engineering design with the science content.