Integrated Middle School Curriculum Partnership for Environmental Education

Integrated Middle School Curriculum Partnership for Environmental Education and Rural Health (PEER; http: //peer. tamu. edu) Texas A&M University

Primary Authors: Jon Hunter Bill Klemm Deborah Kochevar Jim Kracht Based on a story by Marguerite Swilling Production of the Partnership for Environmental Education and Rural Health funded by NIEHS, Larry Johnson, PI

Mr. or Ms. Smith’s class Your Middle School

Do You Recall? • Read “The Kiss of the Assassin” carefully. • Test your memory and understanding of important details by completing the Challenge Quiz. PE-1. 0

Want to find out more about Peru? Click here to take a tour! PE-2. 0

Where is Peru? The global address or absolute location of the center of Peru is 10° S. L. and 76° W. L. • Is Peru in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere? • Is Peru in the Eastern or Western Hemisphere? PE-3. 0

N W E S Point to the center of Peru on the map. (10° S. L. , 76° W. L. ) PE-4. 0

N W E S Were you correct? Look for the highlight around Peru. What is the latitude for Peru? _______° North or South? What is the longitude for Peru? _______° West or East? The absolute location for Peru is ___________. PE-5. 0

Paloma, Peru is a coastal village located very close to Lima, the capital city of Peru. It is the oldest known village with continuous habitation and is over 7, 700 years old! Where is Lima, Peru? The global address or absolute location of Lima is 12. 0° S. L. , 77. 1° W. L. PE-6. 0

Point and click on Lima, Peru above (12. 0° S. L. , 77. 1° W. L. ). PE-7. 0

Were you correct? Look for the highlight around Lima, Peru on the map. 1. What is the latitude for Lima? _____° North or South? 2. What is the longitude for Lima? _____° West or East? 3. The absolute location for Lima, Peru is_______. PE-8. 0

N W E S The absolute location for Lima, Peru is 12. 0° S. L. , 77. 1° W. L. The absolute location of Houston, Texas is 30° N. L. , 95° W. L. PE-9. 0 1. 2. 3. 4. Which city is farther North? Which city is closer to the Equator? Which city is located in the Southern Hemisphere? Which city is located in the Western Hemisphere?

Look on the map above to find what cities match the addresses given below. 1. What city is located at 7° S. L. , 80° W. L. ? ____________. 2. What city is located at 4° S. L. , 74° W. L. ? ____________. 3. What city is located at 14° S. L. , 72° W. L. ? ____________. 4. What city is located at 17. 5° S. L. , 71° W. L. ? ____________. PE-10. 0

Were you correct? • • PE-11. 0 Chiclayo is located at 7° S. L. , 80° W. L. Iquitos is located at 4° S. L. , 74° W. L. Cusco is located at 14° S. L. , 72° W. L. Ilo is located at 17. 5° S. L. , 71° W. L.

Just Checking • The global address of a place using latitude and longitude is known as _______. • Global addresses north of the equator are referred to as North _______. • Global addresses west of the Prime Meridian are referred to as West _______. • Both latitude and longitude are measured in _______. PE-12. 0

Relative Location Where is Peru in relation to other places? PE-13. 0

Test your understanding of latitude and longitude by taking the Absolute Location Challenge Quiz. PE-14. 0

N W E S Peru is highlighted on the map above. Peru is: 1. Located on what continent__________? 2. North of what continent________? 3. West of what continent_________? PE-15. 0

N W E S If you were to travel using the shortest distance to Peru from your home, in which direction would you travel? PE-16. 0

Peru is highlighted on the map below. • What ocean is to the west of Peru? • What large country is to the east of Peru? • Name the ocean located to the east of Peru. PE-17. 0

Lima is highlighted on the map. 1. What city is the capital of Peru? ________ 2. This city is located in what direction from Cusco? ______ 3. The city of Iquitos is located in what direction from Lima? _______ PE-18. 0

Just Checking • You are talking with a friend. She asks, “Where is Peru? ” How would you respond? • If you were to travel from Texas to Peru, in what direction would you travel? • Which of the following is closer to Peru? ___Canada ___the USA ___Mexico PE-19. 0

Peru Mystery Why is the amount of precipitation so different across different areas of Peru? Click here to find out! PE-20. 0

Converting Temperatures Upon arriving in Peru, Connie checked the temperature using the BPC. The temperature was colder than she had expected. If the temperature was 18 o Celsius, what was the temperature in Fahrenheit? Click here for Temperature Conversion Info PE-21. 0

Carbon Dating? Robert said that his museum used carbon dating to help determine the age of artifacts. Do you know how the element, carbon, can be used to tell how old something is? • Materials made from living things (such as bowls and decorations carved from wood) contain atoms of carbon. • Some of that carbon is radioactive; that is, it decays at a fixed rate and converts to nitrogen. The amount of regular carbon in an artifact does not change. • It is the ratio of regular carbon to radioactive carbon that is the key to dating fossils and artifacts made by humans thousands of years ago. Develop a strategy for the calculation PE-22. 0

So what is carbon anyway? Click here to see where it is in the Periodic Table • Carbon combines with many other elements • It is found in: – The air we breathe (carbon dioxide) – Most of the chemical compounds in the body (fats, carbohydrates, proteins) • Carbon is essential for life as we know it PE-23. 0

How does carbon become radioactive? • Cosmic rays create the radioactive carbon that is in carbon dioxide – Cosmic rays are high speed particles, such as neutrons and protons. When they crash into the nitrogen in air, they may transfer their neutrons, turns it into C 14. – Regular carbon (C 12) has 6 neutrons, 6 protons. – Radioactive carbon (C 14) has 8 neutrons, 6 protons. It is unstable, and slowly throws off the extra neutrons. • Only a small fraction of the total carbon becomes radioactive – But there is enough to measure – The rate of decay can be used to determine age of fossils and archeological artifacts PE-24. 0 A “simple” cosmic ray detector

How Carbon Gets Into Plants • Carbon in plants comes mostly from air (which today has only 0. 3% in the form of a gas, carbon dioxide). Plants incorporate carbon into organic compounds that transfer to animals that eat plants and soil microbes that consume dead plant matter. • When living matter decays or is burned, some of the carbon returns to the air. PE-25. 0 Atmosphere Animal Plant Decaying Organic Matter

What is the original source of carbon dioxide? • Scientists have evidence that plants came first on earth. Plants consume carbon dioxide, rather than produce it. • So, if there were no animals around, how did carbon dioxide get into the air for the first plants to use? Suggest some possibilities. PE-26. 0

Carbon 14 Dating The age of an object recovered from an archaeological dig can sometimes be determined by carbon dating. Some of the carbon atoms in artifacts are radioactive. Over time, these radioactive carbon atoms lose their radioactivity. These changes take place very slowly! PE-27. 0

What is Half-Life? Half-Life is the amount of time it takes for half of a radioactive substance to decay. For example, it takes 5568 years for one-half of all the radioactive carbon atoms in an artifact to lose their radioactivity. That’s a LONG time!!! PE-28. 0 Click here to see an animation that illustrates the idea of half-life.

Carbon 14 Dating Graph • The graph on the following page shows the percentage of radioactive carbon remaining after an organism incorporated carbon as a part of its structure. • Notice that the line representing these data is not straight, but curves as it approaches 0%. • Do you think this line will ever intersect the Xaxis? Why or why not? PE-29. 0

PERCENTAGE OF C 14 LEFT AFTER DECAY Carbon 14 Dating Graph NUMBER OF YEARS SINCE C 14 BEGAN DECAYING PE-30. 0

Carbon 14 Dating • Most of the artifacts from the Paloma dig site were estimated to be about 6, 000 7, 700 years old. • According to the graph on the previous page, what percentage of radioactive carbon remained in the oldest artifacts? PE-31. 0

Carbon 14 Dating • If an artifact has 50% decay of the radioactive carbon, how old is it? • If only 25% of the initial radioactive carbon remains, how old would such an artifact be? Remember, the half-life of C 14 is 5, 568 years PE-32. 0

Carbon Dating According to the information on carbon dating, how old would an artifact be if it had only 12. 5% of its original radioactive carbon? If only 3. 125% of the initial radioactive carbon remains, how old would the artifact be? PE-33. 0

Why are the artifacts buried? • Most archeological “digs” require careful digging of earth which has buried the artifacts. • Can you guess what might bury the artifacts? – How about dust and decaying plant matter? – How about rivers flooding? • Over thousands of years, would you expect different things to be found at different levels in the earth? Why or why not? PE-34. 0

Crime Should Not PAY! In the story, Mr. Despry was to be paid a “seven figure sum” for stealing several artifacts. What is the smallest seven figure number? What is the largest seven figure number? PE-35. 0

Be An Archeologist If you have a high-speed Internet connection and a computer that supports “Shockwave, ” go to this site: Laventa (http: //www. pbs. org/wgbh/nova/laventa/tryit. html) PE-36. 0

Working For A Living Miguel said that the workers at the dig site could make 250 Nuevo Sol each month by searching for artifacts instead of working on their farms. 2. 29 Nuevo Sol = $1. 00 U. S. Dollar. How much money (in U. S. Dollars) could a Paloma dig site worker make in one year? PE-37. 0

Solving the Mystery of Sickness • What are the possible causes of the various sicknesses in the story? Can you state these causes in the form of an hypothesis? • What kind of evidence would you need to confirm that your hypothesis is correct? • What predictions could you make if the hypothesis were proven correct? PE-38. 0

Investigate the Mystery From the story, you learn that many of the workers feel tired all the time. The boss thinks they are lazy. Let us consider the possibility that they are actually sick. Your challenge: Figure out why they are sick. Click here for information on how to do Scientific Research. PE-39. 0

What key facts might relate to the sickness of the workers? • Make a list of the symptoms of illness. Are they digestive, respiratory, or skin problems? • Write a short description of where the sick people live. • Write a short description about the lifestyle of the sick people. • Make a list of things in their environment that might be part of the problem. PE-40. 0

Is the sickness of Miguel’s sister and father relevant? • His sister seemed to have a different problems: swollen eye, vomiting, diarrhea, gaunt appearance. • Miguel said his father was always tired. • Could we be dealing with two different illnesses or two forms of the same illness? PE-41. 0

Let’s Plan A Strategy • What problems were reported in the story? • What are you trying to find out? • What information do you have? … not have? • What do you hypothesize? See science appendix for help here. • What facts would test your hypothesis? • If your hypothesis is true, what predictions would you make? Do your predictions fit the story? PE-42. 0

Investigating Food • Were any of the same foods likely to have been eaten by several people who were sick? • Are there any conditions under which bad food can make you sick for a long time? Typical food poisoning can make you sick, but you get over it fairly soon. Are all the signs of sickness in the story likely to have been caused by eating bad food? Why or why not? PE-43. 0

Investigating Air • Could there be something in the air that caused this sickness? • Were there respiratory symptoms? • Is this likely? Why or why not? PE-44. 0

Investigating Air Which of the following situations in the story could have polluted the air that the peasants and archeologists were breathing? A. Local power plant nearby B. Burning coal in cook stoves C. Damp, moldy growth on the buildings and houses D. Cigarette smoking E. None of the above PE-45. 0

Investigating Water • Could some kind of water contamination be the problem? • Contaminated drinking water? • Water in which people wash or play? PE-46. 0

Investigating Water Which of the following conditions in the story could have contaminated the water that all the victims were drinking? A. Drinking water from a lake that was near latrines or privies. B. Drinking water from ponds frequented by sheep and other livestock. C. Drinking well water that was contaminated by minerals from local mines. D. Eating fish that live in contaminated lakes. E. None of the above. PE-47. 0

Investigating Skin Contact • We know that hazardous chemicals can get absorbed into the body through the skin. • Did the story suggest that there were any sources of hazardous chemicals that made contact with the girl’s skin? Or the father’s skin? What about bug bites on the skin? Didn’t the story mention a lot of flies, mosquitoes, and “kissing” bugs? PE-48. 0

Can Bugs Carry & Transmit Disease? Investigating Skin Contact § Yes. We all know about flies contaminating food and mosquitoes carrying organisms that cause malaria or encephalitis. • Flies – carry food-poisoning bacteria • Malaria – caused by a blood parasite • Encephalitis – caused by a virus § Symptoms of the illnesses in our story may be similar but not the same. So maybe this is another disease. § Food poisoning – vomiting, diarrhea • Malaria – flu-like, fever, shaking, chills, tiredness • Encephalitis - headache PE-49. 0

Can you generate a hypothesis about a possible cause? • Of the four routes by which the sickness could occur (air, food, water, and skin contact), which seems the most likely? Why? • State your hypothesis in a way that allows you to investigate different causes. • Plan an experiment to investigate the likely causes of the disease. PE-50. 0

What is your hypothesis? • • • PE-51. 0 What conditions have to be met to support your hypothesis? What information in the story supports your hypothesis? What does your hypothesis predict? Are any of those predictions fulfilled in the story?

The Idea of “Vectors” of Disease • In biology, a “vector” is defined as a carrier of disease organisms. Example: a kissing bug sucks blood from a person who has blood parasites. The bug is considered a vector if the bug bites another person and transfers the parasite. • PE-52. 0 Make a list of the kinds of animals or insects that could be a vector.

The Idea of “Life Cycle” of Parasites have different stages in their lives: • They spend part of their lives in one kind of host and another part elsewhere (another species or even outside a host). • Parasites tend to infect only specific species. Likewise, the vector species that carry immature forms of parasites are specific. PE-53. 0

So it looks like we have a disease that is transmitted by insects. Of all the diseases like this, what is the best known? PE-54. 0

Can our disease be Malaria? • World-wide: up to ½ BILLION cases each year • Most common in Asia and in the part of Africa south of the Sahara desert • Present in over 100 countries, including countries in South America PE-55. 0

Malaria Biology • Malaria is caused by a parasite. • Mosquitoes spread the parasite from infected people to other people. • The parasite is single-celled and must undergo development in the mosquito for about a week to become infective. • Once in people, the parasite enters red blood cells, where it grows and multiplies. • Red cells burst, freeing a new crop of young parasites to infect other red cells. PE-56. 0

But Malaria Is Not a Likely Cause of the Girl’s Sickness • Can you identify some problems with the hypothesis that malaria is the cause of the sickness described? Hint: think about the vectors and the symptoms. • How might you test to know if malaria is the cause? PE-57. 0

Reviewing Your Hypothesis in Light of the Evidence • Review your original hypothesis. • Does the evidence support it? • What could be done to have prevented the health problems? … by individual people? … by the public or government? PE-58. 0

Suppose You Think Insects Are Carrying the Disease. How would you prove it? • Design a way to know that the disease is caused by kissing bugs. Hint: think about other Peruvians who have a different lifestyle, live in areas without kissing bugs. • How could you prove the cause and eliminate it at the same time? (Hint: what could you do to get rid of the kissing bugs? ) • What would be the impact of getting rid of these bugs? PE-59. 0

Spread the Word Miguel and his family knew the kiss or sting of the kissing bug was painful, but they did not understand how dangerous the bite of the bug could be. • Design a poster that – Identifies the danger. – Informs the workers about the consequences of being bitten. – Provides information on how to respond after being bitten. Click here for more information on kissing bugs. PE-60. 0

Let’s Do Some Math PE-61. 0

Volume of a Kissing Bug Top View Side View What is the volume of the abdominal portion (green part) of the Kissing Bug? Do not include the volume of the legs. PE-62. 0

How to Solve for Volume You can split the bug’s body up into three parts: a rectangular prism and two parts which (when put together) make a cylinder. PE-63. 0

Specimen Cataloging Each shelf in the cataloging room of the museum could hold an average of 5 specimens. There are 10 shelves per specimen case and 25 cases, how many specimens could be held in the cataloging room? PE-64. 0

Dinosaurs’ Rule Roman knew through his research that dinosaurs ruled the earth from 220 million years ago to 60 million years ago. Find the percentage of time the oldest artifacts found at the dig site have spent on this planet compared to the period of time that the dinosaurs ruled. Remember that the oldest artifacts from the site are 7, 700 years old. Click here for more information on percentages. PE-65. 0

Shipping Charges Robert packed several artifacts into the crate with weights of: 0. 545 kg, 0. 909 kg, 1. 14 kg, 0. 273 kg, and 1. 59 kg. The crate weighed 4. 55 kg and the packing material weighed another 0. 909 kg. Robert was having the crate shipped to the museum by airmail for $37. 40 per kg. How much would it cost to ship this crate? PE-66. 0

Dung! When the kids first met Miguel, he had gathered about 2 pounds of dry dung to add to the fire. Knowing dung can release 7 kilojoules of energy per gram of dung burned, how much energy would be produced from the dung? PE-67. 0 Click here for more information on unit conversions.

Miguel’s Journey Miguel’s family came from a small village in the mountains to earn better pay while working at the dig. Measuring on a map, their village is 4. 45 cm from Paloma. If each centimeter on the map represents a distance of 9. 50 km, how far did they have to travel to get there? If measured in inches, what would be the distance between the dig site and the village as measured on the map? PE-68. 0 Click here for more information on length conversions.

Building the New Museum The room that Roman and Connie entered has shelves from floor to ceiling. If the room is 6 meters in height, the shelves are 50 centimeters apart, and the lowest shelf is 1 meter above the floor, how many shelves are between the ceiling and the floor? PE-69. 0

Paint Fumes Paint fumes can be dangerous if the fumes are highly concentrated. Rooms must be properly ventilated to ensure that fresh air comes in to disperse the fumes. TOXIC PART OF PAINT FUMES Which of these two air samples would you expect to be more hazardous to your health? PE-70. 0

Support For Your Prediction Assume that each red dot represents 1. 5 micrograms (μg) of toxic material in the paint fumes and the volume of each cube is 1 Liter. What is the total weight of the toxic materials in each cubic air sample? What is the concentration of toxic materials in each Liter of air? Express your answer in μg/L. PE-71. 0

A Special Place • Miguel describes the museum at Pachacamac as a place that “lifts the spirits of Peru. ” Why does this place “lift his spirits”? • Write a one-page essay that describes a place that lifts your spirits. Explain why you think this place has this effect. – Try to paint a picture with words so that your readers can form a mental image of the place. – Provide three reasons why this place is special to you. • Review principles of descriptive writing to help build your essay. PE-72. 0

Twenty Questions • Find a partner or work in small groups of three or four students. • Play “Twenty Questions” to see if your friends can guess the location of your special place just from the information that you provide. • All questions must be answered with a simple “yes” or “no”! PE-73. 0

Finding the Area Given the dimensions of Miguel’s poncho (shown below), what is the area of the dark blue portion of his poncho? Express area in meters squared. 0. 8 m a = 20 cm b = 10 cm b 0. 5 m a 0. 5 m FRONT BACK For more information on area calculations, click here. PE-74. 0

If Artifacts Could Talk. . . • Recall from the story that the archaeological dig was located in Paloma, a village that had been inhabited continuously for 7, 700 years! • Imagine that you are Miguel’s father and that you have just unearthed an artifact at the Paloma site. • Imagine what that object might have been and describe it. Remember the key points to include in a descriptive essay. PE-75. 0

What would they say? • Now imagine that you are the artifact and that you can talk! • What will you say to Miguel’s father to help him understand the ancient world from which you came? • What stories would the objects in your own home tell if they could talk? PE-76. 0

Word Explorers • Learning new words will help to improve your writing and reading. Look through “The Kiss of the Assassin” and identify words that are unfamiliar to you. Look in the Glossary of Terms to help find definitions of these words. • Take the Vocabulary Challenge to see if you are an expert Word Explorer! PE-77. 0

Unlocking Language • Unlock language skills to improve your speech and writing. • Information from “The Kiss of the Assassin” can help you improve your knowledge of language! PE-78. 0

Adjectives • Review the definitions of adjectives and adverbs. • Using the five senses, make a list of adjectives to describe this picture. Include sight, sound, smell, taste and touch words. PE-79. 0

Good or Well? • “Good” is an adjective and modifies a noun. For example: “The kissing bug is a good example of a type of bug called a reduvid. ” • “Well” is an adverb and modifies a verb. It can also be used as an adjective to refer to the state of someone’s health. To “feel good” means to be in good spirits. “Good” modifies “spirits”. – Miguel felt good after he had seen the precious ancient relics. • To “feel well” means to be in good health. – Miguel’s sister did not feel well. She had a fever. PE-80. 0

Good or Well? Fill in the blanks with “good” or “well, ” then tell whether each word is acting as an adjective or an adverb. 1. Miguel did a _______ job of helping Robert pack up the shipments. 2. Miguel and Robert worked _______ together. 3. Miguel’s father had not been feeling ______ for a long time. PE-81. 0

A Day in Peru…. • Describe the scene in this picture to begin to understand the daily life of a village in Peru. Use adjectives and adverbs to make your writing vivid and precise. Begin by describing what you see with adjectives, then add actions and life with adverbs. PE-82. 0

For Example…. • There are ruins in Peru. • There ancient ruins in Peru. • The ancient ruins of Peru serve as a strategically hidden map to the past. PE-83. 0

When did this happen? Understanding The Verb Tense • Verb tenses are very important when writing a story or an essay. If you change tenses too frequently, it is confusing to the reader. • Review the choices on the following slides, then correctly indicate the proper tense to be used in each sentence. PE-84. 0

Practicing Verb Tenses 1. Over spring break, Connie and Roman _____ (past tense) Robert in the museum. helped will have helped are helping 2. The museum _____ (future tense) tomorrow. opened has opened PE-85. 0 will opening

Practicing Verb Tenses 3. Miguel _____ (present progressive) to help Connie and Roman. works has worked is working will work 4. Robert ____ (present) the pieces carefully. cleans cleaned cleaning PE-86. 0 clean

Word Endings • A suffix is a letter, syllable, or word added to the end of a word to modify its meaning. • The suffix –“ologist” means “one who studies” and the suffix –“ology” means “the study of. ” • Dissect the word “archaeology. ” What does this word mean? What does an “archaeologist” study? PE-87. 0

Word Dissection Can you predict what each of the following people study? – Entomologist – Biologist – Zoologist – Paleontologist PE-88. 0 – Geologist – Meteorologist – Seismologist – Anthropologist

Who said that? America is called a melting pot because its citizens are from many different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The English language is also complex because many of our words are borrowed from other languages. PE-89. 0

Who said that? Where did each of the following words originate? How will you find out? – – – PE-90. 0 Prairie Canyon Raccoon Patio Hamburger Rodeo

Proof It! Proofread the following letter, and make changes as necessary. Watch for incorrect verb tense, misspellings, subject-verb agreement, punctuation, and incorrect use of plurals. Dear Roman and Connie, Hola! Its your old friend Miguel. I am wanting to right to you for many week, but I have not had the time. I want to tell you about my sister’s health. She is feeling much better everyday! Thank you for writing to told my family about the medicine she needed. He feels better a few days after we gave it to her. This was such a relief! How is you’re friend Robert? Write back with some news! Your Amigo, Miguel PE-91. 0

Reviewing the Adventure • • What was the story all about? What did we learn about Peru? What were the health problems? What was it about the environment that was causing the health problems? How did we figure that out? • What could prevent the health problems? PE-92. 0

Teachers, please click on this link to complete a short survey concerning this module: http: //peer. tamu. edu/forms/Curricula_Survey. shtml. This product is available through the cooperation of the following: PE-93. 0 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Department of Agricultural Education, Texas A&M University Partnership for Environmental Education and Rural Health The Center for Environmental and Rural Health College of Education, Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University © 2001

List of Slide Numbers that Correspond to the Different Subject Areas Science Slides 25 -29, 31, 33, 37, 4162 Social Studies Slides 5 -23 PE 2. 0 -20. 0 PE 22. 0 -26. 0, 28. 0, 30. 0, 34. 0, 38. 0 -59. 0 English Slides 4, 39, 63, 75 -76, 78 -94 PE 1. 0, 36. 0, 60. 0, 72. 0 -73. 0, 75. 0 -91. 0 PE-94. 0 Math Slides 24, 30 -36, 38, 40, 6474, 77 PE 21. 0, 27. 0 -33. 0, 35. 0, 37. 0, 61. 0 -71. 0, 74. 0