The list below is an overview of our Environmental Science lesson library. For a full list of lessons, including all versions (e.g., digital options, v-scope/slide options) of individual lessons, and the individual lesson SKUs, please visit the Lesson SKUs by Discipline page.

• Quality Matters Certified!
  • The SIG Environmental Science suite is Quality Matters certified. Click here to access the official certificate.
• Interactive Introductory Content
  • Every lab incorporates at least one interactive (animation, summary image, interactive activity, etc.) in the Exploration to increase student engagement with the curriculum.
  • These are designed to blend seamlessly into the curriculum and are always called out ahead of time in the paragraph prior with directions as to how to interact with the item.
• Digital Experiments
  • There are currently 5 fully digital lessons available for Biology, with new lessons in development. A comprehensive list of digital lessons can be found in the FAQ section.
  • Additionally, several lessons include a mix of both hands-on and digital activities.
• Set-Up Videos
  • Set-up videos are incorporated into experiments to guide students through complicated techniques or orient students to utilizing various assets.
• Safety
  • An updated safety overview is required in all courses, and includes a safety video, safety contract, and all relevant information for students ahead of beginning their experiments.

• Acid Rain
  • In the Acid Rain lesson, students differentiate between wet and dry deposition of acid rain, the impacts of acid rain on the environment, and the natural and man-made source of acid rain.
  • In the first experiments, students model acid rain deposition using nitrogen oxide and bromothymol green to understand the impacts of acid rain on aquatic environments.
  • In the second experiments, students evaluate the effect of acid deposition on rocks.
  • Materials include a chembag, rock samples, digital scale, petri dishes, and well plate.
  • This lesson is a great to illustrate a the big picture concept of the damage caused by acid rain, and the different types of acid rain. .

• Determination of Water Hardness
  • This lesson covers the causes and effects of hard water, and how water hardness is measured.
  • In the experiment in this lesson, students perform a titration on a tap water sample to determine the hardness of the water.
  • Materials include a chembag with EDTA for the titration, a syringe, and a stopcock.
  • This lesson is incredibly applicable to real life - water hardness is a concern in many areas of the country

• Renewable Solar Energy
  • This lesson covers renewable energy, sources of renewable energy, and photon and solar elevation.
  • In the experiment, students construct an electrical circuit using a photovoltaic cell and digital multimeter, then calculate wattage to relate power output to angle of a photovoltaic cell.
  • Students receive a digital multimeter, jumper cables, and a photovoltaic cell.
  • This lab is unlike many others as students are working with real components of a solar array, similar to those that may be installed at their home.

Other good labs to demo:

• Oceans and Coasts - A great example of a digital lab. Activities include a case study on marine animal tracking and a digital exercise using Google maps to examine coastal vulnerability to erosion.
• Deforestation - Another great digital lesson, with a virtual case study on the deforestation of Madagascar.

• Cloud is WCAG 2.1 compliant.
• All videos are closed captioned.
• All images use Alt Tags.
• Interactives, including digital experiments, are all designed to be screen reader compatible.

• Carolina
  • Lessons
    • Carolina offers 27 total lessons (including 4 digital or dry labs).
    • Some labs are combinations of other labs (e.g., Quality of Surface Waters has three different versions), which boost the perceived lesson count.
  • Standard Kits
    • Environmental Science (6 labs, $120)
  • Competitive Information
    • Content Coverage - Overall, Carolina's Environmental Science has similar concept coverage to our Environmental Science lessons. Carolina does lump some Geology lessons into their Environmental Science curriculum, which would not typically be taught as a part of these courses. Unique lessons in our kit include Renewable Energy and Oceans and Coasts .
    • Content Delivery - Carolina launched their platform in Summer of 2023. Environmental Science is expected to launch in Spring of 2024 on the platform. See the Carolina Distance Learning cheat sheet for more details. Content continues to be offered via PDF as well.
    • Pedagogy - Carolina offers limited introductory content and experimental support. The introductory content is majority text, very few images, and no interactives. Their experiments do not include set-up images and have very few support videos, leaving students to guess at how to set up their experiments correctly. Small number of assessments with no ability to customize or autograde.

• Labster
  • Lessons
    • No lessons classified specifically as Environmental Science.
    • 20 digital assets classified as ecology, biodiversity, and earth science.
    • Many duplicate digital assets (different assets covering the same concept).
    • Lessons largely focused on ecology, biodiversity, and evolution.
  • Standard Kits
    • Labster offers various packages that vary in length of access time and number of interactives that can be accessed. Pricing is not readily accessible on their website but is generally cited online as less than $100.
  • Competitive Information
    • Content Coverage - Labster's Environmental Science content largely covers ecology and biodiversity related topics. There is little to no coverage of more earth science, environmental chemistry, or sustainability topics. The content is better as part of a biology course, rather than a traditional environmental science kit.  
    • Lesson Duration - The estimated time required by Labster for their lessons ranges from 15 - 40 minutes. To meet the requirements for most colleges (2.5-3 hours per week in lab), students would need to perform multiple modules. In places where there is only a single interactive covering a topic, this could cause major problems for the instructor.
    • Pedagogy - Labster's content is highly gamified with overarching storylines that can distract from the lesson at hand. We take a more straightforward approach, presenting background content with critical information students need to complete the experiment, followed by the experiment, which takes an approach more comparable to on campus. 

• McGraw Hill
  • McGraw Hill advertises having Environmental Science labs in their Virtual Lab collection. However, visiting their Environmental Science page only displays a list of all of their biology-associated virtual lab.
  • Of these, only three are relevant to environmental science.
  • Would not consider McGraw Hill a competitor in the Environmental Science market.

Is this kit Quality Matters certified?

• Yes! Biology was QM certified in May 2022. It will retain this certification for three years. Click here to access the official certificate.

What level course is this for? 

• This course is largely for non-majors.

What other courses can the Environmental Science lessons be used for?

• The lessons in our Environmental Science course could also be used in Ecology and Environmental Chemistry courses.

Do you offer digital experiments?

• Yes, we currently have 5 digital lessons available for Environmental Science. These lessons do not have a hands-on equivalent.