Learn what happens when an animal is rehabilitated and returned to the wild. In many cases, we may never know, but there are a few ways post-release data can be gathered on former patients. This insight not only can prove that wildlife rehabilitation works, but post-release data can also contribute important information about overall wildlife populations. In this episode, join Center staff and wildlife researchers as they reflect on what some former wildlife patients have taught us.

Learn how to set up a safe backyard habitat, including the critical components to make your yard a sanctuary for wild animals. Join Wildlife Center staff and backyard naturalists to learn how we can create safe spaces to attract wildlife while minimizing our impact and chance of disturbance for our wild neighbors.

Learn the reasons why keeping cats—domestic pets—indoors is better for wildlife, the cats themselves, and human health. Outdoor cats cause significant problems for wildlife and the environment; these cats also have shorter lifespans and are subjected to many more dangers than their indoor counterparts. Join Center staff, health experts, and a cat behaviorist to learn how we can fix this human-caused issue and keep wildlife, cats, and the environment safer.

This video and accompanying essay examine ways to reduce the environmental impact of burning coal. Two technologies are discussed: turning solid coal into a clean-burning fuel gas (syngas), and capture and storage of CO2.

Learn about one of the biggest impacts that humans have on their environment—Litter. It isn’t just an aesthetic problem; it has serious impacts on habitats, wildlife health, as well as human health and safety. The consequences of even small acts of littering can be far-reaching and long-lasting. Join the Wildlife Center staff and watershed conservation authorities to learn more about the problems litter can pose, as well as a variety of ways that you can help reduce litter.

Learn about lead toxicity and its effect on wildlife. Lead toxicity is a significant problem for Bald Eagles, vultures, and other birds of prey; more than two-thirds of eagles admitted to the Wildlife Center of Virginia have measurable levels of lead in their blood. Join the Wildlife Center staff and other experts to learn why lead poisoning occurs in wildlife, how it’s treated, and how we can work together to solve this preventable problem.

This lesson is designed to introduce students to several water quality indicators by using standard water testing equipment to test and record precise measurements of water quality for samples from local natural sites. Through analysis of the data, they will relate water quality parameters' relevance to aquatic ecosystem health.

This lesson is designed to introduce students to several water quality indicators by using standard water testing equipment to test and record precise measurements of water quality for samples from local natural sites. Through analysis of the data, they will relate water quality parameters' relevance to aquatic ecosystem health.

This lesson is designed to introduce students to impacts of human activity on the health of watersheds. Both point source and non-point source pollution will be investigated and used to evaluate the health of the Chesapeake Bay and the James River. Finally, students will be asked to consider ways the human impact can be modified to improve water quality and bivalve habitat.

Video Description:  In this close-up video, Dr. Lola Fatoyinbo Agueh, a Research Physical Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, shares her love for exploring new places and passion for studying Earth, from the ground to satellite imagery.  Video Length:  1:51NASA eClipsTM is a suite of online student-centered, standards-based resources that support instruction by increasing STEM literacy in formal and nonformal settings.  These free digital and downloadable resources inform and engage students through NASA-inspired, real-world connections.NASA eClips Ask SME: Close-up with a NASA Subject Matter Expert videos are professionally developed to capture a glimpse of NASA SME's personal interests and career journeys. Each can be used to spark student interest and broaden their ideas of the STEM workforce. Additional videos in this series can be found by searching GoOpenVA using "NASA eClips Ask SME".

Video Description:  Our Earth is a dynamic system with diverse subsystems that interact in complex ways.What are those subsystems and how do they interact?How are these subsystems and the global Earth system changing?What causes these changes?How does NASA monitor these changes?How can Earth system science provide societal benefit?Jessica Taylor, an atmospheric scientist at NASA Langley Research Center, and Dr. Steven Pawson, an Earth scientist from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, help answer these questions and demonstrate how mathematical modeling helps scientists in their predictions of climate, weather, and natural hazards.  Video Length:  5:02.NASA eClips Real World segments (grades 6-8) connect classroom mathematics to 21st Century careers and innovations.  They are designed for students to develop an appreciation for mathematics through real-world problem solving.

Video Description:  Balancing Earth's incoming and outgoing energy is like balancing an equation. When both are equal, Earth's energy is in balance. Learn more about how changes in this balance may impact Earth.  Video Length:  2:56.NASA eClipsTM is a suite of online student-centered, standards-based resources that support instruction by increasing STEM literacy in formal and nonformal settings.  These free digital and downloadable resources inform and engage students through NASA-inspired, real-world connections.NASA eClips Real World segments (grades 6-8) connect classroom mathematics to 21st Century careers and innovations.  They are designed for students to develop an appreciation for mathematics through real-world problem solving.

NASA eClips Real World:  Food Security -- Monitoring Crops from SpaceVideo Description:  Discover how NASA's Earth-observing satellites gather data to monitor food growth. Dr. Inbal Becker-Reshef describes how mathematics is used to interpret satellite data and describe vegetation and crop yield. Dr. Hannah Kerner shares how algorithms and models use NASA data to describe and predict food supply and food shortages. This work through NASA Harvest provides tools for farmers and governments to describe and predict food security worldwide. Video Length:  5:25.NASA eClipsTM is a suite of online student-centered, standards-based resources that support instruction by increasing STEM literacy in formal and nonformal settings.  These free digital and downloadable resources inform and engage students through NASA-inspired, real-world connections.NASA eClips Real World segments (grades 6-8) connect classroom mathematics to 21st Century careers and innovations.  They are designed for students to develop an appreciation for mathematics through real-world problem solving.

 Learn the meaning of "One Health." One Health is a concept that connects the health of animals, people, and the environment. Each aspect is equal, important, and delicately intertwined. In this episode, Wildlife Center veterinary and rehabilitation staff, along with public health officials, explain One Health concepts and challenges and highlight how we can work together for the optimal health of all. 

Following Curiosity and Perseverance on Mars often means roving to places with interesting materials  to study, places away from the initial landing site. In this lesson, students experience the processes involved in engineering a communication protocol. To  reach their goal, students must create a calibrated solution within constraints and  parameters of communicating with a rover on Mars. Students will explore the opportunities and challenges of remote robotics by framing the problem around the idea that scientists and computer scientists must work together to successfully program rovers in remote locations like Mars. Students will also explore the idea that a robot simply follows a set of well defined algorithms.  Students will be provided a set of possible courses that their robot must navigate. Students will code their robot to navigate around the obstacles within the course to arrive at a set location.

Please click on the link above to access a google document I created to review renewable and nonrenewable resources. I assigned this for homework as a graded test review. This review covers the entire unit.

Learn about becoming a veterinarian. The Wildlife Center of Virginia is a teaching hospital for wildlife medicine and conservation. Through intensive, hands-on programs in veterinary medicine, wildlife rehabilitation, and education, the Center staff train dozens of people each year. These professional staff and students may now be found on the cutting-edge of wildlife veterinary medicine around the world.

Learn about the many ways technology has transformed wildlife medicine and education. In many cases, technology has allowed us to treat injured wildlife more quickly and more effectively and has shaped the way we form our protocols and procedures. New technologies have also allowed us to expand our educational footprint and reach new people around the world.

This lesson is designed to allow students to explore local issues to the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.Potential topics that may arise include pollution, stormwater runoff, overharvesting of fisheries, sea levelrise, habitat destruction, or development/construction. The associated video will highlight issues relatedto sediment, storms and flooding, and sea level rise, but students can investigate any environmentalissue that is relevant to them. While issues may not all be caused specifically by climate change, theissues are exacerbated by climate change, therefore climate change is a thread throughout thewatershed investigation.

This activity introduces the idea of cyberbiosecurity in the context of a "clue" style activity focused on vulnerabilities in the U.S. food system. It can be facilitated in 60 minutes, either in a single session or 3-4 shorter sessions.  This activity is part of the Agricultural Cyberbiosecurity Education Resource Collection that contains resources for formal and non-formal agricultural educators working with middle school aged youth. Published as Open Educational Resources, all resources are provided in durable (pdf) and customizable (MS Word) formats. They are hosted on  GoOpenVA in a unique resource collection, Ag Cybersecurity Virginia Tech, at https://goopenva.org/curated-collections/143 and on on Virginia Tech’s stable repository, VTechWorks at https://doi.org/10.21061/cyberbiosecurity