QR Challenge: Environmental Science- Earth Day

Created using the ClassTools QR Treasure Hunt Generator

Teacher Notes

A. Prior to the lesson:

1. Arrange students into groups. Each group needs at least ONE person who has a mobile device.

2. If their phone camera doesn't automatically detect and decode QR codes, ask students to

• Download a QR reader (e.g. I-Nigma | NeoReader | Kaywa) onto their mobile devices
• Bring these devices into the lesson.

3. Print out the QR codes.

4. Cut them out and place them around your class / school.

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B. The lesson:

1. Give each group a clipboard and a piece of paper so they can write down the decoded questions and their answers to them.

2. Explain to the students that the codes are hidden around the school. Each team will get ONE point for each question they correctly decode and copy down onto their sheet, and a further TWO points if they can then provide the correct answer and write this down underneath the question.

3. Away they go! The winner is the first team to return with the most correct answers in the time available. This could be within a lesson, or during a lunchbreak, or even over several days!

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C. TIPS / OTHER IDEAS

4. A detailed case study in how to set up a successful QR Scavenger Hunt using this tool can be found here.

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Questions / Answers (teacher reference)

Question	Answer
1. Pollutant that results from burning coal; Heavy Metal; Causes central nervous system damage	Mercury (Hg)
2. Pollutant regulated by the EPA; Results from car emissions/fossil fuels; Deposition may lead to eutrophication	Nitrogen Oxides (NOX)
3. Acid that forms as a result of sulfur oxides reacting with water; A major component of acid rain	Sulfuric Acid
4. Greenhouse gas resulting from combustion of old carbon reservoirs; Currently unregulated by the EPA	Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
5. Class of chemicals banned by the Montreal Protocol; Chlorine atoms released by UV light acts as a catalyst to break down ozone molecules in the stratosphere	CFCs
6. Greenhouse gas resulting from landfills, animal digestion, and rice farming; High heat trapping potential	Methane (CH4)
7. Substances get into water from several sources like the mining and process of radioactive minerals such as uranium and thorium; Human health effects include mutations, birth defects, mental retardation, genetic disease, leukemia and cancer	Radioactivity
8. Includes the following compounds: H2O2, H2SO4, PANs, and O3; Produced via reaction of substances added to the atmosphere with chemicals already present in the atmosphere with sunlight and water	Secondary Pollutants
9. Dangerous indoor air pollutant; Most serious in developed countries	Tobacco Smoke
10. A radioactive gas found in some soils and rocks, can seep into some houses and increase the risk of lung cancer	Radon Gas
11. Specific spots where large amounts of pollution are discharged (factory smokestacks)	Point Source Pollution
12. Any solid (or liquid) particles small enough to be carried aloft in air, dust, soot, sulfates, nitrates; Results from combustion; Produces smog & haze; Human health-respiratory damage	Particulate Matter
13. Colorless gas; secondary pollutant from sunlight, heat, nitrogen oxides, and C-containing chemicals; contributes to smog; harmful to living tissue	Tropospheric Ozone
14. Excessive amount of suspended soil particles that eventually settle out and accumulate on the bottom of a body of water; Measure-Turbidity	Sediment Pollution
15. Metal in atmosphere as particles, from gasoline additive, phased out in the 1980s; Pollutes water passing through pipes; Diverse health impacts, including central nervous system damage, still in air in developing countries	Lead
16. Colorless gas from coal burning for electricity and industry; contributes to acid precipitation; May be controlled by scrubbers	Sulfur Dioxides (SO2)
17. Smog from fossil fuel combustion; The kind that blanketed London in 1952; "Gray air smog"; Contains soot, sulfur, CO, CO2	Industrial Smog
18. Addition of Nitrogen and Phosphorus lead to large algal blooms. Microorganisms begin decomposition and deplete dissolved oxygen. This creates hypoxia zones	Eutrophication
19. Colorless, odorless gas from vehicle exhaust and other sources, dangerous-prevents oxygen uptake	Carbon Monoxide (CO)
20. Substances that move easily from the liquid to gas state including terpenes and dry cleaning fluids; Pollution concern because they are photochemically reactive and lead to tropospheric ozone	Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
21. Results from denitrification of inorganic fertilizers; Greenhouse gas that has high heat trapping capacity and persists in the atmosphere	Nitrogen Dioxide (N2O)
22. Pollution cannot be traced to a singles site of discharge (atmospheric deposition, agriculture/industrial/residential runoff)	Non-Point Source Pollution
23. Smog from reaction of sunlight with pollutants; The kind that blankets so many American cities; "Brown air smog"; Contains tropospheric ozone, NO2, VOCs, 100 more...; Hot sunny days in urban areas creates perfect conditions	Photochemical Smog
24. The only non-anthropogenic greenhouse gas	Water (H2O)
25. Governs the transportation of hazardous material and wastes	Hazardous Material Transportation Act
26. A conservation law prohibiting the transportation of illegal captured or prohibited animals across state lines. It was the first federal law protecting wildlife and is still in effect though it has been revised several times. Today the law is primarily used to prevent the importation or spread of potentially dangerous non-native species	Lacey Act
27. Agreement among 150 nations requiring greenhouse gas emission reduction	Kyoto Protocol
28. Established primary and secondary air quality standards. Required states to develop implementation plans. Set limits and goals to reduce mobile source air pollution and ambient air quality standards	Clean Air Act
29. Protects species that are considered to be threatened or endangered. Includes migratory birds and their habitats	Endangered Species Act
30. Allowed congress to set aside federally owned land for preservation	Wilderness Act
31. Promotes a national environment free from noise that jeopardizes health and welfare. Establishes research, noise standards and information dissemination	Noise Control Act
32. Created to protect worker and health. Its main aim was to ensure that employers provide their workers with an environment free from dangers to their safety and health, such as exposure to toxic chemicals, excessive noise levels, mechanical dangers, heat or cold stress, or unsanitary conditions	Occupational Safety and Health Act
33. United States federal law that authorizes and governs prospecting and mining for economic minerals, such as gold, platinum, and silver on federal public lands	Mining Act of 1872
34. Banned the production of aerosols and initiated the phase out of all CFCs	Montreal Protocol
35. The EPA is allowed to set the standards for drinking water quality and oversees all the states, localities and water suppliers who implements these standards	Safe Drinking Water Act
36. Regulates and enforces all discharge into water sources and wetland destruction/construction	Clean Water Acts
37. Requires restoration of abandoned mines	Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
38. Established the soil conservation service, which deals with soil erosion problems, carries out soil surveys and does research on soil salinity	Soil Conservation Act
39. Skin Cancer, Cataracts, Decreased Plant Growth	Effects of Ozone Depletion
40. Biome where soils are lowest in nutrients	Tropical Rain Forest
41. Most Populous nations	India and China
42. Formed by chemical reactions involving sunlight and NOX VOCs & O3	Photochemical Smog
43. Inorganic Nitrogen is converted into amino acids & DNA of living organisms Ex: Uptake of Nitrogen in plants	Assimilation
44. Perfect agricultural soil with equal portions of sand, silt, and clay	Loam
45. Non-living components of an ecosystem	Abiotic
46. The number of children a couple must have to replace themselves ~2.1 for developed countries	Replacement Level Fertility
47. Trade winds weaken & warm surface water moves towards South America=drought in Western Pacific and increased precipitation in Southwestern North America	El Nino (ENSO)
48. Organic dark material remaining after decomposition by microorganisms	Humus
49. 1979 - Near power plant meltdown- loses cooling water- radioactive materials escape into the atmosphere	Three-Mile Island
50. Represents the largest terrestrial biome- characterized by needle leaf trees and cold dry winters	Taiga
51. Treeless plains that are the coldest of all biomes	Tundra
52. Peat, Lignite, Bituminous and Anthracite coal	Coal Formation
53. Species that serve as early warning signs that an ecosystem is damaged	Indicator species
54. Vital process required for life to exist on earth- if accelerated, leads to global warming	Greenhouse Effect
55. The number of individuals that can be sustained in an area	Carrying Capacity
56. Reproductive strategy in which organisms reproduce late, bear few, cared for offspring ex: elephants	K-strategists
57. Found in cities that burn large amounts of coal	Industrial Smog
58. Development of communities in an area previously not inhabited by life Ex: Lava	Primary Succession
59. Ammonia converted to nitrate ions	Nitrification
60. Limiting factors in plant growth- does not have a gas phase in its biological cycle	Phosphorus
61. When energy is changed from one form to another some is always degraded into lower quality energy (usually heat)	2nd Law of Thermodynamics
62. Causes Cancer	Carcinogen
63. Manatee, California Condor, Atlantic Salmon	Endangered Species
64. CO, CO2, SO2, NO, hydrocarbons, particulates	Primary Air Pollutants
65. Reproductive strategy in which organisms reproduce early and bear small unprotected offspring	r-strategists
66. Rapid algae growth caused by an excess of nitrogen and phosphorus	Algal Bloom
67. Doubling Time 70/% Growth Rate	Rule of 70
68. "Human population cannot continue to increase. Consequences will be war, famine, and disease."	Thomas Malthus
69. Part of the demographic transition model where death rate decreases but birth rates remains high	Transitional Stage
70. Species in an ecosystem whose role is more important than others	Keystone Species
71. These occur at plate boundaries	Volcanoes and Earthquakes
72. Grassland scattered with individual trees and covers almost half the surface of Africa	Savanna
73. The amount of chemical that kills half the animals in a test population	LD-50
74. Chemicals buried in an old canal, school, and homes built over it- led to the Superfund Law	Love Canal
75. Part of the demographic transition model-decline in birth rate, population growth slows	Industrial Stage

 

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