Acid Mine Drainage and Precipitates

In this video, environmental scientists measure the pH of water to detect acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine and then demonstrate how metals present in acid drainage fall out of solution as precipitates when a basic substance is added to the water.

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Controlling Water Run-off

This video shows how the environmentally friendly design of the Visitor Center at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville slows down water run-off and helps to control non-point-source water pollution, conserve water, and prevent soil erosion

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Environmental Impact of Acid Mine Drainage

This video shows how acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine has affected Wildcat Branch in Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest. Because the creek has a very acidic pH of 2.9, most organisms cannot survive there, and Wildcat Branch is essentially dead.

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Reusing Wastewater

This video demonstrates how peat filtration beds at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky purify and conserve wastewater and eliminate one cause of non-point-source water pollution.

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The Geology of Coal

In this video, a geologist describes how coal, a sedimentary rock, was formed when organic materials piled up in swamps millions of years ago. Over time, heat and pressure transformed the buried materials into forms of coal that cause acid mine drainage when exposed to oxygen.

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Recycling and Restoration

This video explains how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky used recycled cypress from pickle vats to build its visitor center and then “paid back” nature by creating a cypress-tupelo swamp at one end of a lake on the park grounds.

Scale City: FAQs and Media List

This PDF answers questions teachers may have about Using Scale City To Teach Proportional Reasoning, including contact information. It also includes a Media List with the times of all the videos in the teaching modules that may be used to help plan a group professional development event around Using Scale City.

High-Sulfur Coal and Acidic Water

In this video, a geologist measures the pH of water after high-sulfur coal from a Kentucky coal mine has been added to it. This test demonstrates that the sulfate salts found on the coal’s surface cause the water to become much more acidic.

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Rain Gardens

This video shows how a rain garden at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky slows down the flow of water from the forest’s parking lot and helps prevent soil erosion.

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Mycoremediation

This video explores the process of mycoremediation: planting fungi such as oyster mushrooms to mitigate non-point-source water pollution caused by oil, gasoline, and other toxic substances.

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Restoring Lower Rock Creek

This brief video describes how Lower Rock Creek’s location between two National Wild and Scenic Rivers caused Kentucky environmentalists to choose the creek as a target for acid mine drainage remediation.

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Acid Mine Drainage Remediation

In this video, an environmental technologist visits an abandoned coal mine in Kentucky to talk about how a remediation system (a series of settling ponds and treatment cells) is neutralizing the acid drainage flowing from the mine and keeping it from damaging a creek downstream.

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Applying the Scientific Method

This video provides a real-life example of the scientific method: testing hypotheses about which plants will grow most successfully on a green roof in Kentucky.

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Results of Acid Mine Drainage Remediation

In this video, a biologist visits Rock Creek in Pulaski County, Kentucky to show how acid mine drainage remediation has increased the stream’s pH from acidic levels to almost neutral. Although the ecosystem has not been completely restored, many species have returned to Rock Creek.

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Stream Restoration

This video explores how Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest near Louisville, Kentucky has restored a channelized or straightened stream to its original meandering path, thereby improving the stream’s water quality and creating a better habitat for wildlife.

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Aquatic Insects

In this brief video, a biologist talks about the macroinvertebrates (typically aquatic insects) that form the basis of food webs in healthy Kentucky streams.

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Detached Wetlands

This video depicts a detached wetland, a small pool that forms beside a shallow meandering stream when it overflows its banks. These wetlands are important breeding grounds for the invertebrates that live in and beside streams

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Acid Mine Drainage: General Level Background Essays

These two background essays provide general information about acid mine drainage (AMD) for grades 6-12. The first explores how AMD is formed and its environmental impact, and the second focuses on the chemical processes involved in AMD. They can be shared with students or used as a reference by teachers.

Bernheim Forest: Background Essays

These two essays provide background information for grades 4-12 about water conservation and preservation at Bernheim Forest. The first essay describes the water-friendly features of the Bernheim Visitor Center, and the second describes two restoration projects undertaken at the forest.

Acid Mine Drainage: Advanced Level Background Essay

This background essay for high school chemistry explores the chemical processes that underlie the problem of acid mine drainage and includes detailed equations representing these processes. It can be shared with students or used as a reference by teachers.

Bernheim Forest Discussion Questions

This PDF combines all discussion questions from the eight “Bernheim Forest” videos into a single document for teachers to download and print.

Acid Mine Drainage Discussion Questions

This PDF combines all discussion questions from the eight “Acid Mine Videos” pages into a single convenient document that teachers can easily download and print. The discussion questions are divided into three levels: General (6-12), Intermediate (9-12), and Advanced (High School Chemistry).

Bernheim Forest Graphic Handouts

This set of five graphic handouts illustrate concepts from the eight “Bernheim Forest” videos including the design of the green roof, the cistern, and the peat filtration system as well as mycoremediation to offset oil and gasoline pollution and restoring a creek to its original meander.

Acid Mine Drainage Quantitative Questions, Advanced Level

This handout for high school chemistry students is divided into general, intermediate, and advanced problems that require students to balance chemical equations, write equilibrium expressions, and answer other quantitative questions related to acid mine drainage.

Bernheim Forest Glossary

This glossary provides definitions for scientific and technical terms used in the eight “Bernheim Forest” videos.

Acid Mine Drainage Glossary

This glossary provides definitions for scientific and technical terms used in the eight “Acid Mine Drainage” videos.

Acid Mine Drainage Lesson Plans, Grades 6-9

These two physical science/chemistry lesson plans for grades 6-9 are both lab activities. One involves using acid/base indicators to test the acidity or alkalinity of common household chemicals, and the other involves testing how different factors affect the solubility of substances in water.

Acid Mine Drainage Graphic Handouts

This set of four graphic handouts illustrate important concepts from the eight “Acid Mine Drainage” videos: the pH of water, what the term “logarithmic scale” means relative to pH, how raising pH causes metal ions to fall out of solution, and an acid mine drainage remediation system.

20-Year Map of Global Rainfall

This visualization from NASA shows global rainfall patterns over a 22-year span. It incorporates data from a combination of remote-sensing and ground-based sources.

Acid Lake

Add acidity to a healthy lake and see what happens to the plants and animals in this interactive activity adapted from EcoKids.

Unpacking the Standards

This video clip shows Kentucky adult education instructors working together to explore the language of common core standards. They learn how to locate the specific skills that a standard requires a student to use.

Allopatric Speciation

These images from the Smithsonian Institution depict Nancy Knowlton's work with snapping shrimp in Panama. Knowlton found that the closing of the isthmus -- dividing the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean -- resulted in new species of shrimp.

All Planet Sizes

This illustration from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory shows the approximate sizes of the planets relative to each other. Note that the planets are not shown at appropriate distances from the Sun.

American Flag

This Building Block video shows a close-up of an American flag billowing in breeze. The camera pulls out to reveal the shadow of an eagle statue in the foreground.

American Flags

This Building Block video features nine American flags on poles billowing in a strong wind.

Amplitude

This interactive activity adapted from the University of Utah's ASPIRE Lab shows how a pendulum's amplitude changes as you set it swinging from different distances from its axis, and how the amplitude of a sound wave changes as you adjust the volume.

An Alaska Native Community Helps Seals

This video from First Alaskans Institute spotlights the Alaska Native community of St. Paul and its hands-on commitment to care for the land and animals on which it depends.

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Analyzing an Ecosystem

In this interactive activity adapted from the University of Alberta, identify the living and nonliving things in an ecosystem. Then look further at the living things to identify the producers, the consumers, and examples of mimicry.

Animal Classification Game

Learn about classes of animals and test your ability to identify animals as mammals, birds, reptiles and more in this interactive activity adapted from Sheppard Software.

Animal Coverings

It takes a thick skin to withstand the hardships that life has to offer. This collection of images shows a variety of animals, each with a slightly different type of protective covering.

Arctic Sea Ice Satellite Observations

In this interactive activity produced for Teachers' Domain, learn how Arctic sea ice has changed over the past 25 years in terms of maximum winter extent, concentration, and the timing of breakup each spring.

Astronomical Images in Different Wavelengths

Visible light is just one portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that a telescope may detect. This collection of images produced for Teachers' Domain features radio wave, infrared, visible light, and X-ray images of distant stars and galaxies as well as images of the telescopes designed to detect the various wavelengths of radiation.

Atmospheric Oxygen

In this feature, adapted from Interactive NOVA: "Earth," students explore the relationship between oxygen concentration and the well-being of various organisms by simulating a change in oxygen levels and observing what happens.

Baboon

In this Building Block video, watch as a big fluffy baboon sits in the tall grass and eats.

Backyard Birdfeeders

This video from WPSU’s series Outside suggests how to feed birds in winter, a hobby that can foster awareness, care, and respect for birds.

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Backyard Turtles

In this video from the WPSU’s series Outside, learn about backyard turtle habitats, their favorite foods, and why they don’t make good pets.

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Backyard Wildlife

Squirrels and chipmunks are just two of the animals you might see. Backyard Wildlife, an original KET video, encourages children to explore the world outside their back door.

Backyard Wildlife Interactive

Squirrels and chipmunks are just two of the animals you might see. Backyard Wildlife, an original KET video, encourages children to explore the world outside their back door.

Aligning Resources to Standards

This video clip shows Kentucky adult education instructors working together to align resources to common core standards. They learn how to identify the most effective resources for standards-based instruction.

Bighorn Sheep

This video segment from Outdoor Nevada explores the adaptations that help desert bighorn sheep survive in their habitat.

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