Students engage in Project Based Learning (PBL) and are asked to take on the role of environmental engineers using the Engineering Design Process (EDP) to design a process for cleaning up an oil spill in a river.  Students will use their background knowledge of environmental systems to investigate the relationships and cycles within a river ecosystem.  They will compare the structures and functions of organisms and explain how they affect their ability to survive in their environment.  Students will refine their understanding of inherited traits and learned behaviors and differentiate between them.  They will investigate the interdependence of living and nonliving components of an ecosystem and how they are impacted by changes.