Resources: Environmental Education
Families and communities are becoming increasingly interested in finding ways to reduce their impact on the environment. When possible, choosing to walk or bicycle instead of ride in a bus or car is a way that children (and adults) can contribute to a healthier environment. The resources listed here offer interdisciplinary approaches to teach children about air pollution and global climate change with a focus on transportation choices.
- Clean Air Lesson Plans
- The Clean Air Campaign, a Georgia-based non-profit that promotes transportation alternatives to improve air quality, has developed a series of downloadable lesson plans for grades 1–12. These plans feature activities and assignments about air pollution: what it is, how it is caused, what we can do to prevent it, and the effects on humans.
- Drive Clean Across Texas
- The Texas Department of Transportation has developed a variety of materials and lesson plans that cover air quality and transportation. There are activities for grades K–12 that incorporate air pollution, climate change, and transportation into science, math, social studies, and language arts classes.
- Easy Breathers Classroom Activities
- The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has collected activities for grades 5-12 that teach students about air quality, global climate change, and the history and effects of automobile usage.
- ETA Walk to School Curriculum
- This British curriculum, developed by the Environmental Transport Association, provides a week of lessons that focus on global climate change and local traffic congestion. These plans can be adapted for US grades 5 and 6.
- Getting Around Clean and Green
- These educational materials, developed by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, highlight the connection between transportation modes and the environment. This page includes downloadable resources and lesson plans for grades 3-8.
- Marin County Bicycle Coalition Safe Routes to School Lesson Plans
- These environmental lesson plans include games, activities, experiments, and stories to teach students in grades K-8 about personal choices (with a focus on transportation) and energy use.
- Planet Connecticut
- Created by the Connecticut Department of Transportation in association with the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, Project Connecticut features six science-based lesson plans for grades 6-8. These lessons build on one another while introducing the links between greenhouse gas emissions, global climate change, and transportation mode choices.
- Portland “Kids on the Move” and “Smart Moves” Curriculum
- Designed by the Portland Office of Transportation, these classroom activities for grades 4-8 focus on smart transportation choices that have positive effects on students’ health and the environment.
- Safe Routes to Schools: Walking for Health and the Environment Curriculum
- Developed by WalkBoston and the Eastern Research Group, Inc., this Safe Routes to School curriculum provides lessons for grades K-5 that teach children about the connections between walking, health, and the environment.
- Zerofootprint Kids Calculator
- How much carbon do you use? Calculate your carbon footprint! Find out how the way you travel to school, the type of food you eat, and how much electricity you use affects the earth.
