Edutopia Think Green Resource Guide 0

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THINKGREEN

TIPS AND RESOURCES

for EARTH-FRIENDLY

LEARNINGPROJECTS

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2010

THE SKYS THE LIMIT when it comes to dreaming up learning activities with an environmental flavor. But it takes planning to get students to think critically about their planetand maybe even take on a leadership role in solving real-world problems in their own backyards.

Just in time for Earth Day, Edutopia brings you this practical guide. Filled with inspiring ideas and classroom-tested resources, it will help you plan green projects that take student learning deeper. When students dig into environmental challenges, they explore the causes and effects of issues that matter to them. They use 21st-century skills like problem solving and creativity to come up with their own solutions. Sometimes, green projects involve getting your hands dirty and your feet wet through learning activities that extend outside the classroom. New-media tools are useful, too, especially when it comes to telling the story of a successful effort. No wonder student engagement is a natural by-product of these projects.

In this guide, we outline 10 big ideas for helping the planet, along with related resources to help you in the classroom. Ready to give up paper for a day or longer? How about launching a schoolwide campaign to reduce your schools carbon footprint? Those are two projects you can do close to home. If youre looking for more global challenges, youll find those here, too. Naturally, we suggest using technology to connect with like-minded colleagues on projects that cross disciplines or even jump time zones.

Wed love to hear about your favorite Think Green projects. Lets grow the conversation in Edutopias popular online groups. Together, we can turn Earth Day into a year-round celebration of learning.

Suzie Boss Edutopia.org blogger and author of

Reinventing Project-Based Learning

Tips and Resources for Earth-Friendly Learning Projects

#1 Take the Carbon Challenge

#2 Paper: Get Over It!

#3 Green Your Plate

#4 Connect with Earth Explorers

#5 Envision Eco-Art

#6 Move Smarter

#7 Harness the Elements

#8 Speak Up for the Planet

#9 Water Projects Everywhere

#10Encourage Youth Action

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Related Resources:

The Zerofootprint Kids Calculator is designed to help kids estimate their carbon footprint (www.zerofootprintkids.com). With older students or for more in-depth analysis, try the Household Emissions Calculator from the Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html).

Increase Your Green is a green school campaign sponsored by Do Something. Ideas range from planning a green prom to setting up a schoolwide recycling program (www.dosomething.org/increase_your_green).

The Earth Day Educators Network connects more than 25,000 educators around the world with classroom materials and other resources for environmental education (http://earthday.org/education).

For more green school ideas, watch the Edutopia webinar Greening Your School: How One Educator Can Make a Difference. (www.edutopia.org/webinar-october).

Take the Carbon ChallengeBIG CHANGES START WITH SMALL STEPS. Thats the powerful idea behind the Cool School Challenge (www.coolschoolchallenge.org), a program that encourages students and teachers to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions in and around schools.

Mike Town, environmental science teacher at Redmond High School in Washington, developed the Cool School Challenge in collaboration with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. In one year, his school saved 40,000 pounds of C02 by stepping up recycling, reducing waste, and turning off classroom lights when not in use. These are simple steps, but they add up fast. Now, dozens of other schoolsfrom elementary to secondaryare taking the challenge as well.

In a nutshell, heres how it works: Recruit an adult to be your schools challenge coach. The coach will teach student challenge leaders how to conduct classroom energy audits by gathering information about classroom electricity use, heating, waste generation and recycling, and transportation. (The Cool School site includes a challenge tool kit to help with all this.) You can then use the data you collect to estimate the carbon footprint of each classroom. Afterwards, participating classrooms design and implement an action plan, outlining simple, measurable steps to reduce their carbon footprint. Once the results are tallied up, you can share them with the world on the Cool School Challenge Web site.

And for extra credit, try the following: Once students learn to make smarter environmental choices at school, challenge them to practice the same earth-friendly habits at home. Cool the Earth (www.cooltheearth.org) is a nonprofit organization that encourages students (and parent volunteers) to lead energy-saving efforts at home.

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Join the Teach Paperless campaign at Shelley Blake-Pollocks blog (http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com), and read the post that got this project going (http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-was-paper-junkie.html). Follow TeachPaperless on Twitter for more updates (http://twitter.com/teachpaperless).

The Environmental Protection Agency offers the Tools to Reduce Waste in Schools page (www.epa.gov/epawaste/education/toolkit.htm).

Curious about using collaborative documents instead of paper? Read about how schools are using Google Apps Education Edition in this Edutopia article, Improving School Communication with Google. (www.edutopia.org/google-educators-school-communication).

Paper: Get Over It!HOW OFTEN DO YOU START A CLASS by asking students to take out paper and pencil? What if you decided to go paperless for a day, a week, or even longer? How would your teaching practices change?

Shelly Blake-Pollock, a high school teacher from Maryland, reflected on those very questions last year on his Teach Paperless blog. He was motivated to rethink his reliance on paper when his school went to a one-to-one student-to-laptop ratio. One blog post, I Was a Paper Junkie, quickly went viral. Via Twitter and the blogosphere, he launched the TeachPaperless crusade, challenging fellow educators to give up their attachment to paper for Earth Day 2010. By April, more than a thousand teachers around the world had signed on. (See Related Resources for links.)

Reducing paper use delivers some obvious environmental benefits. Preventing a ton of paper waste saves from 15 to 17 mature trees, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and recycling a ton of paper saves enough energy to heat an average home for six months. Those facts can be useful discussion starters to raise awareness among students or fellow teachers.

But giving up paper also offers a golden opportunity to rethink and remodel some old-school teaching habits. Shifting to online workspaces such as Google Docs not only saves paper but also opens new opportunities for collaboration and just-in-time feedback. Having students post on blogs instead of in spiral-bound journals turns the reflection process into a conversation. Recording student brainstorming with a Web 2.0 tool like Wallwisher (www.wallwisher.com) creates a more enduringand shareableartifact of student thinking than old-fashioned sticky notes. Educator Steve Katz has started a collection of paper alternatives to capture more ideas. Naturally, its a collaborative online document. Check out his nifty table of substitutions (http://tinyurl.com/yzu5hwk), and then add your own!

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Lets Move is a new national initiative to raise a healthier generation of kids. Watch the video message from First Lady Michelle Obama (www.letsmove.gov).

Ann Cooper, also known as the Renegade Lunch Lady, shares her insights about youth and nutrition in this talk from TED.com (www.chefann.com/html/about-chef-ann/audio-video/TED-ChefAnn.html).

Learn about the Edible Schoolyard project in this Edutopia story and video, Middle School Students Grow Their Own Lunch. (www.edutopia.org/garden-of-eating-middle-schoolers-grow-lunch).

Find more food-related resources, including a Rethinking Lunch School Guide, at the Center for Ecoliteracy Web site (www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/new-agenda-school-food).

Green Your PlateCAN YOUR STUDENTS TELL the difference between a potato and a tomato? Have they ever seen chicken that isnt shaped like a nugget? Do they know where to find fresh fruits and vegetables in their own neighborhood? If youve watched celebrity chef Jamie Oliver try to sell American kids on a healthier lunch menu, you know that the answers can range from humorous to downright alarming.

With encouragement from First Lady Michelle Obama and others who care about improving the health of young people, many schools are taking steps to encourage better eating habits at lunchtime. To give lunchtime an Earth Day makeover, look for connections between healthy eating and a healthier planet. This is a perfect opportunity to design projects that get students using their critical-thinking skills for a genuineand motivatingpurpose.

John Muir Elementary, in Berkeley, California, has taken a number of steps to reinvent lunch for the kids benefit. Students now enjoy recess first, followed by a more relaxed lunch period. Food-related projects are integrated across the curriculum and often make use of the school garden and kitchen. Similarly, at Lewis Elementary School, in Portland, Oregon, lunch is a daily opportunity to connect learning and environmental action. Students turn lunch scraps into compost for their thriving school garden (which they water by harvesting rainwater). They have cut the schools trash-collection costs by replacing Styrofoam containers with reusable trays and utensils (with parent volunteers taking turns on dish-room duty). Eco-Schools (www.eco-schools.org) encourages sustainable practices in schools worldwide.

Some students discover that poor food choices in their neighborhood are affecting their health. Using a mapping tool like Google Earth (http://earth.google.com) to locate sources of fresh food (and fast food) can help your students find out if they are among the 6.5 million American children who live in a food desertthat is, they live more than a mile from a supermarket. That can set the stage for advocacy projects that get students speaking up to improve local food choices. In New York, urban teens working with the Center for Urban Pedagogy made a compelling video called Bodega Down Bronx (www.anothercupdevelopment.org /projects/detail/57/description#description) to illustrate the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables in their neighborhood.

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The voyage of The Plastiki is a Web 2.0 adventure. Online resources include The Plastiki Web site (www.theplastiki.com), David de Rothschilds Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/DRexplore), and more resources from National Geographic (www.nationalgeographic.com/ field/projects/plastiki.html).

CIESE, the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education, provides a list of ask-an-expert resources that connect students with scientists (www.k12science.org/askanexpert.html).

The Edutopia story Internet Explorers: Virtual Field Trips Are More Than Just Money Savers offers more tips on how to find and make good use of virtual explorations (www.edutopia.org/virtual-field-trips).

Connect with Earth ExplorersS T U D E N T S O F T E N A S S U M E that explorers exist only in history books. In fact, active exploration is still happening every day as scientists strive to answer big questions about our planet. Thanks to technology, many projects offer students a birds-eye view of explorers working under extreme conditions.

GoNorth is a live dogsledding adventure and online education experience that offers a close-up look at an ongoing investigation of the Arctic regions and the people of the extreme North. The current research trek in Greenland continues through May 2010 (and past trips are archived on the site). Free online resources (www.polarhusky.com) include live chats with the exhibition team, plus videos, audio reports, and other curriculum materials.

The Plastiki, a 60-foot catamaran made of 12,000 reclaimed plastic bottles, set sail from San Francisco in late March, bound for Sydney, Australia. British eco-adventurer David de Rothschild is leading the six-person crew whose goal is to raise awareness about climate change. Students can follow via Twitter, a blog, and a companion National Geographic Web site as The Plastiki crew explores the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch and other environmental hot spots. (See Related Resources for links.)

Imagine offering your students the chance to interview a tornado researcher or space-weather meteorologist. Through the JASON Project, such expert scientists share research highlights and breaking science news in live conversations with students. Founded by oceanographer Robert Ballard and now part of National Geographic, the JASON Project (www.jason.org) also offers interactive science experiences appropriate for middle school. (Online resources are free, but you have to pay for print materials and professional development.)

Learning about Earth explorers may motivate students to launch their own scientific investigations. National Lab Day (www.nationallabday), a new initiative, connects students and teachers with scientific and technical experts.

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Kids made Trashasaurus Rexa colorful mascot for the Imagination Factoryfrom thousands of pieces of postconsumer solid waste. Artist and educator Marilyn Brackney shares the story behind the mascot and more award-winning strategies for transforming trash into meaningful art (www.kid-at-art.com).

To plan an interdisciplinary environmental project, you may want to find a willing teaching partner. Social networks for educators can help you find colleagues eager to brainstorm. Edutopia hosts groups on topics like green schools, project learning, and more (www.edutopia.org/groups). Classroom 2.0 (www.classroom20.com) is a social network that connects educators worldwide.

Learn more about Trash for Teaching in the Edutopia article From Trash to Treasure: Reusing Industrial Materials for School Art Projects. (www.edutopia.org/recycle-trash-art-projects) Many other organizations offer recycled materials for schools. Check out SCRAP (www.scrapaction.org) in Portland, Oregon; Arts & Scraps (http://artsandscraps.org) in Detroit, Michigan; ArtStart (www.artstart.org) in St. Paul, Minnesota; and Resource Depot (www.resourcedepot.net) in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Envision Eco-ArtSINCE THE FIRST EARTH DAY IN 1970, this annual event has included art events that celebrate nature and advocate for a healthier planet. But theres no need to limit such engaging projects to one day a year. A growing array of resources will help you integrate environmental art into teaching throughout the year.

Eco-art projects offer ideal opportunities for making connections across disciplines. Greenmuseum.org, an online museum of environmental art, shows what eco-art looks like in practice and offers a tool kit for educators. Featured student projects range from creating interpretive signage for public green spaces to exploring the sculptural and kinetic possibilities of compost bins.

Environmental art, like the world around us, is naturally interdisciplinary. A case study from the Center for Ecoliteracy (www.ecoliteracy.org) describes a project in which students collected paper from on-campus recycling bins, turned it into pulp, and made handcrafted paperwhich they then used to create a paper quilt. In the process, they learned firsthand about how systems work.

Moving things from trash to treasurethats the idea behind a growing number of community organizations that supply educators with reclaimed materials for making art and other projects. Trash for Teaching (www.trashforteaching.com), a nonprofit organization based in Southern California, even has a van that brings recycled materials right to the campus. (See Related Resources for more details.)

What can students make with recycled materials? Pizza boxes offer a perfect canvas for self-portraits, according to art teacher Karen Stanton. (How to Make a Pizza Box Portrait is one of the many projects featured on the Green Art Project Web site (www.thegreenartproject.com). By thinking like designers, students can turn junk into birdbaths, outdoor sculptures, murals, recycling receptacles, picnic benches, and an unending array of other projects.

Dont forget to share your students eco-art projects with the world. Students can upload their best work to PlanetFesto (www.planetfesto.org) to help encircle the planet with a ribbon of green art.

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How walkable is your neighborhood? Walk Score is an online tool that enables you to calculate the walkability of any address and also see how your neighborhood score compares with others (www.walkscore.com).

From HowStuffWorks, learn about the physics of the tire pressure gauge (www.howstuffworks.com/pressure-gauge).

Does your local mass transit system offer free or discounted student fares? Join the discussion about student fare hikes in the Edutopia Special Education Group (http://www.edutopia.org/groups/special-ed/11118).

Move SmarterHOW MANY OF YOUR STUDENTS ride a bus or car to school each day? How many power up their journey on bike or by foot? Green transportation projects help kids understand the consequences of their daily transportation choicesand think about alternatives.

Before launching a project, start by establishing baseline data with a survey of students current transportation habits. SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com) is one of many online survey tools you can use for this.

Once you have a reading on your students travel habits, get them thinking about what they can do to cut down on daily fuel use. Encourage them to think about how they will measure the impact of their new habits, and look for real-world connections to math concepts.

Many communities are launching walking school bus programs to cut down on motorized trips while encouraging more physical activity. Typically, parents take turns accompanying younger walkers to ensure safety. Older students might want to organize a bike train and share the ride with a group. Information about setting up both programs is available from Safe Routes to School (www.saferoutesinfo.org/guide/walking_school_bus/index.cfm).

Carpooling to school cuts down on the number of cars on the road and reduces congestion and pollution in school neighborhoods. In many communities, its easy to find a carpool to join. SchoolPool, in Kansas City, Missouri, is a voluntary program that coordinates carpooling with a free online database (www.marc.org/rideshare/schoolpool.htm#join). Charlottesville, Virginia, offers a similar program, along with a commuting calculator to help you assess the real costs of driving (www.rideshareinfo.org/calculator.asp). If your community doesnt yet have a carpool program, challenge your students to start one.

Students who are old enough to drive are old enough to think about driving more efficiently. Keeping car tires properly inflated is a simple way to improve fuel efficiency. Offering tire-pressure checks could be a good community-service project or club activity.

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Listen to William Kamkwamka share his inspiring story in this radio interview (www.theworld.org/2009/11/16/windpower-from-scratch) or watch him in this TEDTalk video (www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_how_i_harnessed_the_wind.html). Students can ask him questions directly or make comments on his blog (http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com).

The Edutopia story Good Day Sunshine: Students Rise to Solar-Car Challenge describes students engaged in a solar-cardesign challenge (www.edutopia.org/solar-car-critical-thinking).

The Scholastic Lexus Eco Challenge is one of many science competitions that asks students to put their environmental smarts to good use. The Web site showcases past winners and provides resources for project planning (www.scholastic.com/lexus).

Harness the Elements INNOVATORS AROUND THE WORLD are looking for new ways to harness renewable energy sources for a cleaner future. This makes alternative energy a timely and relevant topic for todays studentsmany of whom are already hard at work on their own breakthrough ideas.

To get your students inspired, share the story of William Kamkwamba. As a 14-year-old in Malawi, Kamkwamba cobbled together spare parts from discarded materials to build a windmill, bringing light and hope to his impoverished village. He tells his story in his engaging book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. (See Related Resources for more details.)

In the United States, students are tackling biodiesel and solar projects as authentic science and engineering challenges. Some even win prizes for their efforts. At Thornridge High School, in Dolton, Illinois, a student team built an award-winning biodiesel processor that turns used vegetable oil into clean fuel. (As a bonus, the fuel smells like French fries.) To inspire other students to take on alternative-energy projects, the Thornridge students have shared their story in a series of videos (www.youtube.com/user/ThornridgeBiodiesel).

Solar-cooking projects deliver hands-on learning opportunities while raising awareness about the health and environmental risks of cooking with firewood. For a look at how people are using solar ovens around the worldincluding in relief camps in Haitiexplore the online resources at the Solar Cooking Web site (www.solarcooking.org).

To see how one school uses solar cooking as a springboard for international projects, check out the Abess Center for Environmental Studies at Miami Country Day School. These elementary students have stepped up as global ambassadors for solar cooking by producing short films and educational booklets about how to cook with the sun (http://aces.miamicountryday.org). Through their humanitarian efforts, they have helped bring solar ovens to Afghanistan, Senegal, and other developing countries around the world.

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Related Resources:

This article from Converge magazine describes how to make a compelling public service announcement (www.convergemag.com/artsandhumanities/How-to-Create-the-Perfect-Public-Service-Announcement.html).

The Center for Digital Storytelling offers resources and case studies showcasing effective storytelling techniques. Explore this gallery of digital stories on environmental themes (www.storycenter.org/cs_envtalsocjust.html).

To help students think more critically about the media they consume (and create), explore the online resources from the Center for Media Literacy (www.medialit.org) and PBS Teachers (www.pbs.org/teachers/media_lit/).

Media Smarts: Kids Learn How to Navigate the Multimedia World is an Edutopia video about teaching media literacy (www.edutopia.org/media-literacy-skills-video).

Speak Up for the PlanetONCE STUDENTS TAKE ON A REAL-WORLD environmental project, dont be surprised if they turn into Earth advocates. Whether they investigate the health of a local stream, the quality of the air we breathe, or access to healthy food, students are likely to want to share what they learn. Thanks to social-media tools, they have a range of choices when it comes to speaking up for the planet.

Earthcast 2010 is a live, global, 24-hour webcast that happens on Earth Day, April 22. At this annual event, a project of the Earthbridges community, students from around the planet are invited to speak up about environmental issues and describe the projects they are tackling. Bring your students into the conversation or encourage them to listen to past recordings (http://earthbridges.net). This years keynoter is Jason Czarneki, an environmental-law expert.

Students can reach a large audience by publishing articles in their school newspaper or submitting op-ed pieces or letters to local or national publications. Earth Day Network offers resources for student journalists (http:// earthday.net/studentjournalist).

Making a public service announcement, or PSA, is another way for students to speak up for a cause they care aboutand put their digital-storytelling skills to good use. To learn from the pros, have students critique the Ad Councils gallery of historic public service campaigns (www.adcouncil.org/default.aspx?id=61).

If your students are taking field trips to learn about the environment, they can share the experience by turning their trips into podcasts. Meet Me at the Corner (www.meetmeatthecorner.org) is a collection of student-produced field trip podcasts.

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To see how local water projects can engage learners, see the Edutopia article, Classrooms Without Boundaries: Taking Education Outside in Hawaii (http://www.edutopia.org/classrooms-without-boundaries).

For a global look at health challenges related to clean water, see the Global Water Network (www.globalwaternetwork.org). Click on Adopt-A-Water-Project to find action projects.

Local beaches, rivers, and streams offer ideal locations for real-world restoration projects. See how students from High Tech High, in San Diego, California, put their digital smarts to good use in a project called Media Saves the Beach (www.mediasavesthebeach.org), or watch a video about the project (www.bie.org/tools/video/media_saves_the_beach).

Water Projects Everywhere WHERE DOES WATER GO after it goes down the drain? How clean is the stream in your neighborhood? How do people around the world get their drinking waterand why does an eighth of the worlds population suffer from a lack of clean water? Tapping students curiosity about water sets the stage for high-interest environmental projects. Here are a few questions to get you started.

What if your students could gather water data that would help scientists with their research? GLOBEGlobal Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environmentpromotes inquiry through projects in which students take and a n a l y z e s c i e n t i f i c a l l y v a l i d m e a s u r e m e n t s . Through the GLOBE Watershed Dynamics Project (http://classic.globe.gov/projects / watersheds) , middle school and high school students use global information system tools and real-time data to investigate local watershed issues. GLOBE also offers online resources and teacher workshops to help you design your own research questions and plan interdisciplinary projects.

How does your water quality compare with the water quality in other communities around the world? Thats the question students are answering through the Global Water Sampling Project, developed by the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (www.k12science.org/curriculum/waterproj/index.shtml). Through this collaborative project, students learn to assess water quality and look for relationships and trends in the data collected by project participants. The site includes teacher resources, a gallery for showcasing student projects, and even a spot to post questions for scientific experts.

Why do Americans spend millions on bottled water when they can get it from the tap? What are the real costs of plastic water bottles? To prime the pump for critical thinking about what we drink, show students the animated film The Story of Bottled Water (http:// storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/). Build media literacy with a project that investigates how the advertising industry sells us water, and then challenge students to design their own campaign to get off the bottle. If theyre feeling entrepreneurial, students may even decide to market refillable water bottles with their school logo.

THINK GREEN: TIPS AND RESOURCES FOR EARTH-FRIENDLY LEARNING PROJECTS

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Wetland Watchers: Kids Care for Their Environment is an Edutopia video that shows how a Louisiana school combines service learning with environmental action (www.edutopia.org/wetland-watchers).

Do Something is a youth organization that uses social media to encourage real-life action. Teens can connect with others who share their passion, share a video, join existing projects, or start their own (www.dosomething.org).

Take Action Science Projects is a teacher-developed site that encourages students to tackle real-world challenges through inquiry-based science. California teacher Sue Boudreau and colleagues have field-tested the resources and curriculum with their own middle school students (www.takeactioncurriculum.com).

Encourage Youth ActionWHAT CAN KIDS DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR EARTH? Plenty, and they dont have to wait until theyre adults to get started.

Christopher Swain walks his talk when it comes to environmental actionor rather, he swims it. Hes currently swimming 1,500 miles along the Atlantic shore. Using social media, hes documenting what its like to swim through industrial waste, oil slicks, and other nasty stuff. But he comes out of the water frequently to speak with students about what they can do to clean up the oceans. He invites students to follow his adventure, analyze the data he collects, or ask him a question online (http://changents.com/christopherswain). School groups can request an in-person visit or arrange to chat with him via Skype.

TakingITGlobal (www.tigweb.org) is an online community of some 300,000 young people from around the world. Students can use the network to research environmental issues, share their action plans, or join ongoing projects. Teachers will also find useful resources here, including an international registry for collaborating with colleagues worldwide and access to a virtual classroom for organizing learning projects.

The Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign (www.unep.org /billiontreecampaign) is a worldwide tree-planting initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme. By registering their pledges online and then planting indigenous trees, students can help reach the global goal of a billion new trees. Web resources include guides for choosing which trees to plant and suggestions for making sure young trees receive the care they need to grow.

Nearly half the worlds schools lack access to clean drinking water. Students can make a difference by getting involved in Water for Schools (www.charitywater.org/schools), a student-led campaign to raise awareness and funds for water projects at schools in developing nations. Project sponsor Charity: Water tracks ongoing projects with photos, stories, and Google Earth markers so students can see results.

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THINK GREENTIPS AND RESOURCES FOR EARTH-FRIENDLY LEARNING PROJECTS

ABOUT EDUTOPIA Edutopia is where The George Lucas Educational Foundations vision to highlight what works in education comes to life. We are a nonprofit operating foundation providing real-world examples from districts, schools, and programs that are successfully changing how our children learn.

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Edutopia Think Green Resource Guide 0