Environmental Education Resources for Teachers
Teaching about the environment can be fun for both teachers and students. DEQ has developed lesson plans for various grade levels on a wide range of air quality, water quality, and waste management topics to assist teachers in providing environmental education.
General
- Energy Conservation Tips for Schools (Fact Sheet)
- Hey, We Need That! (Lesson Plan: K – 5th grades)
Students learn that we need sunlight and clean air, water, and land to live and observe what happens when plants don't have these necessities. - Playing Hide and Seek...With Pollution! (Lesson Plan: Pre-K - 3rd grades)
Students explore the concept of pollution through an activity and a coloring sheet. - Pollution Prevention (P2) Bingo (Lesson Plan: 3rd - 12th grades)
Play "Bingo!" to reinforce good environmental practices. Good to supplement other activities.
Air Quality
- Clean Air Zone: Putting it to the Test (Lesson Plan: 7th - 12th grades)
Students bring the anti-idling Clean Air Zone program into schools and study its effects. - Earth Cleaning: Dusting the Air (Lesson Plan: 4th - 8th grades)
Students make "dust catchers" to collect particulate pollution around their school. - Inversion in a Cup (Lesson Plan: 4th - 8th grades)
Students create a temperature inversion and observe how cold air becomes trapped and how pollutants can become trapped with that cold air. - Smoke Detectives (Lesson Plan: 4th - 7th grades)
Students observe air quality conditions in their town to investigate the link between air quality and wood smoke. - When a Car Coughs...Taking a Close Look at Vehicle Exhaust (Lesson Plan: 7th - 9th grades)
Students capture particulate pollution from vehicle exhaust and compare results among vehicles.
Water Quality
- Incredible, Edible Aquifer (Lesson Plan: 4th - 8th grades)
Students build edible aquifers and learn about aquifers and ground water. - Pollution and Healthy Environment: Like Oil and Water (Lesson Plan: 4th - 8th grades)
Students pollute water to learn how pollutants mix with water in the environment. - The Rain Takes Pollution Mainly Down the Drain (Lesson Plan: 4th - 7th grades)
Students build storm water "mazes" and observe how storm water transports pollution from our streets to ground and surface water. - Where's Your Watershed? (Lesson Plan: 4th - 7th grades)
Students explore local watersheds using maps and create their own watersheds to learn how they function.
Waste Management
- Conduct a Mercury Audit in Your School (Lesson Plan: 8th - 12th grades)
Students conduct an audit to determine what mercury-containing items exist in their school. - Doing the "Three R" Wrap (Lesson Plan: 4th - 7th grades)
Students wrap gifts and learn how to eliminate, reduce, reuse, and recycle waste. - Making a Mini-Landfill (Lesson Plan: 4th - 7th grades)
Students build landfills, learn about environmental issues surrounding landfills, and discuss actions they can take to keep waste out of landfills. - Pollution Prevention in the Laboratory (Fact Sheet)
- Recycling Relay (Lesson Plan: Pre-K - 3rd grades)
Students learn about trash and landfills, and how to reuse and recycle to produce less trash. - Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Reused? (Lesson Plan: 4th - 12th grades)
Through interviews with older Americans and/or individuals from different cultural backgrounds, students gain an understanding of how the concepts of reduce, reuse, and recycle are neither new nor specific to American culture.