Department of
Environmental Quality

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.