Environmental Health for Schools

Parents, personnel, and communities can help by sharing a Back to School Toolkit with schools and education departments. See http://www.healthyschools.org/coalitionactionkit.html, which includes: Healthy Products for Healthy Schools, a guidance memo on finding healthier paints, computers, and instructional supplies; Green Cleaning, a checklist on preventing dirt and using green cleaners; IAQ/IEQ/IPM, a basic indoor environments checklist that includes safer pest control; and Tips for Tours, a fact sheet with pictures illustrating entries, custodial closets, foundation plantings, and other features to look for at school.

SWEHSC outreach staff can demonstrate Less Toxic Cleaning in your school. Contact Marti Lindsey, lindsey@pharmacy.arizona.edu to schedule a session for teachers or students.

 

Environmental Health Lessons

Toxicology and Environmental Health Lessons

Curriculum, Lesson Plans and ActivitiesActivities Logo Green

Here are some of the K-12 programs and educational activities and curricula that we have developed. Included are: individual lessons, curriculum units, PowerPoint presentations and resources for education around toxicology and environmental health.

  • Stimulating educational activities that enhance science, health, and environmental education lessons

  • Curricula that teach students Toxicology and Environmental Health through active lessons

  • Downloadable Powerpoint presentations on Toxicology and Environmental Health

  • Support materials for providing microscopy activities, toxicology lessons and links to the NIEHS Resource Center and the National Library of Medicine Toxicology materials

  • Integrated environmental health and biomedical college preparatory curriculum for public, charter, and other high schools

 

High School Lessons about Trichloroethylene

TCE Contamination and Cleanup CurriculumTCE

The chemical compound trichloroethylene is a chlorinated hydrocarbon commonly used as an industrial solvent. It is informally referred to as TCE, and sold under a variety of trade names. TCE is a clear non-flammable liquid with a sweet smell.

The TCE Contamination and Cleanup Curriculum (TCE CCC) were written from a constructivist perspective. Constructivist learning encourages students to develop their critical thinking skills by initiating their own inquiries of the topic to be learned based on their own prior knowledge. This is achieved through supportive guidance and hands-on problem solving that challenges them to construct their research and communication (oral and written) experiences in order to make logical and critical connections to the topic.

 

PROMOTING UNDERSTANDING AND LEARNING FOR SOCIETY (PULSE)Pulse

 

PULSE is a nine-unit curriculum that teaches environmental health and biomedical issues across the curriculum, in science, social studies, math, and language arts

Students learn how arsenic gets into the drinking water and about the dangers of exposure to people living in affected regions.

Students learn how city development, air movement & air quality all contribute to respiratory illnesses.

Students explore disease & its relationship to literature & the movement of people, trade & epidemics during the medieval period.

Students investigate how revolutions, conflict, change, and resource management have impacted human health.

Students develop an understanding of basic environmental toxicology while addressing basic chemical and physical properties of substances.

Students read research of environmental health scientists & do speeches concerning community based health related issues.

Students simulate an energy task force meeting, which includes environmental health factors as a primary consideration.

Students use understandings of impact of the environment on human health gained in the physical sciences and other science classes to present a moot court case.

Using the issue of skin cancer, students learn about the role of government oversight in clinical studies.