Integrating the environment and education in the classroom through real-world experiences can improve students’ academic performance, self-esteem and appreciation for the environment.

DTSC provides environmental education resources for teachers, students, parents and youth groups. This information focuses on teaching children to be good stewards of the environment. Lessons, workbooks and hands-on activities afford children an understanding of Earth’s processes and how our actions affect those processes. Copies of an activity book and a coloring book that can be printed out and completed by students are available below. In addition, guest speakers may be available to present information in the classroom. To determine the availability of a guest speaker in your area, or to make a publication request, please contact DTSC’s Web Coordinator.

Publications

• Protecting Our Environment Activity Book, a guide to reducing, reusing and recycling.
• Protecting Our Environment Coloring Book, about oil recycling, stormwater pollution prevention and household hazardous waste recycling.
• Protegiendo Nuestro Medio Ambiente Libro de Colorido, sobre reciclaje de aceite, prevención de la contaminación de aguas lluviales y reciclaje de desechos peligrosos domésticos.

Evaluating and Cleaning up School Sites

DTSC’s Brownfields Restoration and School Evaluation Branch is responsible for assessing, investigating and cleaning up proposed school property sites. The division ensures that selected properties are free of contamination or, if the properties were previously contaminated, that they have been cleaned up to a level that protects the students and faculty who will occupy the new school.

Education Links

• California Environmental Protection Agency Education Programs
• California Environmental Education Interagency Network (CEEIN)
• California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC) Network
• Earth Day Network
• North American Association for Environmental Education
• California Department of Education, Office of Environmental Education
• Earth 911
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Education

Healthy School Environmental Assessment Tool (HealthySEAT)

The U.S. EPA has developed a comprehensive free software tool to help school districts conduct self-assessments of their school facilities to identify deficiencies and track facility improvements. Based on a program originally developed by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the EPA software for the first time allows school facility and risk managers to address all of their environmental, health, and safety issues using one user-friendly tool. HealthySEAT is designed to be completely customizable to reflect state and district policies, programs, and priorities. For more information on HealthySEAT and other school environmental health issues, visit the US EPA’s Healthy School Environments web page.