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Middle School Lessons

Schedule a Lesson

Clean-Go-Bingo
Can you clean without chemicals? Through an interactive game of Clean-Go-Bingo, students learn about the caution, warning, and danger labels on hazardous household products as well as greener, more natural alternatives. As students play, the EnviroChallenger educators will answer questions and share stories to help them understand new vocabulary and concepts.

Length: 60 minutes

Flush Out the Facts

Is it really flushable? In this lesson, students learn about the history of toilets, Tacoma's sewer system and why it is important that only appropriate items be flushed. During the lesson, students develop and conduct their own investigation to test the flushability of four products that are often considered flushable. In their experiment, students identify their hypotheses and outline the controlled, manipulated and responding variables. At the end of the lesson, students see what items can't be flushed using the results of their scientific experiment.

Length: 60 minutes

Additional Information

  • Before the EnviroChallenger visits your classroom, please use the Pre-Visit Activity to better prepare your students.
  • After the EnviroChallenger visits your classroom, use the Post-Visit Activity as a lesson follow-up and test the students new knowledge.

Our World is in Jeopardy: What Can You Do to Help?

When you throw something away, where does it go? When you throw something away, it doesn't just disappear. Your garbage gets packed up and moved to a landfill where it will stay buried forever. What can you do to keep trash out of the landfill and save Mother Nature's natural resources? It starts with the 5 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Respect, Responsible. In this lesson, students learn where Tacoma's garbage goes, what happens to it and they can do to reduce the amount of garbage they generate. Then students hit the daily double by playing Jeopardy to test their new-found garbage knowledge.

Length: 50 minutes

Additional Information

  • Before the EnviroChallenger visits your classroom, please use the Pre-Visit Activity to better prepare your students. 
  • After the EnviroChallenger visits your classroom, use the Post-Visit Activity as a lesson follow-up and test the students new knowledge.

Surface Water Investigation (SWI): Can You Solve the Mystery?

Find out what's in the City's surface water (hint: it's not just water). What's going down the storm drain? Is it oily? Does it have bubbles? Is it a funny color? It's not just water! Everyday habits like washing and maintaining our cars, taking care of our lawns, and disposing of pet waste affect the water that goes down the storm drain and then flows - untreated - to rivers, lakes and Commencement Bay.With the help of the EnviroChallenger educator, students will make predictions based on investigative questions, learn how to test the quality of the surface water, how to locate points of pollution and how to prevent pollution from entering the surface water system.

Length: 50 minutes

Additional Information

  • Before the EnviroChallenger visits your classroom, please use the Pre-Visit Activity to better prepare your students.
  • After the EnviroChallenger visits your classroom, use the Post-Visit Activity as a lesson follow-up and test the students new knowledge.