School Based TDM and Transit Education Programs

School Based TDM and Transit Education Programs for Elementary, Middle and High School Students

Autoplan Broker Road Safety Program: http://www.waytogo.icbc.bc.ca/, "Schools, particularly elementary and middle schools, are important places for students and parents to learn about making safe choices on our B.C. roads when they walk, cycle or drive. Providing school communities with the tools required to develop traffic safety awareness and to increase the opportunities for students to walk, cycle, rideshare or take transit to school, is a positive step toward making the school journey safer, healthier and more environmentally responsible. The RoadSense Team - a partnership between Autoplan Brokers and ICBC - is committed to providing communities with the resources they need to create safer traffic environments on local streets. The Way to Go! Program is one example of how the RoadSense Team is helping B.C. communities to address their traffic issues and concerns."

Better Environmentally Sound Transportation: http://www.best.bc.ca/programsAndServices/index.html, The Way to Go! program is targeted at elementary school kids and a high school program called Off Ramp. This is .a student-led program to change attitudes & circumstances so that secondary students increasingly walk, cycle, take transit, 'board, 'blade and carpool to school."

Environment Canada: http://www.ec.gc.ca/cleanair/links_kids_e.cfm - Environment Canada has a list of resources for children on their Clean Air Day website.

Bay Area Commuter Services in Tampa at 800-998-7433 published a children's coloring book.

Environmental Protection Agency:

http://www.epa.gov/airnow/aqikids/ - AIR NOW-EPA
http://www.epa.gov/kids/ - EPA Explorers Club is a kid friendly site with resources for children as well as teachers (including curriculum).

Green Communities, Active & Safe Routes to School: http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca - Green Communities, Active & Safe Routes to School program in Ontario. "Our program is well established and very comprehensive and we have created many resources for schools that complement the Ontario curriculum. Our age range is JK to Grade 8. Check out the Walking/Wheeling Wednesday, International Walk to School Week and IWALK Club sections of our site specifically as they have many downloadable resources. Our High School project (STEP) page of the web site contains a case study of our pilot plus some of the resources created by the students."

Available by mail are other resources that are not on the site:

Cross Canada Walking Challenge poster (a funky map of Canada with facts);
IWALK Club Walk Around the World poster (a funky map of the world with facts). The IWALK Club is a brand new initiative within our program and we are hoping that schools and communities around the world will pick up the idea so we can create a world iwalk club.
Blazing Trails Through the Urban Jungle resource is only available in hardcopy. It is designed specifically for Grades 4-6.

Housing and Community Services Region of Waterloo: http://kn.fcm.ca/ev.php?URL_ID=6241&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1107869949 - Housing and Community Services Region of Waterloo. We have developed a Grade 3 curriculum supplement which educates students, teachers and the parents about transportation choices, and how they affect air quality, land use and community design. It is called You Can Clear the Air. In the Province of Ontario, it matches the Social Studies strand in curriculum requirements, but of course, the piece also has opportunities in math and physical activity. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities was kind enough to award this project with an Honourable Mention as part of their 2004 Sustainable Community awards. You can find a case study of our unit on page 33.

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality www.michigan.gov/deq - The Michigan DEQ is also producing an air quality curriculum for middle school students but it's still in draft form. Look for it in a few months at www.michigan.gov/deq Search for Clean Michigan Environmental Education Initiative (CMEEI).

NASA and National Science Foundation: http://passporttoknowledge.com/rainforest/ - Passport to Rainforest (NASA & NSF); Follow in Darwin’s footsteps, courtesy of PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE, to the heart of our planet's largest rainforest, guided by some of the world's leading biologists. Explore “the greatest expression of life” so far discovered in all the Universe, via a project that uses video, real-time interactions, the Internet and hands-on science activities

National 4h Council: http://www.nwair.org/kids/choices.html - The National 4h Council developed an excellent curriculum for Grades 9-12 called "Going Places, Making Choices"...Transportation and the Environment in 1999. The curriculum was underwritten by Honda North America and was reviewed for technical/science accuracy by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others. The Phone number for 4H is 301-961-2800.

National Safety Council: http://www.nsc.org/ehc/mobile/intro.htm - Cleaner Cars Module, The Cleaner Cars Module is $60.00 through the National Safety Council's Air Quality Program at (800) 557-2366. Contact Nicolette Makuson. The Module contains a video, CD ROM, a student's manual, and a teacher's manual.

Sacramento Air Pollution Control District: www.telcoa.org - The Sacramento Air Pollution Control District developed "Planet Polluto" under an EPA grant. And soon, the Wisconsin DNR will have a cool computer game called "XRT: Extraordinary Road Trip" to teach teenagers about driving habits that reduce fuel use (e.g., gradual starts and stops, keeping tires inflated, etc.). There is a CD available from ACAT through Kathy Daniel kathy.Daniel@FHWA.DOT.Gov.

Southeast Michigan Council of Governments: www.semcog.org - We have teacher kits for grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12 on our web site. Click on "Services", then "Ozone Action", then "Teachers" to access the kits.

TransOptions: http://www.transoptions.org/Kids.html - - This NJ based Transportation Management Association has developed a resource site for kids (including a coloring book, environmental education program brochure).

Ventura County (California) Air pollution Control District: Ventura County (California) Air pollution Control District's education programs are developed by the Public Information Division, contact Barbara Page, barbara@vcapcd.org for information 805/645-1415.

www.openairclassroom.org - Open Air Classroom.
www.vcapcd.org/students.htm.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: http://www.easybreathers.org - is a great site with information targeted at middle and high school students making the correlation between auto use and air quality. They also have a video available.

Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air: http://www.cleanairwisconsin.org/ - The Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air (a coalition of businesses supporting Clean Air initiatives) along with support from WisDNR sponsors a program called "School + Business = Clean Air." This program brings schools and businesses together to promote the many ways in which individuals can improve air quality. Each year a contest is held for students. They create a poster that promotes alternative transportation and other clean air activities. About 30 posters are created per participating classroom and made available for exhibition at their business partner's workplace. Poems are accepted as well as posters. To compliment the poster making activity, teachers are provided with a lesson plan that they can use to educate their students about improving air quality.

Schools participating in the contest submit their posters/poems to a collection site for judging. They are then sent to businesses for display. Businesses coordinate the return of the artwork after the exhibition with the teacher. Businesses register with WisDNR for participation. WisDNR matches businesses up with schools usually one classroom to a businesses. Last year WisDOT was matched up with the entire 7th grade at a local middle school. Businesses then go into the school classroom and do a presentation explaining how their business contributes to clean air through transportation or manufacturing programs, etc. Often the business will have a "leave behind" for reinforcement.

For more information contact Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air, Jessica Laub, 414-263-8653

World Wildlife Fund Kids: http://www.worldwildlife.org/fun/kids.cfm provides quizzes, games and interactive resources for kids.

National Center for Transit Research's National TDM and Telework Clearinghouse is located at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida