Introducing environmental health education at the middle school level

The project described in this presentation is designed to foster environmental health stewardship in local school communities by helping teachers improve environmental health literacy and leadership skills among their students. While the effects of environmental pollutants on human health are a growing concern and environmental health hazards are present in students' everyday lives, environmental health receives little attention in the schools. To fill this gap, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) developed Discovering the Connection: Your Environment, Your Health, an environmental health science curriculum for middle school. The curriculum, based on the NLM Tox Town Web site, is comprised of six units that engage students in information research and hands-on and communication activities about water and air quality, food safety, and chemicals in household products. The curriculum was developed by an interdisciplinary group of middle school teachers and educational researchers, and is currently being beta-tested in six schools across the country. Preliminary results suggest that environmental health can be successfully implemented in the schools, and that teachers and students are enthusiastic about the subject. This presentation highlights educational approaches fundamental to the curriculum, describes curriculum development process, provides an overview of the content, and gives an account of the curriculum implementation in six very different schools.