Lesson Plans

Written to meet the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS), these lessons are creative, interactive and provide both students and educators with a comprehensive look at air quality. Lessons cross several subject areas including Health, Physical Science, Life Science, Earth Science, Social Studies, Language Arts and Environmental Science. Grade levels range from 1-12.

The lesson plans link to either the Department of Education Web site or the Earth Day Network Web site for the complete set of plans. This includes the standards, background materials and the actual lesson.

If you have questions about the lesson plans, please contact us.

1st Grade

Ready, Set, Stop Idling

Students learn what is good and bad for the air by watching a video clip, taking part in a card activity, acting like cars and drawing and writing about idling.

2nd Grade

Make a Good Choice: Choose No Idling

By creating posters and t-shirts and reading a book, students explore how making good choices can help the environment while bad choices do the opposite.

3rd Grade

Idlers: Please Stop Your Engines (grades 3 - 5)

After collecting idling data at school for one week, students make graphs using the information and slogans for mock no-idling bumper stickers.

Please Do Not Make Us Cough, Turn Your Engine Off (grades 3 - 5)

Students complete graphic and writing organizers to prepare for a persuasive essay that educates and creates awareness about the harmful effects of idling and persuades others to stop idling.

5th Grade

Green Vehicles

Students research new technologies to reduce vehicle emission and then create presentations to market those vehicles that feature their favorite air pollution solutions.

The Six Infamous Air Pollutants (also meets 8th grade standards)

A mock press conference helps students learn and categorize each of the six major air pollutants.

Traffic Jams

Students explore how vehicles contribute to air pollution through the use of equations, data collection and graphing.

6th Grade

Air Pollution and Electrical Energy Production (also meets 8th grade standards)

In this investigation of pollution created through the production of electricity, students build a water wheel to explore hydropower as an alternative energy source.

Asian Brown Cloud (grades 6 - 8)

In this lesson, students learn about the six common air pollutants, as well as the poor air quality in Asia and the reasons for its cause.

• 6 Major Air Pollutants – accompanying PowerPoint

Brown Skies in Mexico City? (grades 6 - 8)

Students receive an introduction to human environmental impact and its effect on air quality in Mexico City by reading, researching and using persuasive writing to show understanding of the problem.

What Do Light Bulbs Have to do with Air Pollution (also meets 8th grade standards)

Students conduct a home energy audit and calculate the impact of energy conservation where they live.

7th Grade

Every Breath You Take

After learning the part of the respiratory system, students make a working lung model, then modify it to demonstrate air pollution-induced health effects..

Lung Power and Air Pollution

Students decipher the Air Quality Index (AQI) by analyzing data, building a device to measure lung capacity and comparing results between days with good and bad air quality.

8th Grade

The Chemistry of Air Pollution

Students play the computer game "Planet Polluto" and simulate chemical reactions in a game of ozone tag.

The Properties of Air

Students explore by building air cannons, heating air-filled ballons, separating hydrogen and oxygen from water, observing air as it is released from plants and testing for the presence of carbon dioxide.

9th - 12th Grades

Heat Islands

Students get hands-on experience by measuring the temperature above different types of outdoor surfaces.

Ozone: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Experiments using sunscreen and UV-detecting beads help students distinguish between ground-level ozone and stratospheric ozone. Students can also create "smog in a jar."