Health & Fitness
Miller Creek Launches 50% Challenge to reduce CO2
Students in Mike Schulist’s 8th grade science classes at Miller Creek Middle School have a goal – to increase the number of students who get to school by walking and biking from its current level, 32%, to 50%.
Eighth grade students were introduced to the effects cars have on the environment when they watched a 36 inch balloon fill up with carbon dioxide from the tailpipe of an SUV – in just 10 seconds! After witnessing the production of C02 that comes from just one car, students learned about the carbon cycle. A guest teacher from the STRAW (Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed) Institute, Paula Fogerty, visited the class and taught the students how to play “The Carbon Cycle Game,” which had students traveling from station to station, experiencing the journey a carbon atom makes as it goes from plants, to the atmosphere, to the oceans and eventually ends up “sequestered” in rocks or fossils. The lesson showed how the extra carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuel ends up in the atmosphere and how it is causing the climate to change.
Students then looked at their own habits by keeping a transportation journal for two weeks. They were challenged to find ways they could decrease car transportation and increase walking and biking. Using their experiences, the class pinpointed the nine most common challenges that inhibit walking and biking – including “backpacks are too heavy,” and “there is not enough time in the morning.”
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Groups of students were assigned to each challenge, and working as a team, they came up with their own unique solutions, such as “use a homework folder to limit backpack weight”, and “get your stuff ready the night before to have more time in the morning.” The next step will be to review the student solutions, and communicate them to Miller Creek students and parents.
They hope to develop an information sheet and a “transportation pledge” that could be used for years to come to create a culture of walkers and bikers at Miller Creek Miller School!
