Eighth-grader Emily Lorente participates in a mock town hall meeting based on a bioterrorism scenario.
Photo by Lyle Rudensey.

Do you remember middle school? Social studies class meant writing reports about people long ago and far away. Math class meant story problems to figure out when the train leaving New York City would meet the train leaving Chicago. None of it had much to do with your life.

Now, imagine that all of your learning was integrated, and instead of calculating the rate the train traveled, you calculated increases in the asthma rate for your community.

SOUND INTRIGUING?

That’s what students in 13 Washington state school districts—and four in New Mexico—are doing through the Integrated Environmental Health Middle School Project (IEHMSP). The program, based at the University of Washington Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health, engages students in community-based projects that empower them to make informed, responsible choices about their health and environment.

By studying environmental health issues across the disciplines of language arts, social studies, science and math, students develop competency in identifying problems, assembling data, arriving at solutions, and communicating findings, said Katie Frevert, manager of the project.

Students at Mount Baker Middle School in Mount Vernon map health data in a mock pesticide spill scenario
Photo by Lyle Rudensey.

Students research environmental health topics in their communities and address issues such as environmental justice, human health, and individual rights. Teachers receive training, curriculum materials, access to local resources, and continuing support.

At one school, students decided to count the cigarette butts that littered the school grounds. Once they reached ten thousand, an antismoking campaign was born.

One girl in Eastern Washington tested the lead in candies imported from Mexico. Her study blossomed into a science fair project, speaking engagements in elementary schools, and national recognition.

Another group of students petitioned their school board to consider using biodiesel fuel in school buses, presenting concerns about asthma in young riders. Not only did they make a presentation to their school board, but they met with Congressman Jay Inslee, said Lyle Rudensey, resource teacher with the project.

Middle school students tour DEOHS laboratories
in the Roosevelt building.
Photo by Lyle Rudensey.

These IEHMSP curricula are aligned with Washington state’s Essential Academic Learning Requirements in four subject areas. “Additionally, the science WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) is scenario-based, and through this type of problem-based learning about environmental health issues, students learn to use critical thinking skills and gain experience with practical applications of science,” Frevert said.

Middle school students (grades 6–8) who have been through the environmental health program have an advantage over others when, in 2008, the state starts requiring seniors to do a culminating project as a graduation requirement. “Districts see this project as the ‘training wheels’ that students can acquire in the seventh or eighth grade,” she said.

The office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has become interested in the Quicksilver Question Web Module, HEART (Health & Environment Activities Research Tool), and Environmental Health Fact Files: Lead and Asthma, Frevert said. These IEHMSP curriculum materials will be published and available nationally.

The IEHMSP curricula can also help prepare students for Washington state’s new Social Studies Classroom Based Assessments (CBAs), Frevert said. The Quicksilver Question learning activity introduces students to the connections between historic gold mining, mercury contamination, fish consumption and human health.

The middle school project is in year six of the seven-year grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Frevert and Rudensey are looking for ways to continue the project beyond the NIEHS funding. They received funding in the past from the Seattle Biotech Legacy Foundation, a philanthropic, science-based foundation with roots in the Seattle biotech community, whose mission is to continue to expand our understanding of the complex relationships between the environment and human health.

These icons direct students to core concepts of environmental health
By Diane Tchakirides and Jon Sharpe.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

Integrated Environmental Health Middle School Project (http://www.iehms.com)
Quicksilver Question Web Module(http://www.iehms.com/online/webModules/ qsIntro.php)