The International Walk to School Day promotes a healthy lifestyle and encourages students and parents to think about the effects that cars have on the environment. On this day, all students pledge to walk or ride their bike to school. Since our school is in the middle of a neighborhood, this is a very realistic goal for our students. However, even if most students at your school take a bus or are driven by a parent, students can still be dropped off close to the school and walk the last half mile. The goal is for students and parents to realize that replacing car trips to school with walking or bicycling can help reduce air pollution.

You can incorporate this activity into your curriculum by asking your students to explore the question: “What impact does car transportation have on the local environment?” Some upper elementary students in our district have conducted simple air pollution experiments and analyzed the findings in the context of their own weekly trip tally, which documents their comings and goings about town by car, foot, bike, and public transportation. Students then analyze their own travel data, as well as that of the whole class, and explore strategies for reducing air pollution.