05.08.09 | 08:02am

Teaching Green With a Computer Simulation

First, let me tell you a little about my classroom environment. Like most school districts, we are trying to cut costs. So I took this message to my class for advice on what they thought we could do to help. My students suggested that we only run one bank of our overhead florescent lights. We decided to run the set farthest from the windows when we need them. We have discovered that we don't need them at all on sunny days. The students also suggested unplugging all electronic equipment unless we were using it. Although this started out as a cost saving initiative, it quickly became clear that we were also helping the planet. Since then, we have begun recycling both paper and plastic.

Because we are in a "green" state of mind, when the University of Michigan invited us to work collaboratively on a unit called "Green Michigan," it was a great fit with our interests.

Michigan Matters is a simulation project developed jointly by the Schools of Education and Information at the University of Michigan. Facilitated by the University's Interactive Communications & Simulations group, Michigan Matters features a set of Web-based storybooks come to life, in which students investigate Michigan's connections to the Underground Railroad, or traverse the history of Mackinac Island. In the Green Michigan module, we explore how people across Michigan are finding creative ways to live in a more environmentally responsible manner. In each module, students are able to interact with the program by writing to characters that are in the story. University of Michigan students take on these character roles and write back to my students. This back-and-forth exchange creates a situation in which my students are being met at their individual levels, and it pushes them to think harder and to develop their own opinions about critical issues like recycling and cost-effective transportation. My students became invested in the activities because they were presented in such a personal manner.



The character that my students met is a boy named Eric. He is 10 years old and lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, just down the road from our school. This character shares information about himself, his family and his school. The Michigan Matters programs approach through characters really hooks my students.

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