The challenge: Use the information on the water scarcity problems we face in San Diego to become the solution. That’s what Vicki Binswanger’s Biology class at Westview High School, Poway did. They used our education lessons and website for their class project and the results are very impressive. After learning how scarce our most important resource is, water, they were given the challenge to be a part of the solution. They had to either take action by:

• Persuading or educating others in their community.
• Reducing their own ecological impact.
• Designing an experiment to further understand conservation.

Overall, this small project made a huge impact on the environment:

• Several students managed to reduce their own water and electric bills, as well as trash production.
• Other students educated their sports teams and children at local schools as well as persuaded local business people to promote eco-friendly ideas.
• Many chose to design experiments where they answered their own questions related to the environment.
• All students used research skills, analyzed data, used critical reading and writing skills and demonstrated scientific thinking. This confirms that environmental education not only promotes stewardship but also increase student’s college readiness.

They also designed a website to share all their projects and titled it the Green Teen.

Ms. Binswanger loved the presentation materials, reports and data we provided. She was impressed with the outcome of the project and how well it reached the students. The project was especially successful in speaking to students that are less inspired by traditional activities because they saw authentic value in what we were doing. Using San Diego’s environmental real-life problems was important to help students connect with their science class.

Big thanks to Ms. Binswanger and her awesome biology class for sharing their project with us. You are a very inspiring group.