Bring the Sustainables alive for your students

Teaching Tools | Promoting the challenge

The Department of Sustainability and Environment and Gould Group have developed a professional development and curriculum program for Victorian schools on Environmental Sustainability.

This program has been running since 2005, reaching 90 schools in regional and metropolitan Victoria, and uses "the Sustainables" as a teaching tool.

In 2008 the program will continue to be supported by the Sustainability Fund, managed by Sustainability Victoria. This will enable a further 40 schools to sign up to the Sustainables Challenge for free.

The program is based on Victoria's Environmental Sustainability Framework, Victorian Essential Learning Standards, Principles of Learning and Teaching (PoLT) and best practice for sustainability and professional development.

For further details on how to get involved go to: http://www.gould.org.au/html/JoinTheSustainablesChallenge.asp . Your school could receive a visit from the Sustainables family!

In addition to the Sustainables Challenge project, there are simple ways that schools, community and environmental educators can use the Sustainables Household Challenge to teach students about the importance of living sustainably. Below are a number of fun tools to supplement existing environmental education curriculum and help make the topic of sustainability fun for students.

Register your class here

Teaching tools

1. Order your free CD-Rom with all the animations of the Sustainables family to show your students, by calling our customer service centre on 136 186.
   
2. Read a quick quiz to your students.
   Grades 4 to 6 - PDF 30KB
   Early secondary school - PDF 31KB
   
3. Give your students this week long Sustainability Home Audit project.
   Home Audit - PDF 23KB

Promoting the challenge in your school

Directing students to sign up to three or more sustainable actions around home is one way to encourage ongoing sustainable practices. The tools below are available to help prompt students to sign up.

1. Send this short article with these images to your newsletters and/or your website.
   Doing your bit to save the planet? - Word 25KB
2. To inspire you to keep saving the planet each day use one of these images as wallpaper on your computer.

1280x960 | 1024 x 768

If your entire class signs up be sure to let us know by registering.
We would like to inform your local paper about the good work your class is doing for the environment.