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Environmental action is about making a difference, but how can we help students understand what kind of difference they’re making? This module gives introductory, free resources to explore using the Arc platform to use benchmarking, goal-setting, and sustainability metrics as powerful tools for student learning. It is part of the Building Learners series of modules, through which additional guidance, training, and mentoring are available to educators who would like support in bringing these concepts into the classroom.

Arc + Schools Digital Playground
This website provides a walk-through of the Arc platform that has been specifically designed for K-12 educators. It gives users a window into how the platform works and how it might be used in the classroom. Throughout the walk-through, lessons on Learning Lab that are available to users at no cost are called out as resources to prepare students to engage with the elements of sustainability measurement contained in Arc. Visit the Arc + Schools Digital Playground now: www.schools-app.arconline.io

Learning Lab lessons referenced in Arc + Schools Digital Playground
The Arc platform demonstration site references several lessons that can be used to give students the foundation of knowledge they need to work with sustainability metrics and benchmarking. These lessons were created by Learning Lab partners and can be accessed at no cost.

• Earth Waters Our Lives (created by EcoRise and RIS as part of the Sustainable Intelligence program): This unit is comprised of 3 lessons for grades 5-6, including approximately 240 minutes of teaching time. It addresses the human and natural causes of drought, as well as the ways that water is used in everyday life and wasted through human activities.
• Waste Eco-Audit (created by EcoRise and RIS as part of the Sustainable Intelligence program): This unit is comprised of 4 lessons for grades 9-12, including approximately 605 minutes of teaching time. It leads students through the purpose of a waste audit, the process of conducting an audit at the school, and the methods for composing and communicating their results and recommendations.
• Energy Vampire Hunt (created by The Energy Coalition as part of the Climate Leaders in Action Program): This lesson for students in grades 9-12 includes 45 minutes of instructional time. In it, students plan and carry out an investigation of energy vampires using an Energy Monitor to measure the energy consumption of different electrical devices. Students then collect and chart the data from their investigation and calculate how much money could be saved by unplugging energy vampires.
• Transportation in Arc (automatic download)
• Indoor Environmental Quality in Arc (automatic download)

Participants in Building Learners have access to:

• Learning Lab subscriptions and the "Roadmap to Lessons" for Building Learners
• Access to Arc, an online platform to track and benchmark building metrics in five categories: energy, water, waste/recycling, human experience and transportation, and the Arc Getting Started Guide
• Volunteer services and career exposure from a local green building professional serving as mentor to your school
• Building Learners Project Management Guide
• Online trainings for staff, teacher and mentor, including:
  • the Green Classroom Professional Certificate
  • Building Learners Trainings:
    • Learn Arc
    • Build Your Team
    • Prepare to Teach
    • Populate Arc
    • Plan Your Program
• Program goals template
• Educators' planning template with calendar
• Best Practice Resource Center
• Guidance on documenting your school’s program (capturing photos, videos, examples of student work, testimonials from students, staff, parents, etc.)
• Sample letters to school leadership, school parents

The food waste resource guide is designed to give you all the information you need to teach your students about food waste. The guide provides food waste facts, a classroom certificate, food waste posters, guidelines for working with cafeteria managers and school administrators, and a resource for tackling food waste at home. It also includes a letter writing activity to raise awareness around food waste and implement food policy changes in schools.

This lesson allows students to discuss how scientists, engineers, and facility managers use models to understand green building science.

This lesson is a literacy-based lesson that allows students to develop conceptual understanding and the vocabulary needed to discuss how scientists, engineers, and facility managers use data to improve the efficiency of a building.

“Be a Food Waste Warrior” is a three-part science and math lesson that can be adjusted in complexity depending on grade level. It includes food waste audit log sheets, discussion questions, a companion PowerPoint, and additional teacher resources and materials.

Students will learn about the ways in which food impacts the environment by recording data from a student food waste audit during their lunch period.The audit will engage basic science and math skills to (1) convert food waste weights to water used and GHGs emitted, and (2) calculate the difference in GHG emissions depending on whether food waste is landfilled or composted. Participating students will ultimately understand how to reduce food waste and why reducing food waste is important to conserving natural resources and wildlife habitat.

This module is designed to have students use the data, insights, and knowledge they gathered throughout the STEMhero unit and communicate it in a meaningful way. Project options range from the more traditional to the more experimental, but all projects require students to think critically and creatively about their learning and findings and present it professionally. A video bot will assist students to create a short video. Resources and examples are also available if students wish to create a lab report or presentation board ready for a community "STEM night".

Students will design an experiment to test change of impact on the environment by human behavior changes and communicate what they did.

Students will design an experiment testing how a change in behavior may affect the impact of energy/water consumption. Students will apply scientific design methods to plan a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment by choosing one efficiency action or technology that they are going to implement and measure its effect. Students will formulate hypothesis about (1) how water, natural gas, and/or electricity are uniquely used at their home and/or school and, (2) what might be smart opportunities to use water, natural gas, and/or electricity more efficiently.