People are constantly in motion, and wherever you go you'll be surrounded by a variety of vehicles. Take notice of transportation and start thinking what could be changed in order to better protect the planet.

Can You Keep Count?

There are a lot of cars, trucks, buses, and other vehicles on the road every day. How many and where are they in your community? For this field trip, you will either need to split the class up into small groups and have volunteers take them to different locations, or else have a way to get all of the students to several locations in one day. Choose several locations you know will have different levels and types of traffic. Some transportation-viewing spots include next to the school, near a shopping mall, near a major intersection, and out in the country.

Assign children different categories of vehicles to count. Some can just count cars; some can count buses; some can count trucks or construction vehicles. Set a time limit; usually about fifteen minutes is as long as you can keep them interested. Reconvene in the classroom with your data sets and create a simple map of the locations you measured.

How many of each type of vehicle were counted at each location? For the areas with heavy traffic, are there places that children learn or play nearby? How can you prevent exposure to the exhaust? If it's a building, you could close windows when traffic is heavy. If it's a park, you can choose to go there when the streets aren't so busy. Did you see any trains? If so, how many people do you think they are carrying? Did you see any tugboats or barges? What were they carrying? How many trucks do barges take off the roads?

Walk and Run

Take a two-mile loop though the school neighborhood. Before you head out, check the mileage in your car. Mark the one-mile point. Head out with the kids; at times, run for a short distance and discuss how much more energy it takes to run fast. Explain that cars are the same. The faster the car goes, the more energy they use.