🌎 Understand Your World
Ever wonder how everything connects?
Explore the things you eat, drink, use, buy, watch, and throw away every day.
Pick something you're curious about ↓
💧 Where Does My Water Come From?
Your water had a whole journey before it reached your cup.
Learn where drinking water comes from, how it gets cleaned, and where it goes after you use it.
🎥 EPA — Drinking Water Activities for Kids
https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/drinking-water-activities-students-and-teachers
🌱 TRY IT: Find a storm drain near your home or school. Where do you think the water goes?
💭 THINK: Why does keeping rivers and streams clean matter?
🍎 Where Does My Food Come From?
Your food doesn't begin at the grocery store.
Discover the farms, soil, workers, transportation, stores, and communities behind your food.
🌱 USDA — Farm to School
🌱 TRY IT: Pick one thing you're eating and investigate where it came from.
🍌 Banana
🍞 Bread
🍎 Apple
🍫 Chocolate
💭 THINK: How many people helped your lunch reach you today?
👕 Where Does My Stuff Come From?
Everything has a story.
Your clothes, toys, shoes, phones, furniture, and school supplies all started somewhere.
🌱 Natural resources
↓
🧑🌾 Materials are grown or collected
↓
🏭 Something is made
↓
🚢 It travels
↓
🏪 It is sold
↓
🙋 You use it
↓
🔧 ♻️ 🗑️ Repair • Reuse • Recycle • Trash
🔎 TRY IT: Look at the tags on three things you're wearing. Where were they made?
💭 THINK: How many people and places were involved before those things reached you?
🗑️ Where Does Trash Go?
The garbage truck isn't the end of the story.
Learn what happens to the things we throw away—and how using less can make a difference.
♻️ EPA — Reducing & Reusing Basics
https://www.epa.gov/recycle/reducing-and-reusing-basics
Try a Mini Trash Audit
Look at what your family throws away for one day.
Could anything have been:
🔄 REUSED?
🔧 REPAIRED?
❤️ DONATED?
🌱 COMPOSTED?
♻️ RECYCLED?
💭 THINK: Where does something go when we throw it “away”?
⚡ Where Does Energy Come From?
Flip a switch. Something somewhere made that electricity.
Explore energy from the sun, wind, water, fossil fuels, nuclear power, and other sources.
⚡ U.S. Department of Energy — Student & Educator Resources
https://www.energy.gov/cmei/fuels/students-and-educators
🔎 TRY IT: Become an Energy Detective.
Find five things in your home using electricity.
Which ones actually need to be on right now?
💭 THINK: What had to happen somewhere else for your light to turn on?
💰 How Does Money Work?
Money moves through communities.
People earn it, spend it, save it, borrow it, give it, and exchange it for goods and services.
💵 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Money as You Grow
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/consumer-tools/money-as-you-grow/
🎯 Money Activities for Kids
🌱 TRY IT: Imagine spending $10 at a neighborhood restaurant.
Where might that money go next?
Workers • Food • Rent • Utilities • Suppliers • Taxes
💭 THINK: What happens to money after you spend it?
📺 How Does Advertising Work?
Why did you suddenly want something you didn't know existed yesterday?
Advertisements are designed to get your attention and influence what you think about a product.
🎮 Federal Trade Commission — Admongo
https://consumer.ftc.gov/Admongo
🕵️ Become an Advertising Detective
Find an advertisement and ask:
Who made this?
What are they telling me?
What do they want me to do?
And one more:
Did I already want this—or did the advertisement make me want it?
📱 Why Does the Internet Keep Showing Me THAT?
Your internet doesn't look exactly like everyone else's.
Algorithms help websites and apps decide what videos, posts, products, and information to recommend to you.
🧠 Common Sense Education — How Well Do Algorithms Know You?
https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-literacy/ai-algorithms-how-well-do-they-know-you
🔎 TRY IT: Compare the recommendations on two people's video or streaming accounts.
Are they the same?
💭 THINK: If a computer keeps showing you things it thinks you'll like, what might you never see?
🤖 What Is AI?
Computers can find patterns too.
AI can help create, recommend, predict, organize, and analyze information.
But AI can also make mistakes.
🧠 Common Sense Education — AI Literacy Lessons
https://www.commonsense.org/education/collections/ai-literacy-lessons-for-grades-6-12
When you use AI, ask:
Where did this information come from?
Could something be missing?
Can I verify it somewhere else?
🕵️ Is It Actually True?
Something sounding convincing doesn't make it true.
Before believing or sharing something:
✋ STOP
🔎 CHECK THE SOURCE
📚 LOOK FOR EVIDENCE
📰 COMPARE SOURCES
🧠 THINK
📚 PBS LearningMedia
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/
Remember:
Questions are good.
Evidence matters.
Learning something new can change what you think.
🔗 The Big Connection Challenge
Pick anything near you.
👟 A shoe
🍎 A snack
✏️ A pencil
📱 A phone
💧 A glass of water
Now investigate:
🌎 Where did it come from?
👷 Who helped make it?
🌱 What natural resources did it need?
🚚 How did it reach me?
💰 Where did the money go?
♻️ What happens when I'm finished with it?
Almost nothing exists by itself. Neither do we.
🚀 Keep Exploring
NASA — Learning Resources for Kids & Students
https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/for-kids-and-students/
NOAA Education
https://www.noaa.gov/education/
National Geographic Kids
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/