1. Grades 7-9

2. Overview Our immediate environment consists of our house, our compound and the surrounding area near our home. A healthy environment is important if we want to stay healthy. Sometimes people keep their environment very dirty with the result that it badly affects their health. Wherever we live, it is important for us to keep it clean.

3. Purpose This lesson will give very useful information about keeping our environment healthy. Common practices which make our environment unhealthy should be avoided.

4. Objectives Students will be able to:

i. Identify their home environment
ii. List good health habits to keep their environment healthy
iii. Discuss how the community can make their immediate environment healthy.

5. Resources/materials

• Simple cleaning utensils
• Wall Charts of a clean and healthy environment.

6. Activities and Procedures The cleanliness of a village or entire town begins from the cleanliness of individual homes. If the environment of our homes is well tended, it will be healthy for living. The responsibility for environmental cleanliness is that of all. In big cities, there might be Government Agencies charged with the responsibility of general cleanliness. That not withstanding, the teacher should impress on the students the need for individual participation in keeping the environment clean and healthy.

In many African countries, families have their own compounds. A village is thus made up of a number of compounds or homestead. The children who come from compounds attend schools around and there they are taught how to keep the school environment clean and healthy. The teacher should use this lesson to link what goes on in the school in terms of cleanliness to what should be done at home, in their compound. A clean environment could invariably be a healthy environment, one that is devoid of filth.

The teacher should discuss these suggestions regarding the cleanliness of the environment, beginning with the cleanliness of the compound:

i. Do not throw refuse all over the compound. Choose a place in the compound where refuse containers are kept. Throw all refuse into the container.
ii. When a refuse container in the compound is full, it should be emptied in a special place outside the compound.
iii. Do not form the habit of burning refuse in your compound with the smoke blowing all around.
iv. Do not pour dirty water on public roads or just anywhere in the compound. If you do, it might begin to smell and keep the road untidy.
v. Do not throw solid refuse into drains or gutters. The refuse may block the drain.
vi. Keep well cut grass lawn around your home.
vii. Make sure that the sewage pipe in your compound is not broken otherwise you may get sewage spilling all over.

The teacher should encourage the students to add more guides to the seven above.

7. Tying it all together A clean environment is a pleasure to live in. It does not have to be expensive. Keeping the environment clean and healthy is the responsibility of all.

8. Assessment The students should be encouraged to compare the cleanliness of their compound with that of the local school they attend.

9. Author(s) S. T. Bajah [email protected]

10. References Bajah, Sam. Tunde et al (1996) Integrated Science: A New Approach for Junior Secondary Schools. Book One [New Edition] Ibadan: University Press, Plc.

STAN (1998) Nigerian Integrated Science Project. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) Limited.