Making Environment an Education Priority : Plenty of learning materials are available in computer software that can be used at home or donated to schools.

“Next to history, environmental and nature study materials are most often requested by teachers who contact our Educational Services Center,” says Cliff Rodrigues, an educational media specialist.

In less than a month school will reopen, and Rodrigues, who is with the county superintendent of schools office, has some ideas for seeing that your children get a solid environmental education.

He pointed to the increased availability in retail stores of high quality environmentally themed videos and CD-ROMs for computers. How, I asked, might teachers pick through this new crop to the best advantage of the kids and the planet?

Rodrigues maintains an informal list of local teachers, many of whom have national reputations as environmental educators, who can provide their peers valuable advice about these materials.

Earthwatch conducted an informal poll to determine what might be the “top of the pops” in environmentally themed computer software now available in stores in the county.

Tina Burkhart of Rio Mesa High School and Geoffrey Lillich of Channel Islands High School offered a few suggestions. Of course, parents should check out this kind of material carefully themselves. After all, we’re talking about an expenditure of from $30 to $90.

On the other hand we are talking about an educational technology that truly delivers a lot for your money. One of the great things about CD technology is that you can get the collected knowledge of lots of experts on these little disks.

Even conflicting opinions and very recent research and discoveries can be accommodated. This form of educational media go way beyond something like a textbook, which might slant or condense the material in a way some parents might find inadequate.

Comprehensiveness is certainly the case with one of Lillich’s recommendations, “Ocean Life,” a seven-disk series produced by the Sumeria company. And then there’s an entire encyclopedia on just a couple of CD-ROMs in “The Encyclopedia of Nature” produced by Dorland-Kindersley.

The recently updated “Encarta” encyclopedia by Microsoft was also recommended. “Encarta” is also being translated into Spanish--an important consideration in our county school system.

When shopping for this sort of educational tool for a child, parents might also consider that with school budget cuts, it is getting increasingly more difficult for schools to afford these hands-on, environmentally correct teaching materials.

“In addition to baking a pie for the bake sale, parents might check with their child’s teacher and see if there’s a video or CD-ROM that could be bought and given to the school,” Rodrigues suggested. He went on to stress that just about anything that gets parents “interactive with school,” as he put it, is good for the learning process.

Rodrigues and his advisers suggest that when you call your child’s school you inquire about the sort of equipment they have on hand. Many titles you will see in the computer and book stores--even Walmart--are available on both CD-ROM and regular computer disks.

Make sure whatever you buy for your school will fit on the machines the school has. The biggest selling titles, such as Sim City, the popular plan-your-own-environment game, is one title that’s available in almost all formats.

Also, if you’re going to get serious about helping a school in this way, it’s possible to do it without too much pain by using mail-order catalogues to obtain certain titles. Firms that specialize in this kind of material advertise in computer magazines such as PC Connection.

Another source is a book, which is called the “CD-ROM Pocket Guide” even though it has over 350 pages. It is available from Pemberton Press, (800) 222-3766. Otherwise, just stroll into a big bookstore or computer software store and ask to see science stuff. You’ll probably be tempted to buy on the spot--but don’t buy until you’ve called the teacher.