Several agencies and organizations working to prevent discharges of oils into the marine and coastal environment offer educational material and special activities for children and students. The overall purpose of these efforts is to make young people familiar with the marine environment, make them care about it, and understand the consequences of abusing it. Several of the educational web sites also contain practical experiments for students to learn about the behaviour and effects of oil in the marine environment. •• A few examples of programmes and activities targetting children/students — and their teachers — are given here.
Gulum, Children's Ecological Organization, in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the ECO Institute in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., have collaborated on a project to start an early childhood environmental education class in Baku. For the past four years, Gulum has involved kindergarten teachers and pre-school children to raise awareness of the need to protect the Kura River and the Caspian Sea from pollution. Several publications, including lessons for teachers and children's books, have been produced, classes for children and workshops for teachers have been held. Also, there has been a "mobile museum" and a video about the Caspian Sea for children living around the sea. See also ISAR, the Initiative for Social Action and Renewal in Eurasia.
"Water pollution can come from a lot of different places, but the number one reason that our creeks, rivers, lakes and beaches get dirty is from the water and other pollutants that flow into storm drains. " Kids' pages by the City of Oceanside Clean Water programme,, with lots of illustrations, about storm water and marine pollution (marine litter, oils etc.).
The Energy Ant guides kids into the world of non-renewable and renewable energy (U.S. Energy Information Agency). These pages give information on what energy is and , as well as fun facts, energy quiz, classroom connection, kids' corner and much more.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a section for kids about non-point source pollution. Darby Duck and the Aquatic Crusaders teach children about oil and how to clean up an oil spill. On "What's wrong with this picture?" one finds everyday activities that should be avoided in order to minimize the input of oil to urban stormwater. As part of the EPA Oil Program, one also finds the Learning Center, with much information, experiments for Elementary School, Middle School, and High School level students, photos, links, etc.
U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) Kids Corner. See Kids Corner - Alaska Region, with "What is crude oil?", "Drilling", "Oil and gas platform", "Oil spill response". •• See also the pages "dedicated to furthering knowledge about MMS and the Gulf of Mexico Region". It includes classroom activities (oils stuff) , teaching and learning materials, etc.
"A young person's guide to oil and gas" is a four-pages educational web site provided by the UK Institute of Petroleum. It contains basic information on the formation of oil and gas, and on the processing of crude oil and use of oil products.
The Education site of the U.K. Offshore Operators Association contains information on the formation of oil, how one searches for oil and extracts it, especially from offshore sources.
Section on the web site of NOAA (U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Response and Restoration) for students. FAQs, Help for report writers, Experiments, etc. Oil Floats and Spreads - for elementary school students. Making Mousse - for elementary school students. Cleaning Oiled Feathers - for elementary school students. Sediment Penetration Exercise - for high school students or older people. Mearns Rock Graphing Project - for middle and high school students. Oil Spills at the Water Surface - includes a project for elementary or older students.
The Scottish Yellow Fish Project "is an active, enjoyable and effective way of raising awareness of the issues of waste and pollution". The project is part of the Scottish Oil Care Campaign, aimed at promoting the responsible delivery, storage, use and disposal of oil and oil related products. In the Yellow Fish Project, volunteers identify drains leading direct to burns and rivers and mark them with a stencilled yellow fish. The objective is to get message across: Dispose of your waste responsibly, not down any drain!
Oil, Water and Chocolate Mousse, presented by Environment Canada, provides information on oil, oil spills, effects and responses, means to prevent oil spills (what can I do to help?), & an environmentally-friendly oil spill experiment to demonstrate how difficult it actually is to clean up oil.
Discover the world of oil and gas is the educational site of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association. Here one finds information and classroom resources for teachers and students "to discover just what Australia’s petroleum industry is all about."
Discover Petroleum is an educational site provided by the British Institute of Petroleum. On this site one finds general facts about oil, a virtual tour of a refinery, games, etc.
Energy Lessons, by the U.S. Department of Energy, gives information on coal, oil, and gas (history, use, etc.) See, for example, Looking down an oil well.