Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Looking for ways to increase student engagement while supporting learning objectives this Earth Day? Green and Healthy Schools Wisconsin has got you covered with Cool Choices, a free 4-week interactive, online game that rewards participants for reducing resource consumption, improving health and wellness, and increasing environmental literacy. Register by March 27 to participate!
When the River Falls School District implemented Cool Choices to provide science-based education in areas of water and energy conservation, more than 100 participants from Greenwood, Rocky Branch, Westside, and the Public Montessori elementary schools participated. River Falls was able to engage the community in a friendly competition between classrooms, across multiple schools.
Classrooms at each school formed teams and earned points by making “cool choices” or participating in actions that reduce environmental impact and save money. In classroom mode (recommended for grades K-8) teachers poll students and count how many participated in a sustainable action each day. Another way to play is in team mode (recommended for grades 9-12), where students form teams of 5-8. Each student on the team participates in individual, daily actions to earn points that contribute to the team score. Teams play against other teams in the same game to gain points and earn prizes.
Students play online cards with one-time actions like “I used a reusable water bottle today” and “I visited a local park,” or investigative activities where students assess their own practices in categories including wellness, travel, energy, water, school, recycling, and community. They even upload photos for the photo challenge cards, which allow students to share their Cool Choices actions with other players.
The best part about Cool Choices is that by playing, students are saving the school money. Cool Choices uses vetted assumptions, which assign savings to each sustainable action a player makes. For example, the “carpool to school today” card will use assumptions about commuting distances and fuel efficiencies to estimate gasoline savings, which are then converted into dollars and carbon emissions. At the end of the game, schools are provided with a detailed savings analysis of the Cool Choices actions participants adopted during the program. What's even better is that students start to bring these habits and savings home.
Rocky Branch Principal Chuck Eaton said, “When the kids were fired up about it, they brought it home and families got involved.”
Collectively, students and staff throughout the River Falls School District took 3,044 actions to reduce resource consumption, improve wellness, and increase environmental awareness through Cool Choices. The teachers had friendly competitions to be the highest-scoring class each week. When motivated staff and students explore the sustainable practices and healthy choices their school makes, it can lead to better school practices.
Eaton said, “The Cool Choices game has definitely raised staff awareness on how they can contribute to sustainability and the conservation of resources at school, but the game has also led to people talking to others and sharing ideas on how our district's policies and choices affect our students.”
River Falls isn’t the only school district that Cool Choices has been implemented in. Greendale Middle School is an example of another success story where students played the Cool Choices game multiple times and were actively transforming their school to be greener and healthier! Marlene Mcilheran, a science teacher, used the game to supplement the earth sciences/environmental curriculum and was excited to see that it was a huge success.
Mcilheran shared, "The format was engaging for students and offered up new ideas on how to ‘be sustainable’ as we explored water, energy, and transportation use in students' immediate lives. For a performance assessment, students designed sustainable communities in which each student came up with ways to make the community efficient and sustainable."
Cool Choices is offered by Green & Healthy Schools Wisconsin, which is a movement of schools, community partners, and state agencies working together to catalyze a culture of sustainability and wellness in all Wisconsin schools. Led by the Wisconsin Departments of Public Instruction and Natural Resources, partners work together to reduce environmental impacts, improve health and wellness, and increase environmental literacy in schools. Schools can learn more and register to play at ghswisconsin.org.
Written by: Xia Lowery, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources