This spring, a team of students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) worked with Pur și Simplu Verde to analyze how Green Week is implemented in Bucharest schools and to develop educational materials to support teachers and better engage students. What did they discover during this research?
Green Week, introduced in 2022, is an ambitious initiative by the Ministry of Education aimed at bringing students closer to environmental issues. However, the WPI students found that, due to the lack of clear guidelines and a standardized curriculum, each school conducts the week in a very different way. Some activities are creative and meaningful—like recycling workshops or tree plantings—but others are entirely disconnected from environmental themes, including trips to malls or museums with no environmental relevance.
Teachers are under significant pressure, as the planning of Green Week falls entirely on their shoulders. Many lack training in environmental education, and the scarcity of resources makes it difficult to organize truly educational activities. Moreover, there are wide disparities between schools: some have access to technology and can use educational games, while others prohibit the use of digital devices entirely.
Students, for their part, are interested in environmental topics—especially animals and the impact of human activities on them—but often do not understand the connection between Green Week activities and real environmental issues. For example, although they planted trees, many did not know why this was important for the climate. Their knowledge of climate change varied widely: some students understood it well, while others believed that global warming was just a natural phenomenon.
Based on these findings, the students created a set of resources: an educational video game in which students make decisions and see their environmental impact, a database of information on five key topics (climate change, air quality, water, deforestation, and carbon footprint), suggested classroom activities, and a dedicated website. All of these were designed to be easy to use for teachers regardless of their training or available school resources.
The conclusion? Green Week has enormous potential, but it needs more coherence, institutional support, and accessible materials to achieve its goals. Environmental education should not be a burden for teachers, but an opportunity for students to better understand the world they live in—and how they can help protect it.