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Learn With Central San
Preventing Pollution & Protecting The Environment
Central San’s education programs are designed to help students understand “what happens to our dirty water after it goes down the drain.”
For a sneak peak, please click on the image to watch our newest education video: Disappearing Act!
Disappearing Act tells the story of Mateo and his friend Toot the Toilet. Mateo is a young magician who becomes increasingly consumed with his perceived power to make anything disappear down the drain.
All of our education programs can be found below. They are offered free of charge to teachers, schools, and families.
If you’re ready to sign up or would like more information, please contact Ben Lavender: blavender@centralsan.org or (925) 335-7723.
Bonus Resource: Disappearing Act Watching Guide
The watching guide is a tool to learn more about what students are seeing and thinking as they watch Mateo and Toot’s adventure. Below you can find timestamps to pause the video and questions to ask students at select points along the way. Enjoy!
Pause at time stamp 1:06
Ask students to guess what they think Mateo and Toot will try to make “disappear” next?
After they share their answers, press play again and say “let’s watch what happens to see if we were right?!”
Pause at time stamp 2:45
Ask students if they notice a change in Toot’s behavior at this point? How do we think Toot is feeling about what is happening right now?
We can also ask students if they have a prediction about what they think is going to happen next?
After they share their answers, press play again and say “let’s watch to see what we can figure out!”
Stop at the end of the video
Ask students if they think that toilets can make things magically disappear? If the answer is no, then what do we think we should do instead of flushing all that stuff down the toilet?
Bonus Resource: Disappearing Act Behind The Scenes Video
A lot of work went into the making of Disappearing Act! A very talented young local actor plays Toot’s friend Mateo. Even though Toot is one of the stars, he didn’t actually appear in video when we first filmed it. Instead, we used another toilet—and sometimes other objects or people—for Toot’s stand-in. Mateo had to act as if Toot was really there with him the whole time. Click on the behind the scenes video to see more!
Guiding Principles
Our Foundational Thinking
Central San designs all of our classroom education and outreach programs using our core Guiding Principles as the foundation.
Pipe Protectors
Hands-On Classroom Lessons for Grades TK-5
Pipe Protectors is Central San’s suite of elementary classroom (or outdoor!) lessons. All aspects of our program have been developed to support hands-on wastewater science and engineering for students in TK through 5th grade.
The goal of every Central San lesson is to help students think more critically about “what happens to our dirty water after it goes down the drain?”
Delta Discovery Voyage
Field Trip for 5th Grade
Classroom science lessons come alive for fifth graders on the RV Robert G. Brownlee, a 90-foot-long research vessel that provides a safe and stable floating laboratory for students. The ship is owned and operated by the Marine Science Institute of Redwood City.
Central San co-sponsors a three-and-a-half hour excursion on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta where students learn about the source of their drinking water and the importance of pollution prevention.
Rock Steady School Programs
Water and Wastewater Assembly for Elementary Schools
Go With The Flow is an exciting program that delivers important messages from exploring our local water and wastewater systems, to conservation and environmental connectivity.
The performance is an interactive and entertaining multi-media assembly that uses juggling, comedy and magic to teach students about sewer science and environmental stewardship. The 45 minute program is great for elementary students of all grade levels!
Next Gen Sewer Science
Laboratories For Middle and High School Classrooms
Next Gen Sewer Science is a multi-day wastewater treatment lab based on the science and engineering involved in collecting, treating, and analyzing our wastewater.
There are three different lesson series to choose from – each is built upon relevant NGSS earth science, biological science, and physical science curriculum.
Distance Learning
Hands-On Wastewater Science From A Distance
In the days before the pandemic, we used to travel to K-12 classrooms in order teach students the hands on science and engineering of wastewater and wastewater treatment.
Nearly all of the supplies we use are solid wastes diverted from landfill, including donated biotech supplies and repurposed household materials. This design is on purpose. As an agency that sits on the receiving end of one kind of waste stream, we are sensitive to the realities that affect all waste streams.
Professional Development
For Classroom and Outdoor Educators
Central San supports educators across Contra Costa county and beyond. We host an annual professional development series - the Summer Teacher Academy – at sites across our facility.
We also work collaboratively with local school districts during teacher release time for support and training. Those sites include:
– The Mt Diablo Unified School District
– The Lafayette Elementary School District
– The San Ramon Valley Unified School District
– The Contra Costa County Office of Education
Community Events
School, Community, & County-Wide Fairs
Central San supports community events across Contra Costa County. Below, you can find examples of the kinds of local events we participate in every year:
– The Contra Costa Science and Engineering Fair
– The Pleasant Hill Tinkers and Thinkers Faire
– The John Muir Earth Day Event
– Contra Costa Library Events
– Various School Career Fairs, Science Nights, and other School-Wide Events
Go With The Flow
By Foot Or By Bike
Central San collects and cleans more than 35 million gallons of wastewater each and every day. Much of this collection process occurs underground, making it invisible to most people. However, there just so happens to be a pedestrian-friendly way to follow where your wastewater goes!
For 21 miles, the Iron Horse Trail pedestrian and bicycling path follows one of our sewer lines—nearly the entirety of the flow from the southeastern-most corner of our service area in San Ramon all the way to our treatment plant in Martinez.
Wastewater Based Epidemiology
Or As We Are Sometimes Called, Poop Sleuths
Wastewater Based Epidemiology is the study of water that comes down the drain in order to get a snapshot of the health of the community. It’s a field that’s gaining a lot more attention recently and it works for two very simple reasons:
1. In any given community: Some people get tested. Others go to the hospital. Everyone goes to the bathroom.