Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes – Part A: Climate Change Solutions
15 minutes – Part B: Women, Girls and Climate Change
30 minutes – Part C: The Role of Community
20 minutes – Part D: Community Meeting
10 minutes – Reflection

Part A: Climate Change Solutions

Step 1.

Begin by writing the term 'climate change' on the board. Then distribute a copy of the Student Worksheet to each student and ask them to write down what they think are the top five most effective solutions to climate change. Do not let students use the internet or undertake any research.

Now ask students to share their thoughts and questions, either with the class or with a partner.

You can then show students the solutions ranked on the Drawdown Solutions website. Explain to students that when you add up 'girls’ education' and 'family planning' it becomes the number one solution to climate change. Ask a few students to share thoughts, feelings or questions they have about this statement. You could lead the class discussion using these prompts:

Was this something you expected?
How does it make you feel (or what was your immediate reaction)?
What thoughts or ideas come to mind?
Does this information influence or challenge your beliefs about climate change solutions?

Part B: Women, Girls and Climate Change

Step 1.

Tell students they will be watching a clip from the film 2040 that explains more about this topic. You might like to give them a background about the film (see Teacher Content Information). Students are to complete a See, Think, Wonder activity (on the Student Worksheet) after they have watched the clip. It would be useful to explain the activity beforehand so they can think about it while watching the clip.

Watch this clip as a class.

2040 - Empowering Women and Girls Password: 2040_EDU

Step 2.

Once complete, allow students time to complete the 'Think See Wonder' task before inviting students to share some of the ideas they included in response to the ‘Think’ and ‘Wonder’ questions. You could have them share with a partner or the whole class.

It will be important to check that your class understands the link between women's education and climate change before proceeding to the next step. You may wish to explore this website with students, either as a class, in groups, or individually.

https://whatsyour2040.com/educating-girls/

In short, education empowers women to be more independent, financially or otherwise, and to manage their reproductive health. Women who are more educated and more empowered tend to have better jobs and life prospects, and also have fewer, healthier children, slowing population growth. The UN predicts that if 98 million more girls were able to complete their education, we would have 1.1 billion fewer people on the planet. With that slower rate of population growth, there wouldn't be as many people competing for resources, which puts a lot of pressure on our planet!

Part C: The Role of Community

Step 1.

In this next section, students will undertake an activity where they explore the ways in which different community members and groups can help support women's education, which in turn will help lessen the impact of climate change.

Ask students to form small groups, or create groups. Allocate each group a role from the list of roles outlined below. Students can also find this list on the Student Worksheet.

MEMBERS OF COMMUNITY:

Educators - your role is to give people important information and teach them (could be at school, or for adults).
Creatives - your role is to get people excited about making changes (you could think of ad campaigns, art, films etc).
Activist - your role is to raise awareness about issues in the community. You can also put pressure on government or businesses (you might organise campaigns, protests etc).
Government - your role is to make laws - rules for everyone to follow.
Businesses - your role is to make products and services that help people and the planet. You can also raise money.

Explain to your class that they must take on the perspective of someone working in their assigned role and develop solutions to empower women and girls in their education. They have 25 minutes to generate a range of possible solutions, analyse one in depth, and present it to the class.

Tell students that they need to respond to the below question from the perspective of their role in the community:

If students need additional support, you might offer some starting examples relevant to their assigned roles.

For example, creatives could find exciting new ways to communicate the value of women's education and its role in lessening the impacts of climate change. Activists could lobby governments to encourage more women and girls to attend school, while businesses could provide additional training and education opportunities for their staff, or even fund scholarships.

Step 2.

Students are then to complete a SWOT analysis on ONE of their solutions (available on the Student Worksheet). A SWOT analysis is used to examine potential ideas, policies or organisations. They are used in the real world by many businesses, organisations and academic institutions. Students should first fill out the ‘strengths’ and ‘weaknesses’. In these two areas, they should focus on the idea itself and what their group/community can do to support women's education. Then they should move on to the opportunities and threats, which are ways that people outside of their group might help or hinder the plan.

Show students the example below:

Solution: New laws making school compulsory for all girls up until 16.
Short explanation of the idea: In some places, school is not compulsory for all children. Young girls can be taken out of school to support their families, for example by watching young children while parents are at work. But if school is made compulsory, parents will have to leave their daughters in school and find someone else to look after the younger children.

Strengths
(positives about the idea)

Makes it legally compulsory for girls to attend school and get educated

Weaknesses
(drawbacks of the idea)

Doesn’t fix the reasons why parents are taking their girls out of school. They still need a babysitter, and they might not be able to afford one.

Opportunities
(ways other groups or people could add to this idea)

If we find out the reasons why girls are being taken out of school, we could create new businesses to do those jobs, so that they're still getting done even though the girls aren't doing them.

Threats
(ways other people or groups might damage this idea)

Some activists might protest about the jobs that aren't being done by the girls any more. Those jobs will still need to get done.

Part D: Community Meeting - Role Play

Step 1.

Explain to students that they will now participate in a role-play activity around the community roles they have explored. Share the following scenario with the class:

The community they live in has three grants that they can apply for. These grants will fund half of their project and be given based on a vote by the community.

Step 2.

Have students sit in a semi-circle, rather than behind their tables. This will promote more discussion.

Students should present a brief summary of their group’s discussion and their SWOT analysis to the class. Students should explain why they deserve the grant.

Step 3.

After all students have presented, have the class discuss which three solutions should be given the grants. The groups should stay in character, considering the benefit of the solutions from the perspective of their groups.

Step 4.

All students must now generate ideas for how they can fund their idea, or run it in other ways (without cost). The students who won grants can consider half their idea paid for, so they still need to generate more income. They may do this by:

raising funds from the community
selling items for profits
putting on free events
collaborating with other groups to share costs
any other means they can come up with.

Reflection

Invite students to individually reflect on the lesson and the conversations they have had. Students should write down answers to the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What were the top two ideas you heard? List them here with a reason you found each interesting or important:
How did completing the SWOT analysis affect your original idea?
Think of a disagreement you had during the role play. How did you resolve it?
Give an example of something that you or a peer did or said that shows effective communication skills.

Differentiated Learning

Extension -

Students could evaluate two solutions through SWOT analysis and then explain which is preferable.
Students could reach out to a community group to pitch them their idea or to ask how they can be involved in the ideas that group is already implementing.

Provisions for Learning Support -

Students could focus purely on the strengths and weaknesses during the SWOT analysis.
Students could collate a glossary of new terms they discover throughout the lesson.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

What's Your 2040?

Record your students' work in their communities with the hashtag #whatsyour2040 and share their visions in the '2040: The Regeneration' Facebook Group.

The 2040 crew would love to see your class's work.

2040 - Empowering Women and Girls

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