Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Part A: Big challenges

15 minutes

Part B: Big impact

10 minutes

Part C: Make an ARL change

15 minutes

Part D: Action plan

5 minutes

Reflection

Part A: Big challenges

Step 1

As a class discuss some of the environmental challenges that students are currently aware of and concerned about.

Some examples students might be interested in (and that we suggest you focus on) are:

the increasing amount of wasteful landfill in the world clogging up otherwise green space;
space cleared for landfill can also impact the habitats of local wildlife; and
chemicals from landfill can impact the food sources of local wildlife.

Step 2

Ask students to engage in a think-pair-share cooperative strategy to explore environmental challenges.

THINK PAIR SHARE is a collaborative learning strategy in which students work together to solve a problem or answer a question.
THINK - Students independently think about an issue or question or question and record their thoughts.
PAIR - Students work in pairs to discuss their ideas and record new thoughts.
SHARE - Students share their thoughts with the whole group or with other pairs to reach consensus.

Step 3

Students could share their thoughts by writing on sticky notes and adding these to the whiteboard – or a far more environmentally friendly and interactive approach is to set up a Padlet and have students add their digital sticky notes to the forum.

Step 4

Look over the students’ suggestions. As the teacher, you might rearrange some of the notes, grouping similar ones.

Discuss:

Is there a pattern or common theme?
What issues concern your class the most?
Why do students think that is?

Remember not to catastrophise these challenges.

Acknowledge the hard bits, for sure. Students need to talk about, share and acknowledge what is hard. Talking about the issue will help students understand that school is relevant and that their feelings are real ( https://www.edutopia.org/article/schools-finding-hope-hopeless-time).

But then use a hope and optimism framework to begin to tackle these challenges.

Optimism involves looking objectively at a situation and making a conscious decision to focus on the good (https://schools.au.reachout.com/resilience/optimism).

Hope is about the belief that you can make an impact. Hope is about allowing students agency in their own learning. Hope is about ensuring that students are looking ahead, identifying for themselves what needs to be improved, and giving them the skills and confidence to go out and do it ( https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-ways-infuse-your-curriculum-hope).

Students manifesting learnt helplessness refuse to engage in any effort that could lead to improved outcomes, even if these ways are available, obvious and easy. Learnt helplessness may lead to action paralysis. In contrast, optimism frames negative events as springboards to favorable outcomes ( https://www.edutopia.org/article/tips-teaching-realistic-optimism).

Step 5

Reinforce to students that that’s what this unit and the ARL focuses on – the opportunity to make positive change through our individual actions and behaviours.

Part B: Big impact

Step 1

Students might have some initial ideas about how to tackle these challenges, which is great! You might like to discuss these ideas openly and optimistically.

However, students might also be feeling overwhelmed. Reassure students that their feelings are valid: it can certainly seem like a big challenge.

Watch:

Domino Effect (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXn08b5Illo).

Discuss how, as in this clip, a little effort can have a big impact!

Encourage students not to shy away from the challenge but rather to be inspired by it!

Step 2

Watch:

How To Change The World (a work in progress) | Kid President (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z7gDsSKUmU).

Step 3

Discuss:

“Little people living out big love” – what does this quote mean to you? One suggestion might be that we don’t have to be superman to make change. We can be a ‘little’ person, but so long as we’re passionate and driven, we can have a huge impact.

Step 4

Share the ‘circles of influence and control’ template on the board or draw your own circles and label them.

Step 5

Explain to students that the mistake people make when they think about changing the world is that they start in the outer circle first – the problem – and then they get overwhelmed. They turn to people who have influence over the issue and either rely on them to make the changes or try to reach them somehow. This is a pretty big bar to jump right off the bat.

What we should be doing instead is starting in the centre, with ourselves or things we can control. This allows us to see that we can have a direct impact on the challenges identified earlier, and from our small circle of direct influence we can grow a reputation and inspire others to follow our example.

Step 6

As a class identify some things that are within students’ direct control, and add these suggestions to this circle.

There are a number of things students can do to make a big difference, including their own habits, choices, actions and the things they choose to say and believe.

More specifically it can include:

making sure they recycle packaging;
‘checking before they chuck it’ – checking for the ARL on packaging, and disposing of it correctly as per those instructions; and
purchasing brands with recyclable packaging – purchasing decisions by consumers exert massive influence on how brands design packaging. By choosing not to buy something because it is not recyclable – or influencing their parents or carers not to – students will be influencing the brand to change their packaging. In future lessons, we’ll look at the waste hierarchy and other behaviours which can improve our approach to packaging, such as reducing our consumption of packaging and increasing our use of re-useable products. Check out the lesson 'Reduce and Re-use' in this unit.

Step 7

As a class identify some things that are within students’ immediate sphere of influence.

While we can certainly try to influence politicians, that might be quite far from the centre of our circle of control. More easily influenced people could be our friends, our family members, including parents, our school community and our wider community.

Part C: Make an ARL change

Step 1

Look back on the class’s list of concerns from the beginning of the lesson, specifically the challenge of plastic waste pollution impacting the environment and local wildlife and the ever increasing amounts of landfill.

Step 2

Ask students if they have any ideas for potential solutions to these two challenges. An obvious one is recycling.

Step 3

Make connections with this solution and the circles of influence. Explain to students that it’s easy to make a change in our own recycling behaviours and perhaps to influence our family, friends and school community to also make changes too.

Step 4

Briefly introduce the concept of the ARL to students, showing them the following image.

The Australasian Recycling Labels with text to explain their meaning

We will be going into much greater depth in following lessons, but for now explain that Planet Ark has created an evidence-based system in the ARL to help us change our recycling habits for the better. They know Australians and New Zealanders care about the environment and want to do the right thing. But with hundreds of recycling labels out there, getting recycling right can be confusing and even recycling gurus get it wrong.

The ARL removes recycling confusion by explaining what we should do with different types of packaging.

Step 5

Ask students to identify some of the benefits of recycling.

Suggestions might include:

When we dispose of our waste correctly, we keep recyclable material away from landfill. By recycling correctly, the products we consume have fewer of the negative impacts on the environment identified earlier: going to landfill or ending up in the environment.
If we use fewer materials at the start of the manufacturing process by using materials that have already been recycled, we will have more materials to work with in the future rather than constantly extracting finite raw materials from the environment.

Part D: Action Plan

Step 1

Share the ‘circles of influence and control’ template with students.

Step 2

Independently students fill in the circles with their individual environmental concerns, the people they can influence and the actions they have control over.

Ask students to be specific about what actions they can take or behaviours they could focus on, as the circle of personal control is what individuals can have the most impact on.

Suggestions for this circle might include:

checking it before you chuck it: students are making sure they’re recycling items that are recyclable instead of sending them to landfill;
making sure all items are placed in appropriate bins, not simply littered into the environment; and
purchasing sustainable products and packaging – but we’ll get to this in Lesson 2!

Step 3

Students should also write a short paragraph explaining the concept of the circles and their thought process behind how they’re going to influence change around recycling, including references to the ARL.

Step 4

Throughout this unit students will be developing an advocate pack. This pack is a gathering of their knowledge, featuring notes, reflections and calls to action around the ARL and recycling that they have developed themselves. This is a great way to promote deep learning, as students actively engage with the development of this knowledge, as well as reinforce the learning, as students reflect on the contents of the pack across the term of the unit. It is also a great piece of assessment for you as a teacher as well as encouraging students to advocate for change and promote knowledge around the ARL within their community and circle of influence.

If students have time at the end of the lesson, encourage them to create a colourful front cover for this pack, or colour in this image to use.

Reflection and key takeaway

Reflect with students that every one of us 'little' people can make a big and positive impact on the environment with the decisions we make and the behaviours we carry out. There are a whole range of eco-friendly actions we can undertake, from thinking carefully about how we dispose of packaging to trying to understand more about the impact our purchases have on the environment, in order to make a massive difference to the environment.

Remind students not to get overwhelmed by the big challenges of the world; start within yourself and the few people you can directly influence and then build from there.

Where to next?

Check out 'Reduce and Re-use', where students consider the waste hierarchy and whether there are changes to our behaviours that can come before recycling which can positively impact the planet.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

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

ARL - Big Challenges, Big Impact

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