Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Identifying the issue

20 minutes

Find Out: Ideas for change

2 minutes

Take Action: Designing change

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

be introduced to social action
understand that they can contribute to something bigger than themselves.

Success criteria

Students can:

show awareness of the throw away plastic in our lunch boxes
plan plastic free lunches and bring less plastic to school
connect their action with the role of an ocean guardian.

Consider making the learning intentions and success criteria visible to students throughout the lesson.

Preparation

Before the lesson begins, print out enough Turtle-Friendly Lunchbox templates for each student and prepare a display space in the room with the heading “Ocean guardians”. Set up the classroom so that students are seated facing a screen so that they can watch a clip and view some images.

If students ask questions that cannot be answered immediately, write those questions on a ‘parking lot' section of the whiteboard and explain to the students that they can be investigated later.

Tune In: Identifying the issue

Step 1

Begin the lesson by watching the clip below (embedded on the A Turtle's Life Visual Explainer):

A Turtle's Life (https://vimeo.com/1056609745/7e4fc7c04f)

Step 2

After watching the video use these guiding questions to facilitate a class discussion:

What did you see in the video?
What made you feel happy?
What made you feel sad?
The turtle asks: ‘Can you help me?’ Why do you think that the turtle needs help?

Step 3

The next slide of the presentation features the image (below) of a jellyfish in the sea. Show the slide and ask students:

What do you think this is?
Can you tell me where it might live
Did you know that turtles love to eat jellyfish?

Step 4

Invite the students to help you solve a problem. Show the last picture on the presentation of the plastic rubbish in the ocean and ask:

I think something in this picture looks a lot like a jellyfish. Can you tell me what it is?
If turtles like eating jellyfish, what do you think a turtle would do if they saw this thing?
What would happen if humans tried to eat a plastic bag?
What do you think would happen to a turtle if it ate a plastic bag?
Inform students that when turtles eat plastic bags, they will still be hungry, because they are not eating food. They can also get very sick.

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Step 5

Invite students to shut their eyes and think about how they feel about turtles getting sick because they have eaten a plastic bag. Then, ask students to open their eyes and turn to the person next to them to tell them what they thought about. Explain to the students how you feel about turtles getting sick from eating plastic bags, and invite some students to tell you how they feel.

Step 6

Invite the students to act by asking them:

If you could do anything to help turtles, would you like to?

Explain to the class that they are going to become ocean guardians. just like people from Blue the film. Ocean guardians care for the ocean and take actions to improve the health of the ocean.

You can revisit this commitment to being an ocean guardian during the lesson at any time, by calling out good ocean guardian behaviours when students demonstrate they care or they are taking action.

Step 7

Write the question below on the whiteboard, or print this poster and attach it to the Ocean Guardian display.

'How might we bring less throw-away plastic to school so that it doesn't end up in the ocean for turtles to eat?’

Let students know that the challenge is to find a solution to the big question. Explain to students that the class will work together to think creatively about a solution to this problem.

Find Out: Ideas for change

Preparation

Before beginning this part of the lesson, consider a way to capture and record all the good ideas that the students come up with during this session.

Step 1

Establish the difference between good and bad wrapping and containers by discovering what types of throw away plastic we use/bring to school.

Show students various wrapping materials (including better options such as paper straws and bamboo cutlery). Ask students what they notice about each example. Challenge students to identify which of the materials is plastic, and which ones get thrown away after one use.

Invite students to think about lunch boxes generally:

What plastic do you see in a lunchbox?
Why do people usually throw it away immediately after using it?
Thinking about your lunch box, is there any other throw away plastic that we might use?

Ask the students to think about and name any throw away plastic that can be found in lunch boxes. The list may include cling wrap, plastic bags, mini yogurt containers, plastic straws, plastic cutlery, plastic water bottles and plastic bags.

Don’t ask students to retrieve and look at their own lunch boxes during class time, especially seeing that they are not usually responsible for packing them. This will avoid students feeling shameful of the contents. Assure students that this lesson is about finding an alternative, and that it’s ok if they did not know this before.

Step 2

Remind students of the challenge written on the whiteboard:

'How might we bring less throw-away plastic to school so that it doesn't end up in the ocean for turtles to eat?’

Ask students to move to their tables and distribute a piece of A3 paper to each table. Encourage students to think, draw or write down all of their ideas for bringing less plastic to school in their lunch boxes. To support student thinking, invite students to consider these questions:

How can we wrap food without using plastic?
What type of food needs wrapping?
What type of food does not need to be wrapped?
What types of food or drink might we bring to school in reusable containers?

Explain to students that this is a creative brainstorm activity and they should come up with as many ideas as they can - even if they are a bit crazy! Let them know they will be choosing the best ideas later. Give the students a set time (e.g. 10 minutes) and give them countdown time markers as they progress to help them work fast. Discuss with students that they should express their ideas using basic sketches, words, arrows, and any other quick communication methods. Suggest to groups that they might come up with more ideas if they work together to share the role of drawing/writing.

Step 3

Once the brainstorm is complete, ask each group to look back and share each of the ideas they wrote down in a bit more detail with their group, then ask each student to nominate their favourite ideas by:

Drawing a star next to the idea they think is the most creative
Drawing a smiley face next to the idea that they like best
Giving a green tick to ideas that are turtle-friendly

Take Action: Designing change

Step 1

During this part of the activity students should select four or five items from their best ideas that they would like to include in their own lunch box. Explain to students that they should select the ideas that will work for them in their own lunch boxes.

Support students’ decision making process by writing the following questions on the whiteboard:

Does your lunchbox contain a variety of food?
Have you included food that is healthy?
Is your drink turtle-friendly?
Have you included things that are possible for your household to do?

Step 2

Distribute a Turtle-Friendly Lunchbox template to students and invite them to draw their own turtle-friendly lunch box.

Step 3

Ask students to annotate their drawing by describing each of their choices and why they are turtle-friendly.

Step 4

After completing their turtle-friendly lunch boxes, ask students:

What might we do with this information?
Who else would be interested in knowing about turtle-friendly lunch boxes?

Find the best way for your class to present to other students and/or parents/carers. Ask for suggestions or offer ideas that are feasible for your school for students to select from. Ideas might include:

Present lunchbox drawings at visiting parent/teacher opportunities
Take a photograph of students with their drawings and share it digitally with parents
Organise with a colleague for your class to visit theirs to share the message about turtle-friendly lunchboxes
Encourage students to take their drawing home and have a discussion with their parents/guardians about reducing throw away plastic waste in their own lunch boxes OR if students already have turtle-friendly lunch boxes, to have a discussion about their new understanding about their lunchbox packaging.

If you are preparing students turtle-friendly lunch boxes for presentation, it is a great idea to obtain agreements from students about what you plan to do.

Reflection

Ask students to complete the following questions on the Student Worksheet:

Imagine you are a turtle who is looking at your turtle-friendly lunchbox drawing. How do you feel when you look at it?
What did you do in this lesson that makes you an ocean guardian?
What are some other places at school where we could get rid of throw away plastic and use something else instead?

If you have time, facilitate a class discussion where students share their responses.

Learning extension: Invite students to share their turtle-friendly lunch boxes with their parents/guardians, focusing especially on what makes it turtle-friendly.

Assessment

Assess students' work and if they have addressed the success criteria.

Success criteria:

Be aware of the throw away plastic in their lunch boxes.
Be able to plan plastic free lunches and bring less plastic to school.
Be able to connect their action with the role of an ocean guardian.

Ocean Guardians Being Turtle-Friendly

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Summary

Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

Lesson guides and printables

Lesson Details

Skills

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Info

Related Professional Learning

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