Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

30 minutes

Part A: Identifying the issue

30 minutes

Part B: Ideas for change

60 minutes

Part C: Designing change

60 minutes

Part D: Delivering change

30 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions:

Students will:

develop skills and confidence to create and deliver a social action project.

Success criteria:

Students can:

use their skills and interests to deliver a social action project
contribute to their group's success
see themselves as having the ability to create change.

Part A. Identifying the issue

Step 1

Watch the clip below as a class (embedded on the Lesson Presentation):

We owe the ocean (https://vimeo.com/1056609166/f127af1031)

Ask students to share their thoughts on the questions below (also on the lesson presentation):

What was the clip about?
What stood out for you the most?
What action is it asking for?

Invite students to form a pair with the person next to them to discuss their responses to the questions in order to expand their original thoughts. Then, ask volunteers to share with the class what they discussed in their pair.

Step 2

Introduce the next clip by explaining that it features four young adults who are actively working and campaigning to protect our oceans.

How to change the world (https://vimeo.com/1056609682/3526d344b6)

Step 3

Ask students to think about the people in the clip and what drives them to act as Ocean Guardians. Explain that by the end of the lesson, students will become Ocean Guardians too. They will work in groups to design and deliver their own social action project that will contribute to the protection and improvement of ocean health.

Step 4

Display the Blue website's Taking Action page. Scroll through the featured pledges and invite students to ask clarifying questions.

Step 5

Invite students to individually think about the pledge that they connect with by responding to the following questions on the Student Worksheet:

Which pledge are you passionate about?
Which pledge do you most associate with?
Which pledge addresses the thing you are most concerned about in relation to ocean health?

Step 6

While students are completing the questions, attach the Ocean Guardian Pledge Posters to the classroom walls. Then, once students are finished, ask them to move from their seats to be near the pledge that they connect with.

Step 7

Invite students to pair with another student and share what they wrote about the pledge. Then, ask them to form diverse-ability groups of about four people who share interest in the same pledge. These will be the groups that they will work in as Ocean Guardians to make positive change to ocean health.

Explain to students that the task ahead of them involves working in small teams to plan and deliver a social action project. Ask the newly formed groups to arrange the classroom furniture so that they are seated together around a table.

Step 8

Refer students to the section on the Student Worksheet that prompts students to craft an agreed statement that clarifies the reason for taking action. They are asked to frame their statement in the following format:

'We pledge to (action) so that (change that will occur).'

For example, students may write:
'We pledge to demand that shops reduce plastic packaging so that there is less plastic in the ocean for animals to eat.'

Step 9

Introduce the concept of a design challenge question to the class. Explain that a design challenge question helps us to think, explore and create many different solutions to one problem. For this lesson, the design challenge question will be framed as a ‘How Might We…?’ question.

Ask students to select an incomplete ‘How Might We…?’ question (on the Student Worksheet) that relates to the pledge they have chosen, and complete it with the change that they wrote down.

How might we stop eating unsustainable fish so that…..?	How might we refuse plastic shopping bags so that….?
How might we demand shops reduce plastic packaging so that…?	How might we bring our own cups when buying take-away drinks so that…?
How might we avoid cosmetics with micro-beads so that…?	How might we clean the beach so that…?
How might we call for the protection of sharks so that…?	How might we support marine sanctuaries so that…?
How might we change to renewable energy so that....?	How might we respect our mother (the ocean) so that…?

Invite students to write their ‘How Might We…?’ question on the Student Worksheet.

Explain that 'How might we...?' questions are problems that have been rephrased as challenges, or tackle-able questions. This phrasing is used because it suggests that a solution is possible and that the challenge can be addressed in a number of different ways. 'How might we...?' questions, when properly phrased, provide a great frame for innovative, out of the box thinking?

Part B: Ideas for change

Step 1

Invite students to arrange the classroom furniture so that they are comfortable enough to think expansively and creatively. The groups may like to work on the floor, around paper attached to the wall, or on a whiteboard. Provide each group with three sheets of A3 paper, textas and sticky notes.

Sticky notes allow students to physically move two or more ideas around, mixing and matching to shape something special.

Step 2

Facilitate groups to complete a three phase brainstorming activity:

Phase 1 - Addressing 'How might we...?'

Invite students to create a list of actions (or doing words) that could be taken to address their ‘How Might We…?’ question. Inform groups that they should aim to come up with as many different actions as they can. There will be time to consider the best ideas after the brainstorm. Ask students to write the heading “Actions” on the first piece of paper. If necessary, share a few examples of actions before students begin the first phase of the brainstorm.

Actions:
Stop	Reduce	Swim
Start	Buy	Change
Replace	Run	Donate

Ask students to only put one action on each sticky-note and to use only one colour sticky-note for this phase. (This is important for the third phase, which requires the notes to be moved around.)

Get students off and running for three minutes of fast thinking, using this online stopwatch to track time. Once the time is up, congratulate students on quick thinking and ask them to put that piece of paper to one side for now.

Phase 2: What are our skills and interests?

Ask groups to select a different colour sticky-note and a new sheet of paper. Invite groups to write the heading: “Skills and Interests”. Explain that the next five minutes will be used to list the skills and interests of people within the group. Help students get started by providing examples, then start the timer for another five minutes. Ensure that students write one skill or interest per sticky-note.

Skills and interests:
Soccer	Drawing cartoons	Social media
Shopping	Music	Theatre
Computers	Photography	Dancing

Encourage thinking about hidden or quirky skills e.g. growing vegetables, reading backwards, or dog grooming.

Phase 3: Mix and match to create ideas to make change.

Ask groups to take the last sheet of paper and write their 'How Might We…?' question at the top of the page. Challenge groups to come up with five or more ideas to address the 'How Might We…?' question by matching sticky-notes. Encourage students to come up with all the ideas they can - let groups know that they don’t yet need to think about how feasible the ideas are. For this phase, students should just aim to have fun playing around with possibilities. If necessary, scaffold this phase by providing some examples:

Ideas for action:

Skills and interests:

Creative idea to make change:

Stop
Start
Replace
Reduce
Buy
Run
Swim
Change
Donate

Soccer
Shopping
Computers
Drawing cartoons
Music
Photography
Social Media

Staff-student soccer match, selling drinks with paper straws to replace plastic straws.

Donate time to open an information table with designed posters and brochures about shark finning at parent teacher night.

Sell cloth bags with school logo to encourage people to reduce getting plastic bags from shops.

Allow up to ten minutes for this phase of the brainstorm, encouraging students to think expansively and creatively and to talk through their ideas with each other. While students are working, watch for indications of a slowing down of ideas.

Spreading the word about an issue is a great way to make change. Students could organise a community screening of Blue The Film as their social action project. Click here to find out about how to host a screening.

Step 3

Help groups land on an idea for action, including key logistics and framing how it will actually work by asking groups to talk through their favourite ideas and applying the SMART criteria. They will find the criteria on the Student Worksheet.

Step 4

Ask students to decide on their idea. If required, they could cast a vote. Once a decision has been made, invite students to record their idea to address the 'How Might We…?' question on the Student Worksheet.

Part C: Designing change

Step 1

Once groups have decided on the action they will take, allow time for students to plan. Distribute a copy of the Project Planning Tool to each group and invite them to fill it out.

Step 2

Conference with each group to discuss their plan. Use these questions to guide the conference:

What are you planning to do?
How is it addressing your 'How Might We…?' question?
What help do you need to get it done?
When do you plan to have completed your project by?

Step 3

Provide students with information about the deadline for delivery of their project and any relevant logistics relating to your school, such as other staff who could support them, how to book resources such as cameras and rooms, or who to speak to for permission for their intended action.

Be clear about time allocation.
Remind students how much time they have to complete the project and encourage students to be realistic about the tasks they need to complete in that time.

Maintain a high level of communication with each group.
Make sure that everyone has what they need to complete their allocated work and knows what they should be doing.

Talk to your principal, colleagues and students' parents.
Communicate what groups are doing and how/why they complete their projects.

Remind students to prepare for setbacks.
Remind them that making change can be hard. Encourage them to continue, even in the face of obstacles or roadblocks.

Part D: Delivering change

Step 1

After students have completed the planning process, allow time for them to deliver their projects. This could be done on one allocated day or over a number of designated weeks. This Project Checklist can be used to help groups keep track of what they need to do to deliver their project.

Ensure that groups are allocating roles and dividing up the workload fairly.

Encourage all group members to contribute so that all students have ownership over their projects.

Remind students to be realistic and make the project achievable

Advise students to consider possible roadblocks – being prepared is a great way to ensure their plan will succeed.

Encourage groups to keep communication lines open at all stages of project planning and production.

Step 2

Conference with each group to discuss their progress. Use these questions to guide the conference:

What have you done so far?
What needs to be done next?
When will it be finished?
What help do you need to get it done?

Step 3

Publicly showcase and celebrate students' projects by:

Working with students to create a class newsletter about their projects to distribute to parents/carers and community members.

OR

Tasking students with producing and screening a 2-minute video that documents their social action projects.

Ensure that each group provides the following details about their project:

What was the ‘How Might We…?’ question your project was working to address?
What action did your group take?
What impact did your project have?
How could you extend or continue the project?

Reflection

Facilitate a circle discussion to celebrate the achievements of the class. Not every group may have managed to deliver their project by the set date. Many groups may have delivered something that was not exactly what they envisaged. Emphasise that this is often the case for everyone, and that success is recognising and learning from the process.

Share what skills, attitudes and capabilities you observed that the students displayed. Discuss the importance and transferability of these qualities in the ability to succeed in life.

Then, invite students to complete the project reflection and self refection (available on the Student Worksheet). Each student should complete both sets of reflection questions independently.

Project reflection

Describe the change your project made (small or large!)
What parts of the project were the most successful and why?
What parts of the project were the least successful and why? How would you improve these parts?
Overall, how would you improve the project?
What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
How could you extend or continue your project?

Self reflection

Which of your skills and interests were involved in delivering your social action project?
How did you contribute to your group's success?
What would you do differently next time?
What was the best part of working on this project and why?
What was the worst part and why?
What impact did you have?
What are you most proud of?

Extensions/homework

Students could host an exhibition where the process and final result of their projects are displayed. Groups can respond in person to questions from invited guests (for instance, school leadership, other school staff, students, families and local community representatives).

Assessment

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

Blue - Ocean Guardians Creating Change

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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

In this lesson