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

25 minutes

Take Action: Designing change

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions:

Students will...

understand the impact our plastic use has on Shearwaters and how to take action to reduce plastic waste.

Success criteria:

Students can...

show understanding of how plastic use can affect ocean life
identify ways to reduce plastic
present an idea for action.

Tune In: Identifying the issue

Step 1

Check for prior knowledge about seabirds and Shearwater birds by asking your class the following questions:

Do you know of any other birds that live on or near the sea or ocean?
What kind of things do you think seabirds eat?
Where do you think seabirds nest?
Has anyone heard of a Shearwater before?

Then, engage students with the plight of the Shearwater bird by watching a short clip from Blue The Film (also embedded on the lesson presentation):

Ode to Seabirds (https://vimeo.com/1056609559/4415169959)

Step 2

After watching, facilitate a class discussion using these guiding questions:

What was this video about?
Were you surprised by anything in the clip?
What did the clip show you about the Shearwater?
How did the clip make you feel?
What are you wondering about after watching "Ode to Seabirds"?

Step 3

Show the next slide of the presentation and invite students to contribute to a class discussion around the following questions:

Slide 2
What is Jennifer worried about?
What is the problem? What is causing the problem?
Who do you think is causing the problem?

Slide 3
Why do you think Jennifer helps the Shearwaters?

Step 4

Read out the final line of the ode to students (on slide 4 of the presentation): 'With your help, we can keep birds healthy, the forest and sea clean.'

Ask students if they too want to help Shearwaters. Hopefully, your class agrees to do so! Once they do, explain to students that they are going to become ocean guardians. Ocean guardians care for the ocean and its living things by taking action to improve the health of the ocean.

Ask students to complete the sentence stem below on their Student Worksheet:

'I would like to help the Shearwaters because ..'

Ask for some volunteers to share why they want to help Shearwaters.

Step 5

Inform students that even though they might not be able to help Shearwaters directly like Jennifer does in the clip, they can do so in other ways. Ask students to think back to the clip and the images, and ask them what they noticed about what the Shearwaters were eating.

Inform students that one way that we can help shearwaters is by reducing the amount of plastic that ends up in the sea!

Step 6

Let students know that for the rest of this session, their challenge is to investigate plastic use in the school through observation and by conducting a survey. Then, based on what they find out, they will design and implement a way to reduce the amount of plastic thrown away in the school so that there is less plastic for Shearwaters to eat. Let students know that the way they will do this is by creating a solution to the design challenge question below:

'How might we reduce our use of throw-away plastic in our school so that Shearwaters survive?'

Share the design challenge question with students by writing it on the whiteboard, or printing out this poster and displaying it in a prominent position in the classroom. Explain to students that the exciting thing about using a design challenge question is that it invites many different solutions.

Step 7

Group 4-5 students of mixed strengths together. Explain to the groups that they will be working as a team, so it is important that they try to work together. Ask each group to come up with five team agreements about how they will work together. Students can record these on their Student Worksheet and refer back to them if they have any interpersonal challenges at any stage of the process.

Step 8

Allocate each group a section of the school to explore as well a staff member to survey (staff members need to be informed prior about students coming to conduct a survey with them).

Introduce action research as a way of finding out what the current situation is:

In the environment - students should aim to find out: what plastic rubbish can we see?
For people - students should aim to find out: what throw-away plastic is used? What do people think and feel about the problem?

Explain to groups that this is a shared task. Once all groups have completed their research, the class’s results will be collated together to form a big picture.

Step 9

Distribute an Environmental Scan table and a Survey of plastic use to each group. Read through the text and check for understanding with the class. Ask groups to split the research tasks between them, so that some students prepare to find and count the plastic rubbish, and others prepare to conduct the survey.

Share with students your plan for how you would like them to complete the task, using logistics that work for your school. These logistics may include organising Year 6 mentors to supervise students for a set time, or making arrangements for this research to be an activity completed at lunchtime.

Step 10

After completing the research, invite each group to share what they found on the whiteboard under these headings:

Most common type of plastic waste
Places where we saw plastic waste
What did people want to change?
What did people not want to change?
Other interesting information

Discuss what the students have discovered. Ask students how this may help them to find a solution to the design challenge.

Find Out: Ideas for change

Step 1

Explain to students that in this session, they will brainstorm ideas to reduce, replace, reuse and recycle plastic.

Supply an A3 sheet of paper for each table and ask each group to draw the grid below with the four smaller challenge questions in each square of the grid. Ask one group member to write the main design challenge question on the top of the page.

How might we reduce our use of throw away plastic in our school so that Shearwaters survive?
How can we reduce throw away plastic?	How can we reuse throw away plastic?
How can we recycle throw away plastic?	How can we replace throw away plastic?

Explain to students that the next step is to work in their groups to brainstorm as many different and varied ideas as possible for each of the four smaller questions in five minutes.

Step 2

Invite students to get up out of their seats and stand around their papers to draw their ideas - this will encourage more creative thought. Let students know they can use what other people in their group are adding to the paper as inspiration for their ideas. Ask students to write short descriptions of their drawings as they go.

Students' ideas can be abstract and off-the-wall, but they should also add some practical and realistic ideas too. The aim is to have as many as possible, with a view to being able to choose one that can be developed, refined and put into action.

Step 3

Once groups have completed the brainstorm, ask each group to spend five more minutes viewing and discussing their ideas, explaining the specifics of each in a bit more detail to each other. Then, invite each student to rate the 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
Drawing a tick next to the idea that matches what they are trying to achieve

Explain to groups that they need to chose one realistic idea to develop further by considering the stars, smiley faces and ticks.

Step 4

Inform groups that they can modify the ideas to find the one idea they want to develop. Invite each group to clarify their idea by completing the following questions on the Student Worksheet:

What is your idea?
What will you be asking people to do?
How will it help the Shearwaters?

Take Action: Designing change

Step 1

Set up the design activity by explaining to students that they will now work to develop a prototype of their idea to present to invited guests, including the teachers who completed the survey. Explain that their prototype will be a plan or model that shows how their idea reduces the use of throw-away plastic in the school. The prototype may be demonstrated using materials or drawn on a storyboard showing the steps involved.

Ask groups to create their prototype demonstration or storyboard by using these guiding questions on the Student Worksheet:

What needs to happen for your idea to come to life?
Who is involved in making it happen?
What resources will be needed?
How long will it take?
What action do you want people to take?
Who specifically would you like to see taking action?
How can we show our idea to other people before we take real action?

Step 2

Once students have responded to the questions, distribute the materials required for student prototyping amongst groups, and allow time for them to work together to creatively prototype their idea.

Step 3

When students have finished designing their prototype, give the groups time to plan and practise a presentation of their prototype to an audience. They should aim for the presentation to last for 2-3 minutes.

Groups could use the following presentation structure, sharing the task of delivery:

Why have we come up with this idea for action? (invite the students to revisit their sentence stems: 'I would like to help the Shearwaters because …')
What is the change we want to see?
What is our idea?
How our idea works (details about the prototype)
How the audience can make a difference (what action can they take?)

Step 4

Organise for staff members to watch students present their prototypes. Ask audience members to give students feedback on their idea including:

What works with this idea
One suggestion to improve the idea

Step 5

Invite students to consider the feedback they received and what changes they may make.

Step 6

If your school allows, plan for groups to trial or deliver their idea to the school or a section of the school.

Reflection

Ask students to sit in a large circle and take turns in naming one thing they are proud of and one thing that they learnt while doing this project. Ask the students to think of the things they have done that has earned them the title of ocean guardian. Congratulate your students on their efforts and remind them to be proud of what they achieved.

Finally, ask student to respond in writing to the following questions on the Student Worksheet:

How does our plastic impact ocean life?
How can we reduce the use of throw away plastic?
What was your group's idea for action?

Blue - Ocean Guardians Saving the Shearwater Bird

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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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