Teaching Sequence

5-10 minutes - Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge
20+ minutes - Part B: Site Analysis
25+ minutes - Part C: Create A Design Brief
10 minutes - Reflection

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1. Differentiation

For students who have completed the previous lesson:

Begin the lesson by recapping the premise of permaculture design. Explain that permaculture is a set of agriculture and social design principles that aim to create a more sustainable society. Permaculture creates designed solutions for how we grow food and animal products, catch and use energy, manage water and build communities.
Now remind students that, having identified a need in the school, they are working in small groups of 3-4 students to design a permaculture solution. Recap some of the challenges and solutions that students selected. Encourage students to reform their groups and ask them to bring out the Student Worksheet from that lesson. Encourage each group to choose one of the projects from the Worksheet to create a design plan for.

For students who haven't completed the previous lesson:

Begin by inviting students to share what they already know about permaculture, recording their ideas on the board. As you do, explain to students that it is fine if they don't know anything about permaculture; in this lesson, they will explore permaculture by developing a design to address a need at your school using permaculture.
Explain that permaculture is a set of agriculture and social design principles that aim to create a more sustainable society. Permaculture creates design solutions for how we grow the food and fibre for the products in our everyday lives, so that they better catch and use energy, manage water and build communities.
Watch this clip with students and then distribute copies of the Permaculture Ethics And Principles worksheet and invite students to read through the worksheet. Students should record notes in response to the following:
- What is interesting or surprising about this information?
- What vocabulary is unclear or unfamiliar?
- What questions do I have about this information?
You can now work as a class to choose a permaculture project that would suit your school/community. The following site can act as inspiration for the range of projects that can be created using permaculture principles, Permaculture Research Institute. Your classes' project could be as straightforward as a garden design or something more abstract, like an education campaign for a school event. If you are creating a project with your class from scratch, you may choose to project the Project Choices Worksheet. This shows a number of projects' concepts that use permaculture principles. These examples can be used as inspiration for your classes' project.

If there are specific criteria that you need to put in place for the class based on your location, for example, an area of the school grounds that the design should be created for, explain this to class, writing these considerations on the board. You will also need to check with your principal and/or gardener about specific criteria and site location.

Part B: Site Analysis

Step 1. Differentiation

If you haven't yet selected a site for your permaculture designs:

Explain to students that the next step developing their permaculture design is to identify potential sites. Before searching for sites, students will need to make a class list of parameters to assess a site's appropriateness, based on the needs of each project. Demonstrate how to set these parameters by writing the following example on your whiteboard: Little shade. Then explain that your students that one of the requirements for a successful vegetable garden is a site that has little shading; if you want your garden to be successful you will need to select the site carefully.
Now, invite students to turn to the person next to them and discuss the parameters that they need to consider. Draw your classes' attention after a few minutes and ask for volunteers to offer their parameters. Invite the class to further discuss each other's suggestions, adding them to the whiteboard once you have reached a general consensus. Make sure the below parameters are included in list your if your class does not reach them organically:
- Features of the site – Is the site relatively flat or is it rocky or steep? Will people of all ages and abilities be able to visit the site?
- Danger – Is this site dangerous in any way? If so, are there any ways to mitigate this danger?
Based on the parameters, work with your class to consider each site presented. As a class, choose the site/s for your project/s. The teacher could be in charge of assessing the sites and choosing one for the class to focus on, or students could vote for their favourite site.
Teachers should keep a record of all potential sites. If there are any issues gaining access to your selected site, you will need to choose another option from this list.

Invite students to think about which permaculture principle/s parameter setting and site assessment might refer to.

If you have a site already selected for your permaculture design:

Explain to students that the features of your site will determine how successful your project will be, and will in some cases determine which projects you can pursue.
Share the chosen site with students, explaining the features of the site that might affect their designs, such as shade, accessibility to water sources, proximity to classrooms or offices (some people might be worried about the smell of compost bins or chooks), etc.
If you have any features that pose challenges for the designs students have chosen, you can work with students to address these challenges to ensure the success of your project/s.

Step 2.

You can now take students on a site visit. Before you visit your site explain to students that they will need to record the key features of the site by doing all, or a selection of the following:

Taking photos of the site
Creating a map of the site
Recording (and, where possible, identifying) existing plants

You could also use this site visit to conduct a soil test of the site. This will be particularly important if planning a garden or if you are planning on introducing chickens to the site. Your school may already have a simple soil testing kits; kits are also available at nurseries and hardware stores.

Part C: Create A Design Brief

Step 1.

Now that a project has been decided on, invite students to begin working on a design brief to hone the details of their project. Invite students to use the draft design brief section of the Student Worksheet, and under the question What does your project aim to do? to record what their project will try and achieve. Encourage students to collaborate on this drafting process in a way that makes the most sense to them, using mind maps, lists, drawings, or rough sentences. You may wish to provide students with a few examples to start their thinking such as 'educating the community about permaculture' or 'creating a place where we can test permaculture principles'.

Step 2.

Now, direct students to the question, how will your project achieve its aims? on the Student Worksheet. Invite students to collaboratively brainstorm (using their preferred methods from the previous step) the practical elements of their project. Reassure students that this is a higher level overview and the detail of their suggestions can be similar to the following, 'design a comic book to educate younger children about permaculture' or 'make an online permaculture sharing space for our community'.

If students want to visualise their plans on a larger scale. Consider allowing them to work on A3 paper, on a whiteboard or a wall/window using sticky notes

Step 3.

Now, invite students to condense their two brainstorms on what they want to achieve and how they will achieve it, into a Final Design Brief. This should include:

Details of the plan - a description of the plan, the need it addresses, the benefits of the plan, and the permaculture ethics and principles addressed.
Drawings and photos - clearly labeled diagrams, sketches and photos showing how the design works and how it will fit with the current site.
Maps and photos of the site - showing where what parts of the school will be affected by the design (where you will put it etc.). Maps should conform to BOLTSS mapping conventions (students may need to take their own photos or create their own maps.)
Instructions - how will people need to interact with your design to make it work? What will they need to install it and maintain it?

Invite students to use all the resources available to their groups. If they have artists in their groups get them to create an infographic, if there are students that are awesome at mathematics ask them to create a graph, or if there are musicians they can create a memorable hook with an opening rap or jingle about the project.

Working to complete this task within the given timeframe will require groups to work collaboratively and to assign tasks fairly. The following tips may be useful in this process:

Ensure 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 challenges and obstacles - being prepared is a great way of ensuring the plan will be a success.
Encourage groups to keep communication lines open at all stages of project planning and actioning.

Step 4.

Once complete, invite each group to display their work on a desk and encourage the class to participate in a gallery walk of student work:

Step 5.

Finally, if you are intending to complete lesson 6, explain to students that in the next lesson they will be developing and delivering a pitch to refine and share their permaculture project idea with the community.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to complete the following question, recording their responses on the Student Worksheet:

What might be the value of using permaculture as a way of addressing school or community needs? Explain your answer.

Differentiated Learning

Extension: Students who finish early can work to create a draft budget for their proposal, considering all the materials and resources they will need in the short term and long term (i.e. what is needed to establish the project and what might be needed annually to sustain the project?). This could also be used as an opportunity to think creatively about how the original proposals could be amended to reduce expenditure by, for example, incorporating more recycled materials or approaching local nurseries for donations.

Provisions for Learning Support: Students who require extra support can work in smaller groups. Instead of planning a new project, they can choose existing project that they like on the website www.permacultureprinciples.com and plan a way to replicate it in their school.

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?

Creative Sustainability - Permaculture Design Brief

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