Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

25 minutes	Part B: Understanding Actions Against Plastic Pollution
20 minutes	Part C: Understanding Your Sphere Of Influence
5 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Where students have completed previous lessons in this unit:

Remind students of the driving question for this unit: How are we connected to the ocean?
Then pose the following question to students: What are the ways we are connected to the ocean that you explored in this unit? Suggest the following answers: 1. We are connected in the ways that we need the ocean, 2. the ways that we impact the ocean, and 3. the ways we care for the ocean (including the actions that governments, producers and consumers take).
Invite students to work independently to record three things they remember about each of these points. Students can then team up with a partner to share and discuss their ideas, suggesting reasons why these ideas stuck out for them.
Invite volunteers to share some ideas with the class. Through this process explain to students that part of our role for caring for the ocean includes the personal actions we can take. Explain to students that in this lesson they will be exploring this point in detail.

Where students have not completed previous lessons in this unit:

Begin by posing the following question to students: How are we connected to the ocean? Suggest to students that there are three main ways that we are connected to the ocean and write these on the board:
- We need the ocean
- We impact the ocean
- We can care for the ocean.
Invite students to work in pairs to suggest several examples for each of these points and to record these in their workbooks.
Once complete, clarify student ideas using the information in the table below:
.

Some of the ways we need the ocean	Some of the ways we impact the ocean	Some ways we can care for the ocean
We need the ocean for fresh air. The ocean controls our climate and weather, having a crucially important role in our access to freshwater. We need the ocean for food and transport. We need the ocean for recreation and leisure. The ocean is vitally important to indigenous peoples. Many people need the ocean for spiritual reasons.	Plastic waste impacts marine environments, including marine animals and plants. Pollution runs off the land, harming marine environments. Overfishing and harmful fishing practices harm marine animals and environments. Climate change is warming our oceans.	Governments can create legislation to reduce the amounts of waste produced and how waste is managed. Producers can create products whose associated waste is environmentally responsible. Consumers can make choices about what they buy and the ways they dispose of waste.

OPTIONAL - in this lesson students will be focusing on the issue of plastic waste in our oceans. If you want to deepen students' understanding of this topic before the next part of this lesson, consider sharing the following clip: Take 3 - Plastic
Through this process explain to students that part of our role for caring for the ocean includes the personal actions we can take. Explain to students that in this lesson they will be exploring this point in detail.

Part B: Understanding Actions Against Plastic Pollution

Step 1.

Explain to students that they will now watch two clips and reflect on these clips using the questions below. Consider playing one clip and allowing students time to reflect on the clip before playing the next one.

Take 3 - Local Change https://vimeo.com/451392492/c63b77d6b2

Questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What did you find most interesting or important about this clip?
What does this clip make you think about?
What does this clip make you feel?
What points about local and community actions stood out for you and why?
What did you learn about responsibility for Country?

Take 3 - Personal Action (https://vimeo.com/451390080)

Questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What did you find most interesting or important about this clip?
How does this clip help you understand why personal action is important for a problem like plastic pollution?
What points about personal actions stood out for you and why?
What actions for plastic waste did you identify in this clip? Which of these actions are you already familiar with and which were new to you?

Once students have had the chance to record their own ideas, invite them to turn to a partner, and share and discuss their ideas.

If time permits you could invite students to share some of their ideas with the class.

Step 2.

Now focus student attention on the final question about actions for reducing plastic waste.

Break the class into pairs or small groups and invite each group to brainstorm some of the things we use in our daily lives that are made of plastic. These could include objects suggested in the clip - such as coffee cups, cutlery, cosmetics - as well as other things you see around you in the classroom - such as furniture, stationery and devices - or can remember from home - such as food packaging and clothing.

Ask groups to share their ideas and record these on the board, ensuring you don’t double up on ideas.

Then count the number of items on the board and divide them up amongst your groups, ensuring that each group has roughly the same number. Groups can then work to suggest personal actions that can be taken to reduce the impact of these plastic items on our environment. Students may need to undertake additional research to find out more about what actions can be taken for particular items. Students should keep a record of these actions.

Some suggested sources for research could include:

Note: Where students have completed surveys of plastic actions in Take 3 - Investigating Ocean Connections - Geography and Science - Years 7 to 10, they can incorporate results into their suggestions for action.

You can then create a table on the board with two columns and label the left column as ‘Plastic item’ and the right column as ‘Action’. Students can then come up to the board to add their ideas to the relevant column.

Once complete, spend some time discussing ideas with the class.

Part C: Understanding Your Sphere Of Influence

Step 1.

Remind students of the point raised in the clip by Tim Silverwood about your ‘sphere of influence’ (2:10 to 2:27). Ask students to suggest what they know or think about this idea.

Then explain to students that for most of us there are lots of things in our lives that we’re concerned or worried about. All these things can be described as your sphere of concern. We can control the outcomes of some of these concerns but not all. In the case of plastic waste, we can control our personal actions, like picking up waste and choosing not to use plastic bags or straws. This is known as a sphere of control. We also can and do influence the people in our lives with the things we say and do. This is known as a sphere of influence.

These ideas can be represented visually by using the following diagram:

Step 2.

Distribute a copy of the Sphere Of Action to each student. Invite them to add one particular concern they have about plastic waste to the ‘concern’ sphere. Then they should navigate to the ‘control’ sphere and record one thing around this concern that they can control (e.g. a personal action). They can then navigate to the outer ‘influence’ sphere and identify and record the people who they may be able to influence with their personal action (e.g. friends, family, the staff at a local cafe or in the school canteen, people they play sport with).

You could invite students to add up all the people they added to their sphere of influence, and share this with the teacher. Add all these numbers together and share with the students; this final number is the number of people the students in your class could personally influence to take action for plastic waste! Then imagine if all those people were also able to affect change for those in their own spheres of influence; the number of people making a change - even if it’s a small one, like saying no to plastic straws - can grow quickly and can lead to a big change.

Step 3.

Now that students can see the power of small actions, it’s time for them to think about the small actions they’re going to take and how they will do this. This will require students to think about the places in their own lives where they create the most plastic waste or the actions they could personally take that could have the greatest impact and influence. For example, could it be - like Bruce in the clip - that they start refusing cups and lids when visiting fast-food restaurants, or making biscuits for school lunches rather than buying packaged biscuits.

Note: Students may be inspired to suggest a range of actions; however, encourage students to focus on one or two achievable actions to start with so they don’t get overwhelmed or discouraged if things don’t go according to plan. They can always create a plan to introduce further actions as time goes on. This could be based on months or school terms, for example:

Term 1

Term 2

Term 3

Term 4

Pick up and dispose of litter whenever noticed

Pick up and dispose of litter whenever noticed ✓

Take own cutlery instead of using plastic cutlery

Pick up and dispose of litter whenever noticed ✓

Take own cutlery instead of using plastic cutlery ✓

Use fabric/beeswax wrap instead of plastic wrap

Pick up and dispose of litter whenever noticed ✓

Take own cutlery instead of using plastic cutlery ✓

Use fabric/beeswax wrap instead of plastic wrap ✓

Use bamboo toothbrush instead of plastic toothbrush

Part D: Influencing Others

Step 1.

Now explain to students that taking action and leading by example is one part of this process; influencing others is the next part. This doesn’t mean you need to shout about what you’re doing, but it will probably mean you’ll need to have some conversations around what you’re doing and share some of the reasons why you’re doing it.

As part of this process, it could be useful to prepare some material that can easily be shared with those in your circle of influence. This material could include information about some of the impacts of plastic waste, as well as actions we can all take. This material could take the form of a pocket guide, a short clip, a website you can direct people to, or any other communication form students are interested in.

For some people, having others take action on an issue like plastic waste can feel like a rebuke about their own behaviours and actions. In these cases, it can be useful to have a strategy for talking about your actions and the reasons behind them. Core to this is having a basic understanding about how to have a valuable and ongoing conversation about challenging topics. In the following clip, viewers are introduced to the secrets of talking about climate change; however, the topic of climate change can easily be replaced with plastic and plastic waste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkklaXhbTuA. Consider sharing this clip with students and inviting them to consider how they might have a conversation with someone they feel needs support in taking action to reduce their plastic waste.

Students should work independently to create their own communication piece that:

Describes the action/s they’re taking and why
Includes research in support of their reasons (e.g. facts about plastic waste) and in support of the actions they’re taking (e.g. shampoo bars come in cardboard packaging that can be recycled)
Uses visual materials in support of arguments (such as charts, maps, etc.)
Provides links to sources of further information (e.g. Take 3 For The Sea, Australian Marine Conservation Society or Plastic Free July).

You could provide students with a copy of the Communication Piece Assessment Rubric to show what is expected of their final product.

Students could share a draft of their communication piece with peers. When providing feedback on the work of others, remind students to be kind, helpful and specific.

Allow students time to incorporate feedback and produce a final product. You can use the Communication Piece Assessment Rubric to assess student work.

Opportunities for extension:

Once students have created a communication piece they are happy with, you could work with the class to develop a plan to take their ideas beyond the immediate sphere of influence and into the broader community.
You could do this by working as a class or in groups around themes or topics, using the Project Planning Guide to develop and refine ideas for community action. As you do this, encourage students to document the process; they can use this to evaluate outcomes, assess successes and failures and make recommendations for improvements.
You could repeat this process with other topics, asking students to think about what actions they can take and how they can influence others on topics such as:

Overfishing and/or fishing practices
Climate change and ocean acidification
Food waste
Biodiversity loss.

Reflection

Invite students to reflect on what they looked at in this lesson by writing a short persuasive piece in response to the following question (available on the Student Worksheet):

Do you believe in the power of small actions? Why or why not?

Take Action for the Global Goals

If you'd like to explore further the United Nations Global Goals, consider encouraging your students to think about their plastic usage next time they go shopping for groceries. Could they 'take 3' reusable bags with them?

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?

Take 3 - Take Action Against Plastic Waste

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