Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

25 minutes

Part B: What Does Action Look Like For You?

20 minutes

Part C: Sharing Actions With Your Circle 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 that was posed at the beginning of this unit: How are you connected to the ocean?
Engage students in a class discussion around the following question: What have we learned about in this unit that can help us to answer our driving question? Invite the class to work together to suggest answers and record these on the board. You could also consider working with students to create a display where each student writes or doodles their own answer to this question that can be displayed beneath the driving question.
Now say to students: ‘In this unit we have looked at the ways we are connected to the ocean through the ways we need it and the way we impact it. But there is one more way that we are connected to the ocean; through the ways that we care for it.’
Invite students to work independently for a minute or two to record their thoughts about this point (that we can care for the ocean). They could use the following questions to guide them: What do they think about this? What questions do they have about this? Once complete, they could share and discuss their thoughts with a classmate.
Then invite students to share their ideas with the class. Through your discussion, lead students to the idea that no matter where we live - even if it’s nowhere near the ocean - we can take action to stop plastic waste entering the ocean. For the rest of this lesson, students will explore how to do this.

Where students have not completed previous lessons in this unit:

Begin by breaking the class into an even number of groups and assign each group with a number 1 or a number 2, and write the following questions on the board:
- How might we need the ocean?
- How might we impact the ocean?
Assign the number 1 groups with the first question and the number 2 groups with the second question. Ask students to work in their groups to answer their assigned question, recording their ideas in their workbooks.
Then ask students to team up with another group, selecting a group that answered the other question (i.e. number 1 groups should team up with number 2 groups) to discuss and share their ideas. You can also ask them to record any new ideas that come up through their discussion.
Once complete, invite groups to share their thoughts with the class. Create a table on the board with two columns, label one column ‘need’ and the other ‘impact’ and record student ideas in the relevant columns.
Through this process you could also introduce some of the ideas in the table below:
.

Some of the ways we need the ocean	Some of the ways we impact 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.

• Explain to students that there is one other way that we are connected to the ocean and this is through the ways that we care for it. In this lesson students will be focusing on the issue of plastic waste in our oceans, and looking at what actions we can take to care for the ocean.
• Watch the following clip from Take 3 For The Sea (Take 3 - Plastic) and invite students to record what they find interesting or important about this clip. You could also invite them to read the Plastic Pollution Factsheet.
• Finally, lead students to the idea that there is one more way in which we are all connected to the ocean: through the ways we care for it. For the rest of this lesson, students will explore this point in more detail.

Part B: What Does Action Look Like For You?

Step 1

Explain to students that for many of us, thinking about addressing something as large as plastic waste in our oceans can seem impossible. But taking action for an issue like this doesn’t necessarily mean taking big or dramatic action; small steps count for a lot.

Share the following clips with students, and after each clip, invite students to participate in a THINK-PAIR-SHARE around the following questions (available on the Student Worksheet):

What did you find interesting or important about this clip?
What do you think the main messages of this clip are?

https://vimeo.com/451392492/c63b77d6b2

https://vimeo.com/451390080/6b5c38f380

Step 2

Once students have had time to share their ideas with a classmate, invite them to share their answers and clarify that the messages of this clip could be:

Plastic waste causes big problems for our oceans and environment
There are actions we can take in our communities
There are lots of small actions we can all take
Making change can be hard
We can lead by example and show people the actions they can take

Explain to students that they should be aware of some of the ways that plastic waste harms our environment. In the next activity, they will be exploring the small actions they can take to reduce their plastic waste. Later in this lesson, they will think about how they can share these actions with their friends and family; how they can tap into their circle of influence to make an even bigger change.

Step 3

Now ask students to suggest what types of actions for addressing plastic waste were discussed in this clip. For example:

Reusable bags, bottles, coffee cups, cutlery and straws
Beauty and cosmetics (e.g. shampoo and conditioner bars)
Saying no to straws and cup lids
Picking up rubbish

Record student ideas on the board.

Step 4

Now pose the following questions to students:

I wonder what other actions we can take to reduce our plastic use?
I wonder what other actions we can take to prevent our plastic waste from entering the ocean?

Invite students to suggest ideas and record these on the board.

You could then break students into groups and ask them to conduct some research into what other actions and ideas they can find. Some suggested sources for research could include:

Ask students to add any new ideas to the board.

Once complete, engage students in a class discussion around the ideas on the board, and through your discussion, pose the following questions:

Which of these ideas are you already doing?
Which ones could you start doing?

Students could then select three ideas for change that they can start working towards straight away. Suggest to students that the first thing everyone can add to their list is to ensure that their rubbish goes in the right bin and that they pick up litter when they see it (remembering to be careful with sharp edges and washing hands after).

Invite students to select two more actions they feel like they can work towards, and to record all three ideas in their workbooks.

Part C: Sharing Actions With Your Circle Of Influence

Step 1

Remind students of the clip you watched earlier and the idea of a ‘sphere of influence’ discussed by Tim Silverwood (2:10 to 2:27). Explain to students that for most of us there are lots of things in our lives that we’re concerned or worried about. We have control over 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.

Share the following image with students and ask them to recreate this image in their workbooks:

They can then add their plastic waste actions to the centre circle: these are the actions we can control.

Step 2

Now explain that no matter how young we are, we have a sphere (or circle) of influence. This means there are people who we are related to or spend time with that we can talk to about our concerns and who we can influence with our actions. In the case of plastic waste, this can mean showing and talking to people about the actions we are taking and letting them know how easy it can be.

Invite students to think about the people they are related to or who they regularly see or spend time with. Add these people to the outside circle, the influence circle.

These people could include:

Family
Friends
Neighbours you see regularly
Staff at shops or cafes/restaurants you regularly visit
People you play sport or do other activities with.

Where possible, invite students to record as many people as they can. It doesn’t matter if they fill their circle or can only think of one or two people; the aim is to show that they all have people they can influence.

Step 3

Once complete, invite students to add up all the people they added to their circle of influence, to write this number on a piece of scrap paper and to give this paper to the teacher. Working with students the teacher can then add up all the numbers received by students. The final number will reveal the total number of people the students in your class could personally influence to take action for plastic waste!

Part D: Communicate Your Ideas

Step 1

The final activity in this lesson will be for students to prepare communication materials to share with the people within their circle of influence.

Students could use these communication materials to:

Share the personal actions they will be taking to reduce plastic waste
Demonstrate other actions people could take
Show where to find more information (e.g. Take 3 For The Sea, Australian Marine Conservation Society or Plastic Free July)

The communication piece created by students could be:

A short clip in the style of the Take 3 clip watched earlier that can be emailed to people
A business card (or similar size) with information about actions that can be hand-delivered
A poster (or series of posters) that can be shared with friends or hung in your local cafe or supermarket.

Students could create a rough draft of their designs and share with peers for feedback (including spelling and grammar, and clarity of message). Students could then incorporate feedback into their final draft.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to complete the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Why do you think it’s important to share ideas about plastic waste with your circle of influence?
How do you feel about sharing these ideas and why?

Follow Up

About six months on, invite students to reflect on how/if their behaviour and attitude towards plastic waste have changed. Setting an intention is much easier than creating a long-term habit. Help your students set three small and simple intentions such as: "I refuse plastic cutlery when I order delivered food".

Invite students to respond to these intentions now, by selecting one of the following: Never, Sometimes, Often, Always (available on the Student Worksheet). They can then repeat the activity with the same intentions in six months.

You could use the following intentions to guide students:

When I get takeaway or delivered food, I take or use straws and cutlery: Never, Sometimes, Often, Always
When I get take-home food, I use disposable sauce packets: Never, Sometimes, Often, Always
When I go shopping with my family we remember to bring our own bags: Never, Sometimes, Often, Always
When I go shopping with my family we put our fruit and vegetables into plastic produce bags: Never, Sometimes, Often, Always
When I go out for a hot drink, I bring a reusable cup with me: Never, Sometimes, Often, Always
When I go shopping with my friends or family we choose to go to shops where we can use reusable containers for cleaning products, bathing products and food: Never, Sometimes, Often, Always
When I see plastic rubbish on the street or in nature I pick it up and put it in the bin: Never, Sometimes, Often, Always
My school lunch doesn't create any rubbish: Never, Sometimes, Often, Always
I reuse or recycle all plastic products I use: Never, Sometimes, Often, Always

Take Action for the Global Goals

You may wish to watch this clip with your class.

The Global Goals - World's Largest Lesson Part 3 (https://youtu.be/ZdOQf0nOB6A)

This clip is all about Taking Action.
Discuss with your students how they have or will Take Action for the Global Goals. Some questions to ask include:

What have I learnt about the Global Goals (especially #14 Life Below Water)
Why is it important to have these Global Goals?
What can I do to help work towards this goal?

Some suggestion for this last question could be:

Spread the word
Be aware of your plastic usage and collection through your family’s weekly shop
Take 3 every time you are out and about.

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 For The Ocean

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