Sustainable Development Learning Plans - Assignment Example

Sustainable Development Learning Plans Table of Contents Sustainable Development Learning Plans 1 Table of Contents 1 Learning Plan 1: 1 Activity: 5 Conclusions 7 Learning Plan 2: 8 Activity: 9 Conclusions 10 Learning Plan 3: 10 Activity: 12 Conclusions 13 Sources: 13 Learning Plan 1: Title and brief description: Foundations in Sustainable Development This learning plan will create a clear and succinct understanding of foundations in sustainable development such that the students are able to integrate the same into their day-to-day lives. The objectives of this plan are divided into two categories. The first one is to make a behavioural analysis of how students' attitudes are towards sustainable development and what are their attitudes if they are asked to adopt and support practices pertaining to sustainable development. The second aim is to broaden the scope of sustainable development and look at it from the global perspective, role of various stakeholders and debate that surrounds this broadened outlook. The brainstorming will be such that students are able to explore the possibility of creating a future that is sustainable by critically analysing this topic at the national, local and international level. They will make an effort to investigate the principles, policies and approaches relating to sustainable development and see their personal roles in planet's life support systems. The emphasis will be on how their own actions contribute to sustainable development or lack of it. The students will also get know-how on the terminology used in sustainable development and key issues that surround the topic. Several geographical methods will be used to introduce them to the topic with an aim to promote critical data-based thinking as against only theoretical approach. These methods include issue analysis, data analysis and mapping techniques. A stimulating experience is expected to be provided to the students through a variety of learning and teaching methods. Group discussion, simulation and role play will form an integral part of this plan. Age group for which it is designed for: High school students Rationale: To provide a plan that will enable students carve out a clear understanding on sustainable development as much through practical as theoretical methods while seeing the topic through their personal contributions. Learning objectives: To explore students’ attitudes and behaviours towards adopting sustainable development practices. To check and analyse stakeholder perspectives at national, local and international levels. Resources needed: This plan will need access to some resources (physically or pictorially) that can help students assess the impact of unsustainable practices and impact of sustainable practices. They will need to be apprised of resources available in limited quantity and resources that are depleting like coal, metal and oil. They will need to be given an understanding of resources that they can take personal interest in and see how they can envision an earth that uses such sustainable resources like tides, earth's core, water, wind and the sun. Teaching and learning strategies: Overall strategies for the plan Learning strategies will differ from activity to activity but overall the foundation for each activity will be as below: Introduce students to sustainable development concepts. The focus will be to make them understand and expect demonstration in return on how environment is influenced by values. Ask students to explore attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable practices and their adoption. Make students aware of ecological footprint concepts. Analyse sustainable development's historical path and delve into international commitments in sustainable development. Make a poster after identifying person or persons who have made exemplary contribution to sustainable development. Evaluate their work's impact on society. Ask students to develop glossary pertaining to sustainable development and help them get acquainted with new ones. Acquaint students to the resource material, collected either in physical or electronic form, provide supplementary sheets. Ask students to search internet and collate credible information, research papers, case studies and peer-reviewed papers. Use simulation games and audio/ video aids to monitor the group work for maximum impact and benefit of the lesson imparted. Introduction to learning experience: The learning experience, which has to be communicated to students before the activities begin have to be a mix of oral presentations, diagrams, board notes, activity-based learning and class discussions. In order to provide a fruitful learning experience, teachers will be expected to provide concise and clear points, properly sequenced and written down either on board or a sheet of paper for circulation among students. Students will have to communicated that all presentations will have to be rehearsed by them before the learning plan gets into practice. Students will be given enough of response time for questions asked. On the contrary students will also be expected to ask questions, but the process must be clear and concise. For this they will be expected to organise their ideas well, use correct vocabulary for the same and present well. Students will be expected to do most of the work in-class but provision will have to be kept to allow them take some work home for providing their responses. Students will have to be told that lots of practice opportunities will be created within the class itself and in order to stimulate their creative thinking they must be told about lesson highlights in advance. Short assignments will be preferred over the long ones. Activity: Task In order to get a befitting introduction to the sustainability development topic they will identify and jot down values which are relevant to their efforts of sustainability promotion. Expectations: They will: Identify approaches that can help protect and sustain life support system of the planet Identify earth natural system and its complex nature. Identify how earth is interdependent with its natural environment Timeframe: 25 minutes Categories of achievement: Inquisitiveness/ Inquest/ Inquiry/ Thinking Communication Establishing connections Material: A yarn ball Vocabulary: Ecosystems Interdependence Method: All students reach out to the value(s) they have jotted down on the paper. They will prioritize the most important value. And also they have noted (either on paper or on mind) what each one of them can do to preserve that value so as to promote sustainability. The whole class stands in a circle. One student holds the loose end of the yarn ball and throws it while the other catches. The one who catches it will throw to the next one while identifying his value and specifying what he or she will do to preserve it. For example, if someone values clean drinking water, his primary initiative would be to make earth garbage-free. Garbage, in this case, will be a threat to clean water. When the ball reaches the last student and he specifies his value and his action against the threat to that value, the yarn will have moved around such that it would have created a complex web in the classroom. This web will be symbolic of the complex nature of earth's ecosystem. Students will realise the importance of sustainability and how important each of their action would be to preserve this ecosystem. Or in other words how important it would be to handle this web delicately so as to avoid permanent entanglement. Further to this, students will be asked to discuss connections between their values and how these connections interact with each other. Subsequent to this each student will be asked to make a poster based on values, threat to values, interconnections and the overall fragility of the earth. Evaluating main content of the experience: Main content of the experience is to first understand the complexity of earth’s ecosystem and need for its sustainability. Most important part of the experience is that students must realise what position do they hold in this system and what value they can provide to preserve and sustain it. The activity mentioned above helps them understand the complexity; the values that they have jotted down help them understand the meaning these values hold for sustainable development, threats they perceive to it act as catalysts that can initiate change. The change itself would start from them. What concepts/issues will be explored and how?: The main concept that will be explored is the concept of sustainable development. At the end three important questions will emerge: 1. Did you ever think values can have a relationship with sustainable development. If no, then why not; and if yes, then how? 2. Think as far as you can and see how many factors threaten sustainable development – what is the percentage of man-made factors that threaten the ecosystem? 3. What can you do to minimize the threats? List in order of preference. Conclusions This learning plan will enable students to make judgments and draw conclusions by using reasoned analysis. The poster-making session, for example, will help each student hone analytical skills further and if they are asked to see each other's posters, they will be able to draw thematic mental maps of what larger population thinks as a whole on sustainable development. This will lead to a collective thinking. Learning Plan 2: Title and brief description: Footprints of Sustainable Development This plan will help students critically evaluate their responsibilities and impact their actions are going to have on sustainability. While in the above plan the complexity of the planet's system was emphasised, in this it will be taken up in conjunction with interdependence of natural phenomenon. In other words, this plan will convey the vastness of the sustainable development concept. It will accomplish this by analysing students' perceptions and how these perceptions influence ecosystem, environment and even sustainable development. Age group for which it is designed for: High school students. Rationale: Since this plan talks of interdependence of resources, the rationale on which it will be taken up evaluation of selected trends in sustainability by understanding the ubiquitous cycle of resources vis-a-vis consumption. Learning objectives: Let the students get aware of ecological footprint concept and its relevance to sustainable development. Resources needed: Aids pertaining to and giving information on biodiversity, pollution, climate change, deforestation and desertification. Presentations on how geographical issues arise because of human development trends. Basic knowledge of GIS and statistical analysis. Teaching and learning strategies: These will include the following: Apprise students on how resources are used and misused. Apprise them how dangerous it is to over-consume. Apprise them on how finite the resources on earth are. Apprise them on how ecological footprint is related to consumption and then sustainable development. Introduction to learning experience: Most of the learning strategies will be based on as in Learning Plan 1 but with a slight difference here. Soon after giving students preliminary information on ecological footprint, they will be asked to come up with their own examples on the topic. Particularly, they will be asked to list ten points each on how they feel earth resources are finite. This will stimulate their interest in the topic as while thinking on finite resources they would inwardly link this lack of infinity to themselves. Activity: Task Students will be provided with a quiz on ecological footprint. They will have to compare it with their own country's average. Expectations: Be able to relate their consumption behaviours with sustainability trends. Timeframe: 20 Minutes Categories of achievement: Assimilation of knowledge Understanding of ecological footprint Inquiry/ Thinking/ Making connections/ Application Material: Ecological footprint note A copy of quiz Vocabulary: Energy efficiency Renewable energy Method: 1. Students should attempt the ecological footprint quiz in the allocated time. 2. Since for most of them the concept would be raw, teachers can get involved in the subsequent session. 3. The same can be debated the next day and students should be encouraged to involve their parents in the discussion at home. They should be allowed to carry the copy of quiz and answers they have provided home. Evaluating main content of the experience: This will be a participatory plan since it involves teachers and parents too. Teachers must be prepared to have responses between two extremes since it can be presumed that students must not have heard of the term before this. Conclusions This plan is designed with an aim that students are able to realise what is the extent of demand human beings have from the earth, and thus what is the importance of initiatives leading to sustainable development. Learning Plan 3: World's Sustainable Development Title and brief description: This is an advance level plan which will enable students use sustainable development analytically. To move further, students will have to do a recap of the previous knowledge gained, following which they will be divided into groups. Each group will analyse data sets of human development from different countries. Age group for which it is designed for: Same as above. Rationale: See how different countries react to sustainable development issues differently and check if there is a link between sustainable development and these countries' political, economic and cultural aspiration. Learning objectives: Assess how people from different regions perceive sustainable development. Assess how country-specific factors influence the sustainable development trends. Collate information from all groups to see if a common and the most viable factor is found. Resources needed: Relevant data pertaining to all countries under evaluation either is hard or soft copies, and any other electronic formats, like videos etc. Teaching and learning strategies: Before starting this plan, both teachers and students must quickly look back and revise previous learning. Students will make a wall on sustainable development and list progresses made on the same. Then they can be grouped; each group assigned a country to evaluate. Data must be provided. Students will analyse data and list issues that have been addressed and problems that still remain. Based on the analysis each group will make a poster, which will be divided separate columns outlining Issues, Issues Addressed, Issues Remaining, and Worrying Threats to Sustainable Development. Introduction to learning experience: The students will be apprised of how this plan is proactive and how this is going to make valuable addition to their insight on sustainable development. Activity: Task Analyse country-specific data on sustainable development. Expectations: See how human activity impacts sustainability in different regions. See how policies influence this impact. Develop a comparative assessment and an action plan. Timeframe: 2 Hours Categories of achievement: Wider understanding of sustainability development. Material: Relevant country-specific data. Vocabulary: Biodiversity Emissions Trade inputs Manufacturing activities Indicators Per capita GDP Method: Divide students into groups. Give analysis instructions. Allocate time to analyse. Interpret findings in a group poster. Evaluating main content of the experience: Collate group experiences and findings after the posters are made. Discuss each groups work in a collective discussion. What concepts/issues will be explored and how?: This will be an opportunity for students to come out of the classroom setting and peep into the world to see how the issue is handled elsewhere. Emphasis has to be on ascertain issues, particularly the ones that are craving attention. Questions to be asked can be as below: 1. What explains one country's sustainable development efforts being better than the other? 2. Do different cultures react differently to the problem? 3. Should there be a uniform code of conduct with respect to sustainable development? Conclusions This activity will help develop analytical tools with respect to their allocated country by generating ideas on how they can address those specific issues that are still pending. Sources: Buckley, J. (2002). The Art of Governance: Putting the Pieces Together, A Curriculum Resource for Secondary Teachers, Global Education Centre (SA), Adelaide, 2002, p 6. Capra, F. (1996). The Web of Life : A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems. New York: Anchor Books. Fien, J. (2001). Education for Sustainability: Reorientating Australian Schools for a Sustainable Future, Tela Papers, issue 8, Australian Conservation Foundation, Fitzroy, Vic., p 22, Available http://www.acfonline.org.au/docs/publications/tp008.pdf. Accessed September 26, 2013. Hopkins, R. (2007). The Transition Handbook: from oil dependency to local resilience, Green Books. Available http://transitionculture.org/shop/the-transition-handbook/. Accessed September 26, 2013. Paden, M. (ed.). (1994). Teacher’s Guide to World Resources. World Resources Institute: New York. Schwarz, B. (2004). The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, Harper Perrenial. United Nations Development Programme. 2002. Human Development Report 2002. UNDP, New York. United Nations, Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August – 4 September 2002, United Nations, New York, 2002, Available http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/ html/documents/summit_docs/131302_wssd_report_ reissued.pdf.. Accessed September 26, 2013. World Commission on Sustainable Development. 1987. Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press. World Resources Institute. 1994. Teacher’s Guide: Sustainable Development. World Resources Institute Publication: New York. Read More