 |
 |
Intermediate Students –
Reduce GHGs Challenge |
|
 |
In a Nutshell:
Students work out how they could reduce their greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions through individual actions and by influencing
other people. Students use a GHG emission table to select
actions to help them reach their reduction goal, then
develop a class plan to help themselves and their classmates
stick to their reduction plans.
|
 |
Goal:
To motivate students to take actions to reduce greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions, and to influence others to reduce, too. |
 |
Background Learning:
Teachers should be familiar with the basics of climate change
as reviewed in:
(Teachers may also want to select from some of the other intermediate
and high school backgrounders on impacts and solutions.)
Your students can do this lesson without any prior reading.
However, they may find it helpful to be familiar with the basics
of climate change and the solutions, as reviewed in:
|
| |
Learning Outcomes:
Click on the icon for your territory to review the learning outcomes that are addressed by this lesson:
 |
 |
Introduction to Lesson Plan:
Our climate is changing. As greenhouse gases (GHGs) increase
in our atmosphere, average temperatures are on the rise. We produce
these greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels such as natural
gas, coal and gasoline. So every time you drive to the store,
start up a lawnmower, or heat your home, you create GHGs that
contribute to climate change.
Canada ratified the Kyoto Protocol because top scientists around
the world agree that we must reduce greenhouse gases. As part
of the Climate Change Plan, the federal government asks each
Canadian to take the challenge and reduce our emissions by one
tonne, or by about 20%.
This lesson helps students in your class choose actions they
can take to help reduce GHG emissions by one tonne. Students
can make a difference in two ways: by actions they take individually,
and by influencing others to make changes. (In this action plan,
students earn “GHG reduction points” for both.)
Making a commitment is a great first step, but we all know that's
not the whole journey. The second part of this lesson helps students
to develop a plan to encourage members of the class, as well
as their families and community , to implement their action plans
in the coming year.
For more information on why climate change is occurring, impacts
to the north and the rest of the world, and solutions we can
all take, check out the backgrounders (written for northern students)
on this website.
|
 |
Activity:
 Introduce the Topic: You may be using this lesson as a
stand-alone, or it may be part of a unit on climate change.
For ideas on how to introduce students to the basics and impacts
of climate change, check out the Lesson Plans on this website.
Climate
change can be a depressing subject, and it's
important to stress the positive in this lesson. This activity
offers many different options on how students can make a
difference. If your students haven't previously learned
about climate change, you may need to do short introduction
on the basic concepts of climate change, and how we can reduce
our impact. Use Student Handout #1: Why
Take The Challenge? to cover these points. Explain that this handout
is also a useful introduction for students' families
and friends, if they decide to encourage others to reduce
GHG emissions as well.- Complete the Action Plan: Distribute
Student Handout #2: My Reduce GHGs Challenge Action Plan.
In this handout students
will find a list of actions they and their families can
do to reduce greenhouse gases. Students will select a number
of actions they can do, or encourage others to do, that
will
add up to 1000 kg or one tonne. Depending on your class,
you may decide to go through this step as a class, or split
up into small groups to discuss and complete the form.
Encourage students to go through their Action Plans, entering
realistic
commitments (in pencil) for actions they can take themselves,
and actions they can encourage others to take.
- Take it
Home: Use your judgment here. The great advantage of having
students take the Action Plan home and work through
it with their families, is that they spread the word
to family members and encourage others to take action. However,
depending
on your students, you may decide to omit this stage.
If
your students do take their Action Plans home, ask them to
work through the plans with their families to see what
actions they can convince their families to take. Students
may decide to change their Action Plans after talking
to their families and seeing what their families will commit
to.
- Create a Poster: Now students can complete
a one-tonne Plan, based on Student Handout #3: Cutting Down
My GHGs.
Once the list of actions is complete, make this stage interesting
and fun by encouraging a variety of art media: collages
of
earth images, paintings, or drawings. Continuously stress
to students that every bit helps. Even if students can't
make one tonne, the point is that they are reducing and
encouraging their families to reduce.
Make sure these
posters are prominently displayed in the school, then
taken home to display at home. Having a commitment
in print is a good way to motivate students to keep trying.
- Strategize: Invite students to think about how they can
encourage each other to keep up their actions, and also
how they can encourage families or friends to keep reducing
GHGs.
Pose the questions: How can we help everyone in our
class to keep cutting back GHGs? How can we encourage other
people?
(For some ideas on this topic, read Teacher Handout
#1: Motivating Ourselves and Others to Change.)
- Monitor Progress:
Follow up with intermittent check-ins to see how students are
doing in following their commitments.
What actions have they found easy to do? Difficult?
What further supports would help? What were the best ways
to convince
other people – most useful key points?
Encourage students
to add up how much they have reduced so far, and how far
they still need to go to achieve their
goals.
|
 |
Handouts:
Click on the icon for the complete set of handouts that support
this lesson:
Student Handout
#1: Why Take The Challenge?
Student Handout #2: My Reduce GHGs Challenge Action Plan
Student Handout #3: Cutting Down My GHGs
Teacher Handout #1: Motivating
Ourselves and Others to Change
|
 |
Student Web-Exchange:
Students can post their Cutting Down My GHGs statements. (You
may want to take pictures of the completed statements artwork
to post.)
Students could also write and post essays on why they think
it is important to reduce, how well they did in reducing or convincing
others, what actions they took to cut back on emissions and how
much they reduced, and what strategies they found helpful to
convince other people. Posted material should be about 500 words.
You may want to encourage students to write fewer than 500 words,
or to choose and post a segment from a longer essay.
Click on the icon for information on how to post material. |
 |
Evaluation:
- Self-evaluation: After students have taken several weeks
to carry out actions, ask them to rate themselves on where
they have succeeded so far and where they could improve.
- Success Stories: Ask students to write personal, family
and community success stories. These can be posted in your
school
and on the ClimateChangeNorth Student Exchange.
|
|
 |
Enrichment Ideas:
Art:
Create a Mural: Create a class mural, including scenes of students
taking action in different ways. Post it in your school hallway.
English Language Arts:
One-Tonne Journal: Ask students to journal their experiences of
trying to reduce GHG emissions. What are their thoughts, feelings
and experiences as they try to live more lightly on the earth?
Educating the Community: Create an information-action pamphlet
for your community, including information on what climate change
is, what the impacts are, and what actions we can take. Hand out
the pamphlets at a community event, a shopping mall, or a parents' night.
A One-Tonne Story: Write a fictional story of
a family or person who produces really low GHG emissions. Use information
contained
in Student Handout #2: My Reduce GHGs Challenge Action Plan for the
details – e.g., Mr. Bill gets up and turns up the thermostat
because the heat has been low all night. Then he takes his laundry
out of his front-loading Energy Star washing machine and hangs
it to dry. He turns down his heat and gets on his bike and rides
to work . . . the possibilities are endless!
Mathematics:
Add it Up! Figure out the amount of GHG emissions the entire class
would reduce by adding up all their Action Plan GHG reductions.
(Make sure you include the teacher!) Then go further: How many
GHGs would be reduced if every student in the school reduced by
the class average? If everyone in the class influenced two people
to do the same in their community? If everyone in their territory
reduced? All students in the north? All of Canada?
Graph the Changes: Create a pie or a bar graph showing the percentage
of changes that fall in each area: consumption and waste, transportation,
home heating, hot water, home lighting, and appliances.
One-Tonne Competition: Set up a competition between students or
between your class and another class. With the class, figure out
a method of calculating and recording the gains made by each student.
Social Studies
Taking Action in the Community: Your students may want to do a
class project that involves their school or community. Some ideas
include:
- Recycling project – create one for the school and tabulate
how any GHGs students have reduced
- Walk to school program – start with one day and expand
from there, planning for routes and walking partners to ensure
safety.
- Develop a brochure – to help parents and teachers
understand how to properly maintain vehicles to reduce GHG emissions
(tire pressure,
idling, slower driving, etc.)
- Anti-idling campaign – students talk to parents, teachers
and community members about reducing idling
- Theater review – on climate change and how to reduce
GHGs
More action ideas are outlined in Teacher Handout #1: Moving from
Talk to Action. |
 |
About the Author:
The Yukon Conservation Society Curriculum Team – The team consists
of teachers, writers, environmental educators and curriculum
specialists. The team worked with teachers across the north,
helping them to create lesson plans for the website, and gathering
input about website features, backgrounders and lesson plans
that would be useful in northern classrooms. |
|
