EDF2303 Movement, Environment and Community

Courtney Garth ID: 22540873

PART A

For the purpose of this assignment I am adopting the role of a grade 3/4-classroom teacher, as I am currently completing my advanced practicum with this year level. The school is in a residential area and has a good community connection with both the environment and the people. This school has a wide range of children from ability levels, socio-economic groups, religions and ethics. Within my 3/4 class, I have three ESL children, five funded children and three children under going speech sessions and two children reading and writing at a grade five or six student. The class is a very diverse group of students and will all be progressing at different levels of understanding the unit of work, thats where being a flexible teacher comes into play.

The lessons presented in the appendix, endeavor to integrate sustainability into the curriculum, to educate the students to have a better understanding of the issues that are constantly arisen with this nation, such as climate change, resource depletion, waste disposal, extinction of species and irreversible damage to ecosystems in turn enabling students to make decisions to solve them (Littledyke, Taylor & Eames, 2009).

All aspects of movement, environment and community are addressed in this unit. Movement is focused in terms of movement over time. The unit will provide the students to look at how global warming has evolved over time and the movement in terms of changes in peoples actions that have resulted in this environmental issue.

The aspect of community within this unit will be emphasized through having the students look at initiatives that could be implemented in the community in order to promote change in individuals behaviour to reduce global warming. Community based learning relocates classrooms outside, asking students to see themselves and their learning as a necessity. Lowenstein, Martusewicz and Voelker (2010) state community-based learning asks the students to engage in learning that is intellectually rigorous, emotionally engaging, ethically charger, and spiritually fulfilling. Within one of the lessons provided there would be a community member addressing the class of the impact in which each individual can have to help deter this issue as well as an excursion to the local power station.

Lastly, the environment is involved in each of the lessons as the students, both, investigate it locally where they will begin to research the effect of global warming on them personally and the local environment in which they live in. They will also consider the wider world and what and how can they prevent this from either slowing down or removing it completely.

In looking at sustainability through the aspects of movement, environment and community, many areas of the curriculum will also be addressed at the same time. The following table shows just some of the ways movement, environment and community are addressed across the curriculum. Domains Literacy Movement Researching and developing ideas/questioned (movement of knowledge) Environment Learning through the local environment (questioning, finding ways to help reduce global warming) Collecting, Analysing and recording data about an issue that effects the natural environment. YOUTUBE clip using a different source of knowledge to increase our understanding of the effects on the environment from global warming. Supporting each other to improve and protect the local environment Community Listening and responding to a quest speaker.

Numeracy

Collecting data (Physical movement around school)

ICT

Movement of knowledge through different resources.

Interpersonal Development

Work in teams to promote change (movement) in behaviour.

Work in supportive teams to create change within the community.

PART B: Schools and local communities remain key sites for developing young childrens knowledge about the issues in which climate change and sustainability have on this nation. Chodkiewicz and Flowers (2009) argue that partnerships between local communities and schools have potential in developing childrens knowledge and understanding of global warming and the many issues that arise with this topic. By providing the students with this opportunity to transform their learning experiences in, about and for the local environment will help to understand the effects climate change has on the world.

Malone (2007) says that children are growing up without any direct experiences of the environment as the bubble wrap generation (cited in, Chodkiewicz & Flowers, 2009). This saying it is important that we as teachers are able to provide the young minds with as much direct experience and knowledge as possible through movement, environment and community based learning. Through creating a connection with the local community the children can learn from not just the teacher or school grounds but from the wider community. That is what you will see within this unit of work.

Unit Plan: Global Warming

Teacher: Miss Courtney Garth Year Group: 3/4 AUSVELS: Level 3 Unit Plan Introduction: The unit on Global Warming is designed to help students have a greater understanding of the effects that we may have in our everyday life. This unit integrates a variety of the discipline based learning throughout the lessons such as, English, numeracy, ICT and science, as well as interpersonal development and personal learning.

Learning Focus: This unit that I have developed will focus on teaching the students the various effects of that greenhouse gases have, and what climate change is, supporting them to understand the consequences of this and the effect it has on this

land. Thus, by educating the students on the effects of these aspects will help increase their understanding and knowledge of the issues that underlie this whole topic. In all it is important that we guide the children to come up with different actions they can take as an individuals as well as a community to reduce global warming.

Teaching Strategies: - Open-mindness: Being able to be open minded throughout the lessons/unit will impact on the students immensely as well as the teacher his/her self.

Victorian Essential Learning Strands: Interpersonal Development Personal Learning

Discipline-based Learning: English Mathematics Science Geography Arts

Interdisciplinary Learning: Information and Communication Technology Design, Creativity and Technology

Teaching and Learning Activities: -

Activity 1: This will give the students a basic understanding of what global warming is? Students to sift through books/magazines/newspapers and laptops to research global warming and investigate the answers to the classs questions.

Activity 2: In groups, students investigate one of these ideas collecting data in regard to the chosen issue they are hoping to improve. Having a go at the online carbon footprint calculator that will show the students what they can do to personally reduce their footprint in the environment. ADDED activity:

Tracing around their foot and writing in one thing they could do to reduce global warming. Activity 3: Guest Speaker: Using data collected, the groups are to come up with an initiative to reduce the effect of their chosen issue on global warming. Create a plan for the initiative and assign roles to each member of the group. Each plan must include: What behaviour is being changed? Etc. Activity 4: Excursion to the Open Cut and look at the benefits in which the open cut provided us with but also the major effects it has on the environment around it. Activity 5-7: This lessons activity will see the students work as a team in deciding on the best way to represent the information to try and persuade/change others behaviours to help reduce the impact of global warming, climate change, waste disposal etc. Assessment tasks: Throughout the lessons assessment will be undertaken such as: Anecdotal notes One on one conferencing Peer feedback The final project presentation that the students will complete at the end of this unit

Unit Resources: It is essential that we are prepared in every aspect of our teaching. We need to think about the resources in which we need to support us as teachers as well as our students.

Teacher material: ICT: YouTube clip Researching the topic before teaching it to the students therefore, books, magazines etc. Permission Forms: Excursion Art Utensils

Student material Books, search engines, magazines Computers/Laptops

PART C

EDF 2303 Assignment 2 Criteria Assessment Sheet Assessment Criteria Justification of MEC topic S S/U* Presentation of work Courtneys justification is very extensive however she would benefit from including links to unit readings. Her justification of movement, environment and community is particularly good with the links to her unit. Quality of Learning activities (Learning environments Inclusion of readings, textbooks, VELS, excursion S S Courtney needs to develop a unit overview with headings such as prior knowledge, teaching strategies, resources etc. Courtney would benefit from including an excursion within her unit to connect the classroom to the community. Students could visit the open cut at Loy Yang Power Station to see how coal is mined and the impact it has on the environment. Also needs to include AUSVELS. Reference and Resources recorded S Courtney must record her teaching resources for the unit plan. She also needs to develop a reference list for her work.

Peer feedback is an imperative aspect to undertake in any classroom. Peer assessment aligns with the notion that an important part of the learning process is gradually understanding and articulating the values and standards of a community of practice(Wegner, 1999, cited in Boud & Falchikov, 2007, p. 129) Drawing on Wengers ideas, Falchikov suggests that learning involves active participation in a community of practice in which members of the community determine and structure

their own practices, and construct identities in relation to these communities (2007, p.129).

The peer feedback process was an interesting aspect to include in this assessment piece. It gave many more students and myself the opportunity to present our unit of work to 3-4 people to assist us with ideas and work on our presentation skills for our MEC unit. I was happy to say that I tried to have as much detail and evidence I could have for this peer feedback, that way I could get a deeper assessment criteria to look at and modify/change appropriate ways to my unit of work to make it more creative.

You will see in appendix 3 that I have taken on board the comments from the assessment criteria heading: Inclusion of excursions. I originally did not have an excursion within my unit of work on Global Warming as I was unsure what type of excursion to add into the lessons. This peer feedback gave me the opportunity to discuss with my peers on ways in which I could successfully add in an excursion. By adding in the day trip to the Open Cut in Morwell it has added an extra emphasises and personal experience for the students to see it first hand and how it can be a positive as well as a negative. We as learning teachers need to realize that place plays an active part in learning and that developing a personal theory of learning outside the classroom that includes consideration of place can help plan for a rich learning opportunities (Waite and Pratt, 2011, p. 2). In this case we are lucky that the school that I focussed this unit on is in the country and not in the city, as Karsten and Vliet (2006) state that city schools do not accommodate childrens outdoor life and neglect a great potential for liveliness, participation, creativity and diversity.

At the beginning of this assessment piece I was unaware how to set it out and what was really expected from me. This presentation to a small group of people was beneficial in that I was able to discuss how they too were setting it out and how to set out the unit plan. Therefore I have been given examples and been able to see what other peoples unit was based on giving me a prospect on my own unit.

The last thing that I modified from my draft was my justification of the MEC topic. I had another look at what I had written and it sounded to wide in how I was explaining the class and the students that were in the classroom. I took on board the effective and

positive feedback and made it more specific to allow the reader a more genuine feeling and understanding of the type of classroom that I planned this unit of work for.

Reference:

Boud, D. & Falchikov, N. (2007). Rethinking assessment in higher education. London: Kogan Page.

Chodkiewicz, A. & Flowers, R. (2009). Local communities and schools tackling sustainability and climate change. Karsten, L. & Vliet, W. (2006). Increasing Childrens Freedom of Movement Introduction. Littledyke, N. Taylor & C. Eames, C (2009). Education for Sustainability in the Primary Curriculum: a guide for teachers. South Yarra: Palgrave Macmillan Lowenstein, E., Martusewicz, R. & Voelker, L. (2010). Developing Teachers Capacity for Eco Justice Education and Community-Based Learning.

Waite, S. & Pratt, N. (2011). Theoretical Perspectives on Learning Outside the Classroom: Relationships Between Learning and Place. Children Learning Outside the Classroom: From Birth to Eleven. 1-18.

Appendix 1
LESSON PLANS Lesson One: WHAT IS GLOBAL WARMING? Lesson Purpose Description At this end of this lesson, students will have an understanding about what global warming is at what it means to them. They will begin to understand how changes over time (movement) such as population growth, over use of unnatural resources etc. have contributed to this. Childrens Prior Learning The students have yet to discuss global warming in a school setting/environment. It is apparent that they have little understanding of what exactly global warming is and any knowledge that they may have is from hearing things at home and outside of the school. Session Structure Lesson Phase AUSVELS: (ACELT1596) (ACELY1676) (ACSIS053) ICT: Locating information on the intranet and the Internet, and they determine the value of these resources by developing and applying simple criteria. Orientation - To get an understanding of where the students are with their /Introduction understanding of global warming, get them to brainstorm what is? (Document and questions they may have) - Group together about our pre-existing knowledge and see what students would like to know more about. - Make a list of all the questions that students have come up with on the -whiteboard. - Questions will be assigned to the students so that all questions are presented. Activity Begin showing YouTube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJAbATJCugs This will give the students a basic understanding of what global warming is? Students to sift through books/magazines/newspapers or laptops to research global warming and investigate the answers to the classs questions. Students to present their findings of the questions.

Reflection ASSESSMENT

Anecdotal notes of where they kids are at the beginning of this unit and the can use this to compare at the end of the unit. See what they have learnt or

change of behaviour.

Appendix 2
LESSON TWO: OUR Carbon Footprint! (1.5 HR) Lesson Purpose Description At the end of this lesson students will have had an opportunity to reflect on the types of things they do every day, which contributes to the rising effects of global warming, and what they can do to reduce their impact, that is their carbon footprint. Childrens Prior Learning Children now have a good understanding about what global warming means and how it affects them personally. Session Structure Lesson Phase AUSVELS (ACELY1679) (ACHHS068) (ACMSP069) (ACSIS053) Orientation /Introduction Tune In Question from last lesson: What is Global Warming? Continuing on from last lesson: What are some examples of things that we do as people of the community do to contribute to global warming? What are some of the most significant contributors that we can reduce as a class/school? Expected ideas include: - Reduce energy consumption - Increasing the number of native plants on the school grounds. - Reduce water wastage - Reducing waste - Improving transport use. In groups, students investigate one of these ideas collecting data in regard to the chosen issue they are hoping to improve. Example, if they choose improving transport use they might survey students and teachers about how they get to and from school (Please note, prior lesson would have covered the different types of data collection, analyses and recording) Having a go at the online carbon footprint calculator that will show the students what they can do to personally reduce their footprint in the environment Have the students trace there foot on coloured cardboard, cut it

Activity -

out and write one thing in the cut out foot that they can do to reduce global warming Reflection ASSSESSMENT : Analyse and record the data collected in a way of groups choice. One on One conferencing Anecdotal notes

Appendix 3
LESSON THREE: Together Forever? (1.5 HR) Childrens Prior Learning Students are aware of the different behaviours that contribute to global warming and are beginning to consider the actions that they can take to not only reduce their impact but also encourage others to do the same. Teaching and Learning Preparation Invite and prepare guest speaker (Local MP) Access to computers
Session Structure

Lesson Phase AUSVELS (ACSIS060) (ACMSP069) (ACELY1677) Communication: The students listen attentively when required and learn to respond and interject appropriately. Orientation /Introduction Guest Speaker: Local Parliament MP is invited into the classroom to talk to the children about the things that they are trying to implement in communities and households community wide. For example, turning Power Points off at the point when not using them to save electricity and greenhouse gases. Students continue on from the previous lesson by sharing the data collected yesterday with the class. Students are encouraged to make suggestions to other groups about initiatives they could plan to reduce the impact of their chosen issue regarding global warming. Using data collected, the groups are to come up with an initiative to reduce the effect of their chosen issue on global warming. Create a plan for the initiative and assign roles to each member of the group. Each plan must include: What behaviour is being changed? What effect will this have? How will the initiative encourage this behaviour to be changed? How will you promote your initiative?

Activity

What will you need to implement this initiative? Etc. Closure In the last 10 minutes students will be asked to discuss how they worked as a group and what they might need to do to work better as a group in the future to achieve what they need to achieve.

Appendix 4
LESSON FOUR: EXCURSION, Open Cut Loy Yang Power Station (4 HR -DAY) Childrens Prior Learning Students are becoming more aware of the types of behaviours that contribute to global warming and are beginning to develop extensive actions they can take to reduce their impact. Teaching and Learning Preparation Prepare excursion permission forms to the local open cut at Loy Yang Power Station. This is a great excursion to provide the students with to see how the coal is mined and the impact it has on the environment in which they live in. Session Structure Lesson Phase AUSVELS (ACMSP067) (ACSIS053) Humanities: Students investigate the human and physical characteristics of their local area, and they begin to make some simple comparisons between local and other Victorian environments: natural features, climate, land use and types of human activities. The Arts: Allowing the students to investigate drama, dance or music to express the issues we face today with global warming. Orientation /Introduction

Allowing the students the opportunity to seek more knowledge of the impact in which the open cut has on the environment and the impact in which it has on Gippsland is a prime example of teaching through direct experience. Look at the impact it has on not only the environment but local families, jobs and energy etc. This excursion will help students with how they could plan to reduce the impact of their chosen issue etc. Allow the students to take all the information in from the excursion and have them. Providing the students with a sheet of paper that contains a couple of questions on so the students can think about all the different impacts it has on the environment and global warming. - Allowing time either at the site of the excursion or back at school to have the students in their groups so select a issue (waste disposal, greenhouse gases etc.) and complete a mini skit of how they can resolve or reduce this issue in society.

Activity

Closure

Re-group as a class when we get back into the school and reflect on why we went to the open cut and the significance it has on our environment? What are the effects of this site within the Gippsland area. Anecdotal notes of what the children are doing in class and how they are going. Observations of communication, peer interaction etc.

ASSESSMENT

Appendix 5
LESSON FIVE-SEVEN: Making A Difference (3 x 60 MIN LESSONS) Childrens Prior Learning Students have showed a great initiative with working in groups to promote and create a change in the environment. They have a good knowledge about global warming, and what we can do to reduce our impact. Teaching and Learning Preparation Access to computers and Internet Tape and video recorders Cameras Art utensils Session Structure Lesson Phase AUSVELS (ACELY1677) (ACELA1478) ART: Through the arts disciplines of Dance, Drama, Media, Music and Visual Arts Art (two-dimensional and three-dimensional), both individually and in combination, they communicate ideas Orientation /Introduction Brainstorm ideas in which students can put together the information they have gathered over the four lessons and promote a change for the issue they have been investigating. Some of the things that may come up Documentaries, video taping, broadcasting, interviews, posters, banners, brochures etc.

Activity (THIS MAY TAKE TWO LESSONS TO PRODUCE A PRESENTATION)

This lessons activity will see the students work as a team in deciding on the best way to represent the information to try and persuade/change others behaviours to help reduce the impact of global warming, climate change, waste disposal etc. -Each member needs to take part in the decision making of hoe to present this in a effective and professional manner.

Closure (ONE WHOLE LESSON TO ALLOW EACH GROUP TO PRESENT)

Each group will present their initiative to reduce global warming. - Peer assessment will be imperative to allow the students to provide feedback to each group who deliver the issue they decided to cover over the last couple of lessons. This will allow the students to be critical thinkers.