Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

25 minutes	Part A: Introduction – Where do you stand on climate change?
25 minutes	Part B: Looking back
10 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Introduction – Where do you stand on climate change?

During this lesson your class will be exploring climate change, both now and in the future. While it is not necessary for students to have a comprehensive understanding of the causes and potential impacts of climate change, some understanding of what it is and how humans can take action around climate change is essential.

Step 1.

Begin by engaging students in the following 'stand on the line' activity.

Stand on the line

Using string, masking tape or chalk (this activity could be done outside), create a line on the floor/ground long enough for all students to place themselves along. Explain to students that one end of the line means ‘strongly agree’ and the other end means ‘strongly disagree’, while the halfway point means ‘neither agree nor disagree’ (consider adding small signs with these titles along the line).

Invite students to respond to a range of statements by positioning themselves along the line, according to whether they agree or disagree with the statement. With each statement, engage the students in a brief discussion, highlighting some of the key points identified in each statement.

Use the following statements and discussion points:

"I have heard of climate change before." – Scientists have been working to understand how humans might be affecting the climate for about 150 years, but it’s only been since the 1990’s that most scientists looking at climate change agreed that humans are changing the climate.
"I understand what climate change is." – Climate change is a very complex issue (explain to students they will not be tested on these complexities!). Here's what we know: many activities by humans release greenhouse gases (especially CO₂) into the atmosphere. These gases trap heat from the sun that is normally released out of the atmosphere. This extra heat around the earth is part of the reason why our climate is changing. The other reason is that we are cutting down too many trees – trees absorb CO₂, and with extra CO₂ being produced by humans it would be better to have more trees, not less.
"Everyone can do something to help fight climate change." – There are actions we can all take. The following actions are things we can all do to help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere:
- Walking, riding or catching public transport instead of driving
- Switching off lights and appliances when not in use
- Switching to renewable energy (like solar or wind power)
- Buying less stuff, recycling and reusing more
- Looking after nature by planting trees and gardens that support native habitats
- Growing your own food and buying locally and in season where possible
"We can make the future a better place by taking action to stop climate change now." – Children aren’t just the future leaders of our planet; they can lead us right now!

Step 2 (optional).

If you think students would benefit from knowing more about climate change, watch the following clip:

Climate change (according to a kid) (https://youtu.be/Sv7OHfpIRfU) - Watch until 1:44.

Consider inviting students to reflect on the clip using the SEE THINK WONDER thinking tool:

See Think Wonder
What do you see?
What do you think about that?
What does it make you wonder?

Step 3.

Now explain to students that there are many people and organisations around the world who are working hard to prevent climate change and raise awareness on what we can all do about climate change. One of these organisations is WWF, through their Earth Hour initiative. For 10 years now, they have been helping Australians understand how we can all help to stop climate change, including the annual 'Switch Off' event, where houses, schools and businesses are encouraged to switch off their lights for an hour, highlighting the connection between energy use and climate change through symbolic action.

If students are unaware of Earth Hour and how people have participated in the past, view these images, explaining that all these buildings and places are expressing their commitment to climate action by switching off their lights.

Part B: Looking back

Step 1.

Explain to students as part of 10 year celebration Earth Hour is looking back at what Australia has achieved in terms of our fight against climate change over the past 10 years.

Display or share the Earth Hour - Stories from the past 10 years - Years 3 & 4 with students, explaining that these are all true stories that Earth Hour has collected about some of the great things people around Australia have done over the past 10 years to help fight climate change. Read these stories together as a class, explaining and clarifying points about these stories where necessary.

Step 2.

Explain to students that there is one thing missing in these stories, and that is a headline. A headline should grab your attention, tell you a bit about the story (but not too much!) and be short.

Display or share the following stories with students:

Meet rhino saviour and wildlife warrior, nine-year-old Hunter
The freak snake with the scorpion sting that could take your pain away
Scientists scale trees in desperate attempt to save orange-bellied parrot

Take a few minutes to read and discuss the headlines with students. Consider the following questions:

What types of words do these headlines use to grab your attention? (E.g. emotive or dramatic words, slang words etc.)
How much do these headlines tell you about the story?
Do these headlines make you want to read the story? Why or why not?
How many words are there in these headlines?
How could you rewrite some of these headlines to make them more or less interesting/attention-grabbing?
- E.g. Meet rhino saviour and wildlife warrior, nine-year-old Hunter could be less interesting if written as Nine-year-old boy helps to save rhino's

Step 3.

Once complete, return again to Earth Hour - Stories from the past 10 years - Years 3 & 4. The task for students (working as a class or in groups) is to create headlines for these stories (you could create headlines for all the stories or select a number of stories based upon your students’ interest in these stories or the time available).

Encourage students to think of ways to make the headlines more attention-grabbing by:

Using emotive words to appeal to the emotion of the reader
Using dramatic words to create a sense of drama
Using informal words (e.g. slang) to make the headline seems current or contemporary
Keeping the headline short and punchy

Extend:

Once you have created the headline/s for the story/stories you are focusing on, invite students to work in groups to create an image to accompany the story. Images can be student drawings or photos taken by students. This is a good opportunity to talk to students about copyright and how artists retain ownership of images, so you can't just grab any old image off the internet!

Reflection

Invite students to think about a time they acted to help our environment. This could be something they did at school, at home or in their community, and it could be something as big as helping on a community tree planting event or creek clean-up, or as small as taking their own bag shopping or using a reusable water bottle.

Each student should write a short story of four or five sentences that describes the action, including:

What the action was
Why this action is important
Who else was involved (if anyone was)
When it happened
Where it happened

Students should then create a headline for their story, based on what they learnt about headlines in Step 3.

Earth Hour - Switch Off to Join the Future (Part 1)

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