Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Call to action

15 minutes

Find Out: Reframing

30 minutes

Take Action: Climate hope zine

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

explore how the framing of environmental challenges influences public perception and action
develop inquiry questions about ocean-related sustainability issues using a geographical lens.

Success criteria

Students can:

develop geographically relevant inquiry questions focused on ocean sustainability challenges
apply the concepts of change, interconnection, and sustainability to real-world examples.

Tune In: Call to action

Step 1

Ask students: ‘Why are people so careless about dumping plastic everywhere?’ Call for volunteers to give answers and create a word map on the board.

Next, ask the class: ‘Did you feel guilty or blamed by the question? Why?’

Step 2

Now ask the question positively: ‘Some great things are happening. How can we each help reduce plastic pollution?’ Again, take words or short phrases from students and write them on the whiteboard.

Compare the word maps and discuss the differences in the way the same problem is addressed. Students should understand that the first is negative and provokes defensiveness and a lack of action, while the second is positive and invites solutions or action.

Step 3

Outline to students how the term ‘narrative framing’ best describes this. This term refers to the way a problem is described or a question is asked, which can change how people think about it. For example, we can focus on the worst-case scenario (problem-framed) or on solutions and opportunities (solution-framed).

Step 4

Present an analogy to students to further illustrate the concept of narrative framing:

‘If I ask, “Why are all the fish dying?” you might feel hopeless. But if I ask, “What can we do to help fish populations recover?” you might feel motivated to act.’

Learning support: To support students in the next task, they may benefit from writing a list of 2 versions of questions, in problem-framed and solution-framed thinking. For example:

Problem-framed: How will coral bleaching destroy marine ecosystems?
Solution-framed: What actions can we take to prevent coral bleaching and help ecosystems recover?

Find Out: Reframing

Step 1

Divide students into small groups (4 per group is ideal). Hand out the Student Worksheet (1 per group).

Ask groups to choose from the following ocean-based sustainability issues, ensuring all are covered:

overfishing
marine litter
deep sea mining
coral bleaching and reef degradation
ocean warming
habitat destruction
chemical pollution

Step 2

Instruct students to use their devices to begin a research and critical thinking activity on their chosen topic, per the Student Worksheet.

Students will:

identify the problem-based framing (for example, ‘How is coral bleaching destroying reef ecosystems?’)
rewrite it using a geographic inquiry focus (for example, ‘What factors contribute to coral bleaching, and how are different communities responding to it?’)
using the geographical concepts of change, sustainability, and human-environment interactions, create 2-3 additional inquiry questions.

Learning support: Depending on your students' knowledge, you may need to refresh their thinking about the geographical concepts of change, where change in the environment, places, or communities is altered over time, such as:

natural changes (for example, coral bleaching due to rising ocean temperatures, sea-level rise, and erosion)
human-induced changes (for example, overfishing, pollution, and habitat destruction)
temporal scale changes (these can happen rapidly [like an oil spill] or gradually [like ocean acidification over decades])
impact on people and ecosystems (for example, how changes affect communities, species, and human-environment interactions).

Take Action: Climate hope zine

Step 1

Explain to students that each group will contribute to a class Climate Hope Zine, a creative publication written for a teen audience that reframes a current climate challenge with optimism and real solutions.

Tell students their goal is to produce a hopeful narrative that:

explains a real climate issue
highlights positive action or solutions
leaves the reader feeling informed and hopeful.

Each group can choose 1 of the following formats to present their hopeful narrative:

a written story (fictional or real)
a blog-style article
a comic strip or illustrated infographic
a script or storyboard for a short video

All submissions must fit on 1 x A4 page (2 maximum) and be designed with visual appeal in mind; this is a zine!

Step 2

Guide students to structure their piece using these prompts:

What’s the climate challenge?
Who or what is affected?
What solutions exist or are emerging?
What’s the hopeful message or call to action?

Encourage students to include specific examples (for example, people, projects, or inventions) that show how solutions are already underway. Students should follow the Student Worksheet for this task.

Learning support: Remind students that their writing or visuals should speak to a teen reader. Encourage a clear, engaging tone and creative choices that will inspire or resonate with people their own age.

Step 3

Give students time to draft, revise, and polish their contributions. Remind them to:

keep their work within the 1-2 page limit
include visuals or layout features that make it zine-friendly
credit any sources of research or inspiration (if relevant).

Blue Minds would love to read your zine. Share it on a collective dashboard straight from your classrooms to learn from and share with students and teachers all over the country. To access, use the password blueminds, make an account, log in and share it!

Reflection

Step 1

Instruct students to write a ‘climate reframe’ in 1 sentence: ‘Instead of thinking _______ about the environment, I now see that _______.’ This helps shift their mindset from fear to possibility.

Learning extension: Students share their zine with others, display it around the school, or even include it in community libraries. Enthusiasts can learn more about sharing positive messages via zines on the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia’s site: Young Creatives Zine Library | MCA Australia.

Rewriting Our Perceptions of Climate

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