Middle+Years

When entering the area known as middle years education, plenty of students have begun to question the world around them as well as began to look for more knowledgeable answers to more intelligent questions.
 * What is global warming?
 * Where do green house gasses come from?
 * What effect do I really have on the planet?

It is your job as a teacher to be able to inform the students about these things and provide them with necessary and factual information on the environment. A fantastic tool to do this is what is known as an “ecological footprint.” These “footprints” are more like an environmental tally to show how much carbon emission someone, personally, puts onto the planet. These carbon emissions in turn effect pretty well everything on the planet Earth.

To open up with your students it could be a good idea to discuss with them what a carbon emission is. It might be easiest to begin with an example like,”Have any of you ever been driven to a friends house in a car?” Of course many of the students will have done this and so it will help the class all feel like they are on equal terms. Second you would introduce the idea that cars produce emissions by burning fuel. Thirdly you can then begin to explain to the students that every single time you use something that burns fuel, you create carbon emissions. This can then lead into ways that the students can try to find other ways that they can get to their friends houses, bike riding, walking, etc. It is then that you could introduce the idea of a carbon footprint to your class. Taking them to one of the many websites such as this one, on this site and many others you can take online tests that will allow you to relatively measure your carbon footprint. Some students will have different scores which you can then use to your advantage by creating an activity.

To begin make sure that every single one of your students has taken the online test. Have the students record their answers to each question in some sort of folder to keep throughout the year, this will ensure that everyone has a good understanding of their starting point. You can then teach the students, based upon what the class, as a whole, is scoring the highest emissions in, possible ways to reduce their emissions in that one area. Secondly you can assign, or let the students choose, groups that hopefully focus on one specific area each. It is then up to those students to create a project, whether it be video, poster, power point, which will show ways in which these students reduced their footprint in this area. Even if it is only very minor changes it is important that the students are rewarded for their success and not scolded over amounts. It is recommended that these presentations are done roughly in the middle of the year; this is because once the students have all presented it is up to the students to try to reduce their carbon footprint as a whole. It would be good to have the students keep journals in order for them to see their progress; as well it will be valuable for you as a teacher to make sure that work is being done regularly. To make sure that the students are not lying, you could have parents sign the journals, but only if it is absolutely necessary. Finally the students will take the same test again at the end of the year and then they can see how they have changed and impacted their ecological footprint.

To grade the students you could go off how much change they have made, with this strategy it is best to not tell the students when they have taken the test the first time so that you can get semi-honest answers. However with this method it is very possible that the students can lie about their amount of change. To help with this the journals can be used as points to see if the performance matches up to what is written.This act of journal keeping as well as the presentation aspect can be referenced into the English outcomes in grade 6, Compose and Create: CC6.1, of the Saskatchewan Curriculum. As well as Grade 8: Physical Education: PE 8.10, also found at the Saskatchewan Curriculum.