Activity Introduction

 

In this lesson, students explore the emotions that climate change evokes and examine the tones used in messaging around climate change. Students compare and contrast headlines and videos that use a range of tone. In doing so, students evaluate the effect that different tones have on the audience.

 

Students then create their own messaging around climate change. Students use class data, through surveys, to find out which messaging was most effective.

We’ve taken elements of this lesson and adapted them for remote learning. You can find this activity here.

 

Learning Intentions

  • Students will understand how tone is created through author choices
  • Students will understand that tone impacts on audiences in different ways
  • Students will create their own messaging with a variety of tones

Lesson & Curriculum Details

  • Topic: Sustainability, Climate Change, Learning Through Film.
  • Unit of work: 2040 – English – Years 7 to 10
  • Time required: 75 mins.
  • Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – facilitate class discussion.
  • Keywords: 2040, documentary, tone, text analysis, persuasive writing, group work, climate change.

To view our Australian Curriculum alignment click here.

To view our NZ Curriculum alignment click here.

Resources Required

  • Student Worksheets – one copy per student.
  • Device capable of presenting a video to the class. 

Accessing the Film

2040 is an innovative feature documentary that looks to the future, but is vitally important NOW!  Director Damon Gameau embarks on a journey to explore what the future could look like by the year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them rapidly into the mainstream. 

In Australia: Order the Schools Version of the 2040 DVD. The Schools Version includes an educational license and is for Australian primary and secondary schools that wish to utilise the film as a learning tool or host free on-site screenings for the school community.

In New Zealand: Order the Schools Version of the 2040 DVD. The Schools Version includes an educational license and is for New Zealand primary and secondary schools that wish to utilise the film as a learning tool or host free on-site screenings for the school community.

If you are teaching in either New Zealand or Australia, you can now organise a virtual screening of the film for your class. To enquire about this option, simply email [email protected] and the 2040 team will help you set this up! If you have already bought a DVD of the film and you have a ClickView account, you can email the team for permission to upload the film to your account to make it more easily accessible for your teachers and students.

 

Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.

Cool Australia, GoodThing Productions and Regen Pictures would like to acknowledge the generous contributions of Good Pitch AustraliaShark Island InstituteDocumentary Australia FoundationThe Caledonia Foundation and our philanthropic partners in the development of these teaching resources.

 

Worksheets

Teacher Worksheet

Teacher Preparation

Learning intentions: Students will...

  • ... understand how tone is created through author choices
  • ... understand that tone impacts on audiences in different ways

Success criteria: Students can…

  • ... identify tone in written and multi-modal texts
  • ... identify examples of author’s choices that create or contribute to the tone
  • ... evaluate the varying effect of differing tones
  • ... create their own messaging with a variety of tones

Teacher content information: A 2018 study by The University of Melbourne on the thoughts and concerns of young people from Generations X and Y found the number one concern across both groups was lack of action around climate change. In particular, "Generation X worries what climate change will mean for their own children, while Generation Y is concerned about the impact on future generations" (The Educator). The report indicates that young people have a serious mistrust in the Government's ability or willingness to tackl

...
 
- or - to view worksheets

Student Worksheet

Thought starter: How does tone affect an audience?

Examining Tone

1. Climate change is a very emotive issue. Many people feel very strongly about it, but many of us feel different emotions.

You will now watch a clip from the 2040 documentary that explains more about climate change and which may help you to connect with your emotions around this topic:

Exploring the Themes Password: 2040_EDU (https://vimeo.com/336505203)

Once complete, reflect on your experience of this clip by completing the table below:

THINK - What does the clip make you THINK about? FEEL - How do you FEEL about this clip? WONDER - What do you WONDER about the clip? What questions does this clip leave you with?

2. Write down your definition of ‘tone’:

Tone is ... 

Can you think of a sentence where a 'tone' is used? 

3. Have a look at the table below. Write down what tone you think the author is using in each headline in the table below. Record your responses in Column C. In Column

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