Activity: Blue: Ocean Guardian Campaigns – Social Action – Year 9 & 10

Quick summary: In this social action lesson, students will create and deliver a campaign inspired by a campaign featured in Blue The Film. Students will watch a clip that features Madison Stewart, a.k.a. Shark Girl, and analyse how she works to create change around the issue of shark fishing. In a ‘Think-Pair-Share’ activity, students share what they have done in their lives to influence change. In groups, students find out more about campaigns linked to Blue, and choose one to work on. Using their chosen campaign as inspiration, students plan action to become Ocean Guardians and create change, then present to the community about their campaign so that others can become Ocean Guardians.

Blue is a feature documentary film charting the drastic decline in the health of our oceans. With more than half of all marine life lost and the expansion of the industrialization of the seas, the film sets out the challenges we are facing and the opportunities for positive change. Blue changes the way we think about our liquid world and inspires the audience to action. Find out how to screen or download the film here. Along with the film is an ambitious global campaign to create advocacy and behaviour change through the #oceanguardian movement. To become an ocean guardian, see the website.

Learning intention: 

• Students will feel empowered to speak up and take action on issues that matter to them.
  

21st century skills:

Australian Curriculum Mapping

Content descriptions:

Year 9 English

• Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that present a point of view and advance or illustrate arguments, including texts that integrate visual, print and/or audio features (ACELY1746)
• Use interaction skills to present and discuss an idea and to influence and engage an audience by selecting persuasive language, varying voice tone, pitch, and pace, and using elements such as music and sound effects (ACELY1811)
• Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content and multimodal elements for aesthetic and playful purposes (ACELY1741)

Year 9 Civics and Citizenship

• Reflect on their role as a citizen in Australian, regional and global contexts (ACHCS089)

Year 10 English

• Understand how language use can have inclusive and exclusive social effects, and can empower or disempower people (ACELA1564)
• Identify and explore the purposes and effects of different text structures and language features of spoken texts, and use this knowledge to create purposeful texts that inform, persuade and engage (ACELY1750)
• Create sustained texts, including texts that combine specific digital or media content, for imaginative, informative, or persuasive purposes that reflect upon challenging and complex issues (ACELY1756)
• Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content and multimodal elements to influence a course of action (ACELY1751)

Year 10 Civics and Citizenship

• Reflect on their role as a citizen in Australian, regional and global contexts (ACHCS102)

General capabilities: Literacy, Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding.

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.4, OI.5, OI.7, OI.9.

Relevant parts of achievement standards:

• English Year 9 : In creating texts, students demonstrate how manipulating language features and images can create innovative texts. Students create texts that respond to issues, interpreting and integrating ideas from other texts. They make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions, comparing and evaluating responses to ideas and issues.
• Civics and Citizenship Year 9: Students analyse ways they can be active and informed citizens in different contexts.
• English Year 10: Students develop their own style by experimenting with language features, stylistic devices, text structures and images. They make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions, building on others’ ideas, solving problems, justifying opinions and developing and expanding arguments.
• Civics and Citizenship Year 10: Students evaluate ways they can be active and informed citizens in different contexts.

Topic: Blue The Film, Ocean Conservation.

Unit of work: Blue The Film: Science – Years 9 & 10, Blue The Film: English – Years 9 & 10, Blue The Film: Secondary Mathematics – Years 7 to 10.

Time required: 3.5+ hours.

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – lead students in discussion and class activities, oversee group work.

Resources required: Student Worksheet – one copy per student. Device capable of presenting a website and video to the class. Student computers. Project planning tool. Project checklist. Presentation space with audio/visual capabilities for student campaign presentations.

Keywords: Blue The Film, ocean conservation.

Cool Australia and Northern Pictures would like to acknowledge the generous contributions of GoodPitch² Australia, Shark Island Institute, Documentary Australia Foundation, The Caledonia Foundation and Screen Australia in the development of these teaching resources.

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

© 2017 Northern Pictures and Cool Australia