Activity Introduction

Quick summary: In this activity students work in groups to create a short documentary or film about climate change, in particular its impacts, risks and the personal actions that can be taken to fight climate change. Students present their videos to the class.

Learning goals:

  • Students understand that there are a range of risks and impacts associated with climate change.
  • Students recognise that there are many different personal actions that we can all take to help fight climate change.
  • Students understand that video can be a useful tool for communicating positive messages about climate change.

General capabilities: Literacy, Critical and creative thinking.

Australian Curriculum content description:

Year 5 English

  • Use interaction skills, for example paraphrasing, questioning and interpreting non-verbal cues and choose vocabulary and vocal effects appropriate for different audiences and purposes (ACELY1796)
  • Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations for defined audiences and purposes incorporating accurate and sequenced content and multimodal elements (ACELY1700)
  • Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts, choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose and audience (ACELY1704)
  • Use a range of software including word processing programs with fluency to construct, edit and publish written text, and select, edit and place visual, print and audio elements (ACELY1707)

Year 5 Geography

  • The influence of people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, on the environmental characteristics of Australian places (ACHASSK112)
  • Reflect on learning to propose personal and/or collective action in response to an issue or challenge, and predict the probable effects (ACHASSI104)

Year 6 English

  • Use interaction skills, varying conventions of spoken interactions such as voice volume, tone, pitch and pace, according to group size, formality of interaction and needs and expertise of the audience (ACELY1816)
  • Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content and multimodal elements for defined audiences and purposes, making appropriate choices for modality and emphasis (ACELY1710)
  • Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and experimenting with text structures, language features, images and digital resources appropriate to purpose and audience (ACELY1714)
  • Use a range of software, including word processing programs, learning new functions as required to create texts (ACELY1717)

Year 6 Science

  • Scientific knowledge is used to inform personal and community decisions (ACSHE220)
  • Communicate ideas, explanations and processes in a variety of ways, including multi-modal texts (ACSIS110)

Syllabus Outcomes: GE3-2, GE3-3, GE3-4, ST3-6PW, ST3-4WS, EN3-1A, EN3-2A. 

Topic: Climate change

Time required: 60 mins – this activity can be extended over several sessions.

Level of teacher scaffolding: Low – oversee activity.

Resources required: Internet access, student worksheet, cameras.

Digital technology opportunities: Film making, digital sharing capabilities.

Homework and extension opportunities: This activity includes opportunities for extension.

Keywords: Climate change, personal actions, film, documentary.

 

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

Worksheets

Teacher Worksheet

Teacher preparation:

Overarching learning goal: In this activity students work in groups to create a short documentary or film about climate change, in particular its impacts, risks and the personal actions that can be taken to fight climate change. Students understand that there are a range of risks and impacts associated with climate change and recognise that there are many different personal actions that we can all take to help fight climate change.

Teacher content information: For the most part, the news we hear about climate change is bad: it's bad for the environment; it's bad for the plants and animals that live in the environment; it's bad for oceans and deserts; it's bad for coral reefs and alpine ecosystems; and it's bad for us humans. In fact, sometimes it can seem so bad that it's very easy to just want to either sink into despair or go into denial. The aim of this activity is for students to consider how we can be proactive and what personal actions we can all take for c

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Student Worksheet

Thought starter - How can we communicate stories and messages around climate change?

Your task is to create a short film or documentary about climate change, it's risks and impacts, and what we can all do to fight climate change.

You can decide whether you want to do a short film or a documentary, and you will write your own storyline or plot. If you need some ideas, we've thought up a few scenarios to help spark your imagination.

  • A day in the life: This documentary describes all the actions of one student over the course of one day and how these actions relate to climate change. For example: getting dressed (where the clothes come from and their impact of clothes on the environment), eating breakfast (what impacts certain foods have), riding the bike to school (how this has a lower environmental impact) etc. A narrator can describe these behaviours and the impacts.
  • Climate change in the bush/ocean: Students role play various animals that live in an ecosystem and describe how t
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