Activity Introduction
Quick summary: Students explore the human impacts on the environment of Lord Howe Island. They begin by thinking about the impacts humans can have on our environment and the actions we can take to address these challenges. They then look at the specific problems of climate change and plastic waste and how they apply to Lord Howe Island by reading a text about these issues and sharing their learning with a peer. They then work collaboratively to conduct research into personal actions we can all take to meet these challenges and create labels about these actions. These labels can then be incorporated into a 3D model of an island (if students have completed previous lessons in this unit this can be their own island; if they haven’t completed previous lessons, they will make a model of Lord Howe Island and incorporate these labels into their model).
These lessons were made possible with thanks to Joshua Yeldham.
Cool Australia also wishes to recognise Ian Hutton. Ian is a trained biologist, amongst many other skills, and has been living on Lord Howe Island since 1980. He is the author of 11 books on Lord Howe Island, including the most recent 264 page beautiful coffee table book on the World Heritage values of Lord Howe Island, contributed to some 60 papers and articles working with scientists across numerous fields, run a number of conservation and research project, and has been employed as a location guide for film documentary projects. If you are visiting Lord Howe Island, get in touch with Ian for a private guided tour, as he is keen to share his passion for the island and its environment.
Learning intentions:
- Students understand some of the impacts humans can have on our environment
- Students understand the ways that climate change and plastic waste affect our environment, including the environment on Lord Howe Island
- Students recognise actions we can take to meet these challenges.
21st century skills:
Australian Curriculum Mapping
Content descriptions:
Year 5 HASS
- The influence of people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, on the environmental characteristics of Australian places (ACHASSK112)
- The environmental and human influences on the location and characteristics of a place and the management of spaces within them (ACHASSK113)
- Locate and collect relevant information and data from primary sources and secondary sources (ACHASSI095)
- Reflect on learning to propose personal and/or collective action in response to an issue or challenge, and predict the probable effects (ACHASSI104)
- Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions (ACHASSI105)
Year 5 Science
- Communicate ideas, explanations and processes using scientific representations in a variety of ways, including multi-modal texts (ACSIS093)
Year 6 HASS
- Locate and collect relevant information and data from primary sources and secondary sources (ACHASSI123)
- Reflect on learning to propose personal and/or collective action in response to an issue or challenge, and predict the probable effects (ACHASSI132)
- Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions (ACHASSI133)
Year 6 Science
- The growth and survival of living things are affected by physical conditions of their environment (ACSSU094)
- Communicate ideas, explanations and processes using scientific representations in a variety of ways, including multi-modal texts (ACSIS110)
Syllabus outcomes: GE3-2, GE3-3, GE3-4, ST3-4WS.
General capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking.
Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.6, OI.7, OI.9.
Relevant parts of Year 5 Science achievement standards: Students communicate their ideas and findings using multimodal texts.
Relevant parts of Year 5 HASS achievement standards: Students identify and describe the interconnections between people and the human and environmental characteristics of places, and between components of environments. They identify the effects of these interconnections on the characteristics of places and environments. Students work with others to generate alternative responses to an issue or challenge and present their ideas, findings and conclusions in a range of communication forms using discipline-specific terms and appropriate conventions.
Relevant parts of Year 6 Science achievement standards: Students describe and predict the effect of environmental changes on individual living things. They construct multimodal texts to communicate ideas, methods and findings.
Relevant parts of Year 6 HASS achievement standards: Students reflect on their learning to propose action in response to an issue or challenge and present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of communication forms that incorporate source materials, mapping, graphing, communication conventions and discipline-specific terms.
Topic: Biodiversity, Sustainability, Waste, Climate Change.
This lesson is part of the wider unit of work Lord Howe Island – Years 5 & 6.
Time required: 60 mins.
Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – facilitate class discussion, lead students in the model-making activity.
Resources required:
- 3D model making materials, such as cardboard, modelling clay or playdough
- Agree Disagree Signs
- Climate Change Factsheet
- Lord Howe Island – Overview Factsheet – optional
- Lord Howe Island Map – optional
- Lord Howe Island Image – optional
- Plastic Waste Factsheet
- String
- Student Worksheets – one copy per student.
Keywords: Lord Howe Island, plastic waste, climate change, action, community.
Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.
