Stand Up For Your Climate/Future:
Youth activism is education
Using climate change as the central issue, this teaching and learning sequence seeks to strengthen students’ critical and creative thinking skills as an integral part of becoming socially and scientifically literate and active citizens who act with environmental consciousness for a sustainable future.
In this package, you will find a teaching and learning sequence with eight modules that can be tailored to young people in upper primary and lower secondary; it may be stretched or tightened to suit your needs. It can run for as long or short as you like – adapt it to suit.
The activities in the modules are linked to the Australian Curriculum but can be easily adapted to suit any state or territory curriculum. Our sequence emphasises the sustainability cross-curriculum priority area and demonstrates interdisciplinarity in meaningful ways. Each module has a focus on the following General Capabilities:
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Critical (and creative) Thinking;
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Ethical Understandings; and
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Personal and Social Capability.
The teaching and learning sequence scaffolds learning for young people in classrooms or in other groups/situations; the activities engage students in a reflective process that explores sustainability issues at personal, family, community, municipal, state, federal government levels and beyond.
Young people start by exploring the need for action around sustainability issues important and relevant to them. The complexity of sustainability issues is explored not avoided. There are no simple solutions, and young people should feel enabled to lead change and insist that their voice be heard by those in positions of power.
We present eight modules with a combination of independent learning and collective action strategies. These modules each present:
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Curriculum links;
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Teaching and learning strategies;
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Resources; and
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Teacher notes (with thoughts about how to be prepared for the module.
At minimum, each module will need an hour, but can be extended much longer if desired.
Modules
1: Getting clear on what Sustainability means
2: Active Citizenship - who is doing this and why?
3: Communication and Persuasion through the Media
4: Exploring your ways of knowing
5: Self-Watch: the responsibility rests with us!
6: Explore influence – your own and others’
7: Taking Climate Action
8: My Climate Future - Active Citizenship in Community!