A CLASSROOM PROJECT
Involving students in a project provides them with the opportunity to synthesise knowledge from various areas of learning, and critically and creatively apply it to real-life situations. This process, which enhances students’ knowledge and enables them to acquire skills like collaboration, communication and independent learning, prepares them for lifelong learning and the challenges ahead. Should you need to read more about project-based learning, check out this article explaining the process of planning and building projects.
So, what kind of project could you develop with your students to raise awareness and action towards climate change and sustainability? What are their relevant interests? What could be the main theme of your project? What subjects and concepts could fit under it?
To help you start working on your project idea, here is some advice that will hopefully inspire you to develop a meaningful project.
Connect it with real life
Having content goals is vital, but you also need to have a real-world objective. Grounding your climate crisis project in reality conveys a sense of urgency while encouraging curiosity, awareness and even emotional growth. You can start by spotting the learning opportunity locally, then nationally and later on globally. The huge pile of trash on the riverbank close to your school, for instance, can be a great starting point for your discussions and activities.
Provide a path forward
While many people keep a pessimistic view towards environmental issues, it’s significant to encourage a “can do” attitude in the students. Neither hope nor fear alone will change people’s behaviour. To allow change, people must believe their actions can make a difference. Therefore, it’s important to try to infuse optimism with efficacy, by offering the students a pathway to engage with the issue via the project. For example, instead of just focusing on the rising global temperatures and exploring the causes of this phenomenon, you could aim at “greening” your school campus.
Aim at developing creativity and leadership
When students take action, use their imagination and creativity to find solutions and clearly articulate their perspective; by trying to understand and deal with a global issue such as climate change, they are demonstrating the skills, values and attitudes required to become future leaders. Tomorrow’s leaders should have the opportunity to lead today, so your project should empower them through learning opportunities for effective collaboration and communication, critical and systems thinking, as well as opportunities for decision making and reflection.
Preach what you teach
Schools that want to impart climate change education to the youth must also be sure that they are leading by example in terms of sustainability and being environmentally friendly. School buildings, food, waste should all support a connection to, and appreciation for, the environment. For example, if the main theme of your project revolves around the way the Earth is suffering because of single-use plastic, you and your students should make efforts to curb plastic waste in school cafeterias.
There is also the possibility of turning your project idea into a collaborative initiative among schools from the same country or from different countries. Does that sound interesting to you? If so, you can turn your idea into an eTwinning project. Rita Neves from Portugal has already done it by developing an idea for online teaching in order to address climate change during the COVID-19 outbreak and inviting her students to reflect on the reduced air pollution during social isolation. Read more about this and other inspiring stories here!
In this infographic, you can find the steps you need to follow to set up your eTwinning project. Also, here are ten tips to support your pedagogical endeavours and inspire you as you design and run your successful eTwinning project.
