Macmillan Masterclass: Teaching For Sustainability

Jillian Cupitt and Syd Smith

Masterclass

MacMillan

www.macmillan.com.au

Implementing the Australian Curriculum

Also available:

Macmillan Masterclass Interactive Whiteboards with CD by Peter Kent ISBN 978 1 4202 6500 2

Macmillan Masterclass Learning with ICT by Peter Kent ISBN 978 1 4202 6883 6

Masterclass

MacMillan

Teaching for Sustainability

What does sustainability really mean?Why has education for sustainability become so significant? How does sustainability relate directly to all Learning Areas?

With this guide in hand you will be able to answer these questions, and implement teaching for sustainability at the classroom as well as the whole school level.

Within the book you will find: How to track the life of a product from cradle to grave Breakdown of inquiry based learning and the action process Tips for teaching sustainability to students at different levels Learning experiences for the concept organisers: systems, world view

and futures Cross-curricular learning experiences for environmental, economic

and social components of sustainability Topic chapters (Energy, Water, Waste and Biodiversity) with

background information and step-by-step guidelines for conducting sustainability audits.

MacM

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Teaching for S

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About the authorsJillian Cupitt is a sustainability educator and an Assistant Principal. In 2006 she was awarded the title of NSW Environmental Educator of the Year by the Gould League.

Syd Smith has over 40 years’ experience as a primary and secondary teacher. He led the team to develop the NSW Environmental Education Policy for Schools, and later initiated the Sustainable Schools Program. Syd now works as a sustainability education consultant to schools and communities.



Inquiry,valuesandactionacrossthecurriculum

Professional learning for busy teachers

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Inquiry, values and action across the curriculum


Masterclass

MacMillan

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First published in 2012 by

MACMILLAN EDUCATION AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

15–19 Claremont Street, South Yarra 3141Visit our website at www.macmillan.com.auAssociated companies and representatives throughout the world.Copyright © Jillian Cupitt and Syd Smith/Macmillan Education Australia 2012 Macmillan Masterclass: Teaching for SustainabilityISBN 978 1 4202 9347 0Publisher: Sharon DalgleishManaging editor: Bonnie WilsonSenior editor: Laura JordanDesign: Jobi MurphyIllustration (pages 12 and 13): Ben GalpinPhotographs on pages 51,52 and 55 supplied by the authors © Jillian CupittPrinted in Australia by Ligare

Copying of this work by educational institutions or teachersThe purchasing educational institution and its staff, or the purchasing individual teacher, may only reproduce pages within this book in accordance with the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) and provided the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. For details of the CAL licence for educational institutions, contact: Copyright Agency LimitedLevel 15, 233 Castlereagh StreetSydney NSW 2000Telephone (02) 9394 7600Facsimile (02) 9394 7601Email [email protected]

Reproduction and communication for other purposesExcept as permitted under the Act (for example, any fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher.

Please noteAt the time of printing, the website/webpage addresses appearing in this book were correct. Owing to the dynamic nature of the internet, however, we cannot guarantee that all these addresses will remain correct.

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ContentsChapter 1 Introduction to Sustainability

What is sustainability? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4How to use this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Life of a product – ‘cradle-to-grave’ concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Chapter 2 Sustainability with your ClassInquiry based learning approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18Teaching sustainability to students at different levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21Sustainability as a cross-curriculum priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Chapter 3 Energy Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30World view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32Futures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33Learning experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35Energy audit and action process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Chapter 4 WaterSystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43World view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45Futures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Learning experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48Water audit and action process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Chapter 5 Waste Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56World view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58Futures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60Learning experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61Waste audit and action process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Chapter 6 Biodiversity Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66World view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68Futures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69Learning experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71Biodiversity audit and action process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72

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ChapTer 1 Introduction to SustainabilityWhat is sustainability?

A seven-year-old child once described sustainability as making sure there is enough for all forever. Formal definitions describe sustainability as the action of ensuring that the current generation lives a life that uses and replenishes the Earth’s resources in such a way so as not to diminish or compromise the quality of life for future generations. This is known as intergenerational equity and most definitions of sustainability refer to this idea.

Sustainability is a dynamic, integrated, interrelated and complex system. It is made up of many different parts all governed by Earth’s natural systems. How we as humans interact with those systems and impact on them is what sustainability is all about. Sustainability may be viewed as the central core from which four strands radiate out. These strands are intricately linked and exert influence in varying degrees on achieving sustainable practice, determined by how human beings manage resources. These strands for managing our resources are energy, water, waste and biodiversity. Sustainability is thus the big picture or macro view, while each strand is a focused view of one particular aspect of sustainability. In essence, sustainability as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Marketers and advertisers have been extremely successful in making ‘sustainability’ a household term which is used at all levels of society to promote the idea that a particular action or choice is environmentally sound. Often manufacturers claim that they have carefully considered their product’s impact on the environment, hence convincing us that we are better consumers. Sustainability in its true sense is much more complex than simply reducing our energy use to save money, limiting carbon emissions or recycling our waste just because it is the ‘right’ thing to do.

The past few decades have seen the emergence of global problems concerning the depletion of oil stocks, climate change, land degradation, loss of biodiversity, a rapid increase in development, increased global poverty, a lack of social corporate responsibility and pollution issues. These global problems

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Introduction to Sustainability

impact on everyone. At all levels they involve a complex array of variables and stakeholder needs. Therefore, an education process is required that equips students with the ability to solve problems through knowledge integration, leading to big picture or world view understandings with long term visions and an integration of values.

Sustainability in education

Sustainability is a common-sense approach to resolving real-life local and world problems (including environmental, economic and social problems). Embedding sustainability into the curriculum and raising relevant issues with the class and the community will help prepare students for a future world. Sustainability education provides opportunities for students to deal with current contentious issues and develop problem solving skills to overcome certain challenges.

No longer is sustainability or environmental education a program of only hugging trees or looking at nature in isolation separate from other essential Learning Areas (although hugging trees can be an important aspect of sustainability if it aims to develop an appreciation and positive relationship with nature). Learning for sustainability is an essential learning program that makes all of us think about our present day actions and how they will impact on everyone’s future. Teaching for sustainability assists students to develop the understanding that we are part of nature, not separate from it, and very much dependent on it for our survival.

Education for sustainability will provide present and future generations with the knowledge, skills and values they will need in order to deal with issues of survival. In striving to establish a just, sustainable world for all living things our interaction with the natural world must be viewed as the bedrock of society, not just the economy.

Through quality education we can bring about the necessary changes to make the transition from a totally materialistic, industrialised society to a more ecologically astute, sustainable and just society. This may simply require us to make a number of adjustments that ensure resources remain available and the environment is conserved for future generations. There are signs already that changes are occurring with such developments as public education programs to make us use water more conservatively, and encouragement or incentives to install solar power as a substitute for fossil fuel generated energy.

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When educating anyone about sustainability and sustainable practice, highlight that it involves understanding where all of the resources to produce our goods come from. In addition, we need to appreciate the energy exchange that is required to produce those goods and that we as individuals have a real, deep connection with the Earth and its life-supporting systems. The three concept organisers used in this book (systems, world view and futures) help to explain this idea.

Systems and sustainability

Sustainability is really concerned with survival. This includes not only the human race but the survival of all living things, the planet and the life supporting services that the Earth provides to organisms in order to meet their basic needs to stay alive. There are many resources provided by systems in nature (sometimes called natural capital). Some of these include the clean air we breathe, the fresh water we drink, the pollinators (birds and insects) which assist in the growing of fruits and vegetables, the sunlight for all our energy needs and the soil. Soil is the living organic medium that manages the process of decomposition, which in turn provides a rich mix of minerals and organic matter to support an astounding array of organisms. In addition, soil is the means for us to source or grow much of our food.

Knowing what type of raw materials are sourced (and how) to make the plethora of material items we use in our daily lives is fundamental to understanding the intricately complex nature of sustainability and the challenges we face as a human race in striving to achieve a truly sustainable lifestyle.

World view and sustainability

Most definitions of sustainability fail to take into account the current inequitable distribution of resources experienced by many cultures or peoples around the globe and the varying degrees of quality of life issues, not just for humans but for all living things. No definition can also account for the intimate relationship each individual must have with nature in order to truly understand and value the life supporting qualities that the Earth provides, which so many of us take for granted.

We do know, however that certain processes and actions are clearly associated with sustainability. We know, for example, that we are more likely to achieve

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a sustainable outcome if we form partnerships with others, or if we take a big picture and long term approach to issues. We also know that cooperation and a unified approach to resolving issues is certainly the best option, and that everything is connected. What might appear to be an isolated action can have repercussions in other places, and on other people and ecosystems.

Futures and sustainability

Sustainability involves exploring and identifying our values, our needs, our wants, our vision for the future and the impact our activities have on the Earth and its ecosystems. It is about obtaining the resources needed to sustain the quality of life we experience today. For some of us this is an affluent, technologically advanced lifestyle while for others it is a life of struggle, poverty and technological limitation in a world with finite resources. All of this is taking place in the midst of what some scientists believe might be the beginning of the sixth mass extinction of the world’s flora and fauna species.

Population growth

Consumerism, population expansion, technology and economic growth lie at the heart of understanding how the human race has become one of the most numerous and powerful mammals or species on the planet. To reach a population of one billion people by the early 19th century took all the time of human existence on the planet. However, since that time it has taken only 200 years to reach seven billion. This is why futures and a world view of perceiving issues have become so important. We might well ask how much more our population can increase.

World population growth over time

World population growth increased rapidly in the 20th century, see inset close-up of this period .

Wor

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How to use this book

Teaching for sustainability is a dynamic, cross-curriculum study that has become an important mandatory enrichment to the curriculum worldwide. Most education systems have a goal of preparing students for the future and no approach does this more effectively than teaching for sustainability. This book can assist you and your school executive to implement teaching for sustainability at a classroom and whole school level. It provides valuable information on why education for sustainability has become so significant and how it relates directly to all the Learning Areas. Understanding the way the book is structured will help you gain maximum benefit when implementing your own teaching for sustainability programs.

This book begins with an exploration of the dynamic characteristics inherent in understanding the true concept or meaning of sustainability. Each of the strands for managing our resources (that is, energy, water, waste and biodiversity) is presented as a separate chapter, however it must be remembered that a strand is an aspect or portion of sustainability. This book offers a flexible approach to how it may be used. You may want to dip into each strand first and then work your way through to a final comprehensive understanding of sustainability. In this option, if you first take one strand, for example, energy, you should investigate not only what it actually is, how it is sourced, generated, utilised or replenished but in what way its waste products are managed. You should investigate how energy can interrelate with water, biodiversity and so on. Alternatively, you can commence by investigating sustainability as a whole and then break it down into its strands and explore more closely one particular aspect of sustainability.

How the interrelation of the different strands is seen and managed will lead society and communities into adopting a particular sustainable practice. This generally includes an exploration of environmental, economic and social factors – the components of sustainability. The environment is the foundation for the three components of sustainability. All interrelate with each other, but environmental factors and the Earth are the foundation which all components depend upon.

economic

Social

environmental

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The structure of each chapter

Chapters 3 to 6 follow the same format:

Concept organisers

Each chapter starts with a set of concept organisers, designed to provide you with a scaffold for integrating sustainability concepts into your teaching. Each of these can be embedded in the Learning Areas that you normally teach. The organisers include:

Systems – Knowledge about social, environmental and economic systems and the influence of technology. Systems will include ideas such as people being connected with the society in which they live and depend on for their survival and wellbeing. It covers the dynamic biosphere where all life forms (including us) are found and are connected through a number of ecosystems. The systems organiser also involves understanding complex issues and how they can be managed effectively.

World view – The study of issues such as social justice and how we can be effective in taking action to improve sustainability. It also promotes communities throughout the world all needing to work together to maintain their environments for the future and how all societies should be treated equitably. A world view involves taking a look at issues at a big picture level which could involve changing and reflecting on ethical principles and values.

Futures – A concept aimed at developing a vision for a preferred world. This will involve people in planning and designing, and recognising how our behaviours and attitudes influence our consumption patterns and how we can redress imbalances in our ecological, social and economic systems. The basic goal is for all of us to develop a more sustainable pattern of living and formulate viable solutions to futures we would rather have.

Learning experiences

Each chapter sets out a list of learning experiences related to the topic to suit your students, from lower primary to middle and upper primary. This will enable you to see a learning progression for all key elements of sustainability. Examples are offered of sustainability topics and issues that will be of interest and relevance to your students. Each list considers and explores the main components of sustainability:

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environmental (for example, natural and built, ecological considerations, habitat) economic (for example, opportunity, cost, income generation, employment, standard of living, distribution of incomes and equity) social (for example, wellbeing, quality of life, human impact).

Audit and action process

The best way to provide the platform or foundation for learning for sustainability is for the entire school community to commit to undertake a sustainability audit. This means conducting energy, water and stormwater, waste and biodiversity audits. Chapters 3 to 6 provide guidelines on conducting school audits.

Life of a product – ‘cradle-to-grave’ concept

An exploration of sustainability can begin by looking into the life of everyday products, from their raw material beginnings through to their end of life final resting place. This concept is known as cradle-to-grave tracking.

To investigate this you can begin by examining a product that you use frequently in your daily life, something that is important to you. Beginning the cradle-to-grave tracking exercise by looking at something that you use personally can help to develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the resources and energy inputs needed for commodity production, and the social, environmental and economic considerations associated with the processing of those goods. Conducting such an exercise illustrates how all the items, products and material possessions we own or use derive their earliest beginnings from the Earth itself. It is the Earth that provides for all our needs and wants.

Tracking the life of a product – coffee case study

Begin by choosing a common household consumer product – for the example chart on pages 12 to 13, coffee in a vacuum sealed pack was chosen. By examining the product and its packaging you can construct a flow chart or concept map.

First, consider what materials and resources are needed to make this product. The list might begin with: coffee beans, foil, glue and ink.

Then, you can expand the chart by adding the natural resources that are needed to make the product. The list would then look something like this:

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coffee beans – soil, coffee plants, water, sunlight, land space, and people to grow, harvest, pack and transport the coffee foil – aluminium (bauxite ore), miners, water, land and factory workers glue – oil, miners, chemical engineers and factory workers ink – plant dyes, water, sunlight, soil, chemical engineers and factory workers.

Extend the list yet again by considering the further energy inputs that are required for the product: the extraction of raw materials; the manufacture of the product; the delivery to the consumer. The chart or diagram will look busy and complex at this point, with arrows going in several directions or criss-crossing. The list may include the following:

coffee beans – soil, coffee plants, water, sunlight, fertilisers, chemical pesticide sprays, land space (fossil fuel for clearing machinery), packing and transport for export (fossil fuels for electricity and vehicle transports) packaging:

— foil – aluminium (fossil fuel to locate, extract and process mineral) — glue – oil (sunlight, decomposed plants and animals), processing

(heat, electricity and fossil fuel) — ink – sunlight, processing (heat, electricity and fossil fuel) — cardboard boxes for transport and distribution – tree pulp, sunlight,

fossil fuel transport to the consumer – transport to supermarket (fossil fuel), purchase at register (electricity, fossil fuel), transport home (fossil fuel).

Once the examination has reached this point, the inquiry needs to be further expanded to consider what happens to the product after it has been used up and become a waste item. In this case, it is not only the packaging and containers, but there are other waste products you can identify throughout the manufacturing process, for example, toxic waste chemicals, methane (CH

4),

carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO

2) and waste leachate into waterways.

Now the chart becomes extremely busy, interconnected and complex. The empty foil packet is tossed into the bin by the consumer. It is collected by the local council which then deposits the packaging in a landfill site, unless of course the local government body has a recycling facility. By asking what waste products are generated at each step of the process and how they are managed, you can see how every step of the process has an impact on the Earth

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bauxite mine

riverriver

sea

sea

container ship

labourer

dead �sh

sick people

soilfertiliser

pesticide

coee plant

sunlight

rain

children

coee beans

glue

foil

ink

vacuum packed coee

FACTORY

inks and dyes

forest

pulp mill

oil well

re�nery

glue

plants

smelter

power station

coal mine

supermarket

rubbish truckland�ll tip

waste leachate

family car household

bauxite is transported

sediment and mine tailing

export

foil packaging is transported

coal is transported

electricity

packaged coee is

transported

bleach and toxic chemicals

coee is transported

coee sacks are transported

picked beans packed in sacks cardboard

and paper transported

CH4 NO2CO2

CO2

CO2

CO2

packet thrown in bin

�sh ingest chemicals

transport

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Tracking the life

Macmillan Masterclass: Teaching for Sustainability © Jillian Cupittand Syd Smith/Macmillan Education Australia . ISBN 978 1 4202 9347 0

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bauxite mine

riverriver

sea

sea

container ship

labourer

dead �sh

sick people

soilfertiliser

pesticide

coee plant

sunlight

rain

children

coee beans

glue

foil

ink

vacuum packed coee

FACTORY

inks and dyes

forest

pulp mill

oil well

re�nery

glue

plants

smelter

power station

coal mine

supermarket

rubbish truckland�ll tip

waste leachate

family car household

bauxite is transported

sediment and mine tailing

export

foil packaging is transported

coal is transported

electricity

packaged coee is

transported

bleach and toxic chemicals

coee is transported

coee sacks are transported

picked beans packed in sacks cardboard

and paper transported

CH4 NO2CO2

CO2

CO2

CO2

packet thrown in bin

�sh ingest chemicals

transport

13Macmillan Masterclass: Teaching for Sustainability © Jillian Cupitt

and Syd Smith/Macmillan Education Australia . ISBN 978 1 4202 9347 0

of coffee

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and its ecology in some way, shape or form. Even if we do recycle there is still an energy component to consider.

Mining for aluminium (in fact for any mineral) and processing it into a product such as aluminium foil or a soft drink can produces an enormous amount of toxic waste that is released into the atmosphere, into waterways or buried depending on the environmental management laws in place for a given area or region. Burning fossil fuels to power transport vehicles and generate electricity produces waste products such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and other airborne pollutants as well as contributing to global warming. Leaching from landfill sites can sometimes seep into water tables or local catchments causing problems for waterways, oceans and water bodies all over the world.

Pesticides and herbicides used on coffee plants can end up being washed into nearby waterways and eventually into the ocean where they may be chemically transformed into toxic dioxins and other harmful substances. The dioxins become more concentrated the higher up the food chain they travel and humans are at the apex of that food chain as a top order predator of fish. Catching and consuming fish contaminated with dioxins leads to significant health problems for humans and other wildlife that ingest the contaminated animal flesh.

The chart could be even further complicated by the addition of milk, sugar and other additives, not

forgetting the heat needed to boil the water for the coffee. This is further complicated if the coffee

ends up in a café or a restaurant and then purchased by a consumer requesting a takeaway cup.

Social impacts of coffee production

You can add a further dimension to the chart by asking what the social impacts from growing coffee are. Usually this proves to be the least known aspect of consideration by consumers. We are rarely informed about the social, health and welfare issues associated with the many products we purchase unless we make a conscious effort to find out.

Coffee is grown mostly in developing nations where labour is cheap. Rainforest and indigenous forest lands are sometimes cleared, usually by burning or with machinery, and planted out with thousands of coffee plants. The displacement of endemic tree species results in a change to the ecology of the area due to the loss of variety of plant species. The coffee crop is known as a ‘monocrop’,

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where there are many plants of the one species all grown in one confined area. This changes the composition of the forest. Many people still directly rely on the forest to provide a large portion of their diet, which is known as subsistence farming. Where the monocrop method of cultivation is employed, food sources from the area can be removed or seriously depleted for many people living in poverty.

The chemicals used to keep the coffee pest free often end up being deposited in a village drinking water supply. This leads to all sorts of human health conditions ranging from cumulative poisoning to genetic defects, not forgetting the resulting health issues that come from being in direct contact with chemical sprays, fertilisers and skin cancer risks. The total value of the world coffee industry is estimated to be between approximately $35 billion to more than $70 billion, depending on market prices. Coffee is grown, harvested and processed in developing nations such as Latin America, Vietnam, Africa and Indonesia, but its greatest consumption is by the United States and developed European nations. Many of the people living in the villages where coffee plantations have been established are forced to work on the plantations and are paid substandard wages (usually an average of US$2 per day) ensuring that villagers remain below the poverty line. In some coffee growing nations children are used as labour and often don’t attend school. There is a disparity between what women and men are paid and in many cases where coffee prices hit a market low, it is the men who leave their farms to seek alternative work like picking cocoa. This can leave mothers and children to work the coffee harvest for little or no pay.

How coffee production illustrates sustainability issues

This coffee example shows the intricate, complex nature of sustainability when it is examined from a range of economic, social and ecological considerations relating to the sourcing and manufacturing of products and the ecological footprint they create. Of course we are not telling people not to drink coffee – we are simply saying the cost goes beyond the supermarket price or economic cost. If we become more aware of the social and ecological costs and how this might affect our future, we may in time take steps to reduce some of these negative aspects of producing coffee.

This is only one product we could investigate, but consider the myriad products in our pantries alone and imagine the production costs and

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resources required to manufacture all of them and think what the social costs could be. Expand this to thinking about supermarket shelves, thousands of supermarkets, supermarkets all around the world, and by now we should be getting some idea of the enormity of sustainability and its interconnectedness. Many of us live in a market economy that is not always considerate of the needs of all living things. Often we are more concerned about achieving the highest possible price for a commodity at the lowest possible economic production cost, based on a misinformed mindset that resources are unlimited.

Reflecting on sustainability

Governments and communities are now much more aware of sustainability issues. Many businesses are taking steps to minimise the problems they cause, one of which involves moving towards fair trade coffee which attempts to pay farmers a fairer wage for their efforts. Cutting down on packaging, increasing recycling and minimising transport costs and distances are other attempts to make the industry more sustainable.

To sum up the exploration of the coffee product it is useful to introduce a plus, minus, interesting (PMI) chart to determine the advantages, disadvantages and interesting aspects of coffee production and use the columns to make comparisons or generate solutions to problems. Usually you can develop a PMI chart for each of the components of sustainability: environmental, economic and social considerations. For example, a PMI chart of the environmental considerations involved in coffee production may look like this:

plus ● Shade-grown coffee is a natural,

indigenous method of growing coffee that maintains habitat and food source for a variety of animals .

● Shade-grown coffee is organic and does not require the use of chemical herbicides and pesticides .

● Shade-grown coffee allows people to grow and harvest other food sources .

● Coffee pulp is used as a natural fertiliser .

● Shade-grown crops produce low carbon emissions .

Minus● Sun-grown coffee destroys

forest vegetation, biodiversity and uses chemicals to protect and raise crops .

● Sun-grown coffee monocrops eliminate subsistence farming for poor local people .

● Water run-off from sun-grown crops pollutes or degrades waterways and causes soil erosion with loss of valuable topsoil .

● Sun-grown coffee crops produce high carbon emissions .

Interesting● There are two methods of

growing coffee:

● Shade-grown coffee is grown under the shade of existing trees conserving forest biodiversity .

● The production of sun-grown coffee involves cutting down trees, destroying vast tracts of forests and high inputs of chemical fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides .

Coffee production – environmental considerations

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One final activity is to compare the columns and propose possible solutions to the problems identified. For example, a sustainable choice might be to encourage a return to shade-grown coffee, rather than the mass production, sun-grown monocrop farm, and to purchase only shade-grown coffee. Emphasis should be on looking for solutions and introducing problem solving activities to students, rather than presenting a picture of hopelessness and despair.

Tracking the life of a product with your class

The coffee cradle-to-grave example is one of many that you may choose to undertake with your students. Other appropriate examples to suit the age range of your class may include chocolate, bread, milk, tea, out-of-season fruit, mobile phones, running shoes and other products familiar to students or in the context of your community.

Natural resource depletion

The cradle-to-grave model can be applied to any product. If applied to a natural resource such as lobsters or fish which are directly harvested from the sea, the issue is known as ‘natural resource depletion’. This is the running down of a resource until there is nothing left of it and in the case of a living resource such as fish, removing breeding adults so that a species population will eventually collapse. Overfishing is a sustainability issue faced by many communities around the world. We can extract vast quantities of fish from our oceans, due to advances in technology, much more quickly than it takes for a species population to recover or replenish itself. If we keep taking without putting anything back eventually there is nothing left. The resource will be completely depleted.

The key understandings here are that natural resources are finite, sensitive to environmental conditions and often take many years to develop or regenerate. Sometimes it takes millions of years, as is the case with oil, coal, minerals and natural gas.

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ChapTer 2 Sustainability with your ClassInquiry based learning approach

Inquiry based learning is an approach that involves students in actively identifying and investigating issues, and then working through them using flexible approaches that integrate knowledge, skills and values. Teams of students and the school community can generate the learning from among themselves, and people or experts they consult, to resolve a problem. It leads to students taking some form of action.

The inquiry based learning approach allows students to contribute to a pool of knowledge in context where they can share information about the place in which they live. Students can survey the needs of the community, look at changes over time and retrieve historical anecdotes passed on from one generation to another. This enables an opportunity for an exchange of skills among the group and allows students to apply their skills in a real world context. Constructing and reading tables, for example, becomes a lot more meaningful when it is designed by students to indicate the status and condition of bird populations they see in their own school grounds.

The whole school can commit to living and working sustainably, so that students are supported in their learning about and for sustainability. This means involving the entire school community, the principal, every teacher, all the office administration staff, general assistants, the canteen staff, the cleaners, parents and after school care groups. One teacher, in one classroom cannot do all of this alone!

The sustainability action process

The processes outlined in this book support the knowledge and practices required to address and take action for sustainability. By following the steps in the process students will be able to apply their understandings with increasing levels of sophistication as they take action for sustainability from the early learning years to beyond.

Making a case for change begins with students sharing knowledge they already possess. They can pose questions, set goals and consider their roles as

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Sustainability with your Class

part of a team. It involves establishing the current values, beliefs and vision of the school community, developing an understanding of local identity and heritage, investigating and exploring a sustainability issue, and defining a case for change. It involves students engaging with concepts.

Students could explore and identify the school community’s values by conducting a visioning activity . This may take the form of inviting parents, teachers and staff, and other members of the school community, to a think tank to find out what the community values about their school and their vision of the future . Focus questions could be:

What makes our school unique? What makes our school a good or bad place to be in? What does our school do well? Where can our school improve? Does our school feel that education for sustainability should be a necessary part of

the core curriculum? What do we value the most or least in our school? What was the school like in the past, how has it changed? What do we want our school to look like and be doing in the future?

Defining the scope for action involves students deciding how best to find out more about the concept. They can consider and explore the best sources of information, interview experts and conduct surveys. It involves students in identifying and investigating options for making a proposed change with available resources and constraints included, and consulting experts and decision makers to gain agreement in order to develop a statement of the preferred direction for action.

The next stage in the process is for students to organise, analyse and communicate the information they have found. This might draw on a number of different Learning Areas. Developing a proposal for action involves brainstorming and selecting solutions and action ideas, prioritising the course of action according to need, modifying ideas for successful implementation then drafting, presenting and securing agreement for the action proposal.

Implementing the proposal involves moving from the proposal to on-the-ground action. Students can consider what they can do with what they have learnt. They can identify how to act on what they have discovered.

Evaluating and reflecting involves students in making connections between the ideas and experiences. They can make generalisations about what they have learnt. They can also assess the success of their work. It involves measuring the degree of success of the action and assessing the efficiency of the systems used, assessing the learning that has occurred from the action and conducting comparative audits to guide future directions.

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Action process for students at different levels

Steps in the action process for different student levels may include the following:

Lower primary

Making a case for change● Investigate the use of products and materials at

home and at school to identify a sustainability issue or assess the state of a local system (for example, traffic, waste, drainage, transport) using local places and spaces . This could also include caring for a particular living thing or an aspect of the local environment .

● Gather data to form a general picture of the issue including people’s opinions .

● Explore and propose the cause of identified problems .

● Devise a case for change in relation to the sustainability issue and state the solutions and improvement needed .

Defining the scope for action● Brainstorm and identify ways and means of

implementing the change which may include: modifying behaviour (or others involved), changing a procedure or part of a system, or altering the physical environment .

● Explore ways and means of judging to see if the change is successful .

● Identify available resources (including human expertise) and also limitations to implementing change, for example, cost, technologies, infrastructure, community and school rules .

Developing a proposal for action● Prepare a proposal for action drawing on

information analysis, advice from experts, discussion with stakeholders and decision makers to refine the action plan .

● Present the proposal to others and all those concerned taking into account costs, resources, time frame, sequence of implementation steps and monitoring methods .

Implementing the proposal● Turn the proposal into actions .

evaluating and reflecting● Monitor, evaluate and report on impacts for change . ● Reflect on and discuss the success of the action in

constructing a more sustainable environment both in the short term and long term .

Middle/Upper primary

Making a case for change● Investigate a sustainability issue exploring

behaviours, attitudes and practices of your school community in relation to such topics as: ecosystems, natural resources, biodiversity, energy, waste disposal and so on . Use an audit process to identify trends, problems, strengths and weaknesses associated with the issue .

● Develop data gathering tools and procedures and then gather data .

● Collate information, generate tables, graphs and visual displays for presentation .

Defining the scope for action● Use the key findings and other support data to

formulate a case for change . ● Consult all groups concerned and brainstorm

actions to address the identified need .● Identify and examine the resources necessary for

implementing a proposed action .● Identify constraints such as time, money, lack of

expertise, legal requirements and other limiting factors .

● Develop an implementation time line of prioritised actions .

Developing a proposal for action● Prepare and present the case for change and action

to the stakeholder audience using various media .● Gain agreement, support and commitment by

presenting it to the stakeholders and those with authority and gain support so there is a shared view of the planned course of action .

Implementing the proposal● Set up a time line and begin the implementation

according to delegated responsibilities .

evaluating and reflecting● Assess the degree of success of the action and

the efficiency of the management system used by conducting follow-up surveys, questionnaires and comparative audits to measure improvements .

● Identify possible future directions to maintain, improve or streamline the system .

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Teaching sustainability to students at different levels

Like all learning, students develop skills, understandings and values as they continue to mature. This section offers a progression model of learning for students in relation to sustainability. The examples offered here are by no means prescriptive and there will always be exceptions to the rule. In general terms, stages of learning development are likely to include a content focus along with knowledge and understandings, skills, values and reflective questions.

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Learning experiences at different levels

The following learning experiences are guidelines only, to use when planning activities. The varying abilities and interests of students should be taken into account. The following learning experiences refer to teaching sustainability as a whole across the curriculum. The tables here provide the structure for subsequent chapters where each strand of sustainability (energy, water, waste and biodiversity) will be discussed in greater detail.

Sustainability learning experiences may include:

Lower primary

● Explore the natural environment with time to contemplate and become familiar with the natural world .

● Describe, represent and talk about these experiences and compare a variety of natural and built environments .

● Interact and care for plants and animals: native, introduced and domesticated .

● Make judgements about the consequences of an action .

● Describe change as a series of events that connect over time .

● Identify parts of a familiar system at school and at home .

● Describe the purpose and some of the parts of a system and how they work .

● Envision and draw future events and places based on personal experiences and observed changes over time . Explain how certain needs are met or depicted in the drawing .

● Work cooperatively in groups .


● Articulate their connection or experience of a place by describing, representing or storytelling .

● Gain deep appreciation and sense of care by looking after or restoring an environment, including looking after the fauna found in a habitat .

● Employ a variety of recording techniques or strategies for exploring stakeholder viewpoints and perspectives .

● Describe, discuss and debate the moral, or right and wrong aspects of an action in relation to sustainability .

● Use Venn diagrams to compare, contrast and identify commonalities of personal beliefs, values and judgements, against those of another organisation, individual or institution .

● Use understandings of differing beliefs, values and cultural customs to reach a compromise for implementing and achieving a sustainable world .

● Integrate knowledge of human health, wellbeing, wealth, needs, wants and happiness when designing and developing a sustainable world and future .

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Each chapter starts with a set of concept organisers, designed to provide you with a scaffold for integrating sustainability concepts into your teaching. The following tables provide examples of learning experiences related to systems, world view and futures, for students at different levels.

Systems learning experiences may include:

Lower primary

● Track the life of basic products such as bread, milk, cereal products and so on .

● Explore how humans care for themselves, others and other living species (for example, growing, raising and nurturing a plant from seed and recording its needs – nutrient rich soil, water, sunlight and air . Predict what could happen if one or more of these needs were denied to the plant) .

● Manage and maintain a vegetable garden bed and plant crops according to seasons .

● Observe, record and explain life cycles of other living species .

● Explore, examine and learn about the diversity of species in the school or neighbouring environments and ways to provide for needs of different species .

● Construct simple food chains for a variety of habitats/ecosystems in the home and at school, beginning with the sun’s energy .

● Explore a variety of literature with sustainability themes .

● Identify features of the weather and develop methods of observing, describing and recording weather as well as how weather affects us all .

● Observe, record, model and explain cycles in nature: water, soil, pollination, photosynthesis, bushfire regeneration and carbon .


● Investigate communities of living things and their interaction with non-living things in habitats such as rocks, weather, water, soil and so on .

● Explore the concept of matter which continuously cycles and recycles in an ecosystem and track the energy flow or movement through the cycle .

● Learn about photosynthesis, respiration, digestion and reproduction processes of living organisms .

● Investigate the cradle-to-grave process for a variety of organic and inorganic products, tracking the energy inputs, resources used and waste products generated in the manufacturing process with focus on impacts or consequences for an ecosystem .

● Use an inquiry based learning process or sustainability audit process to identify issues and options for managing a classroom or natural school area .

● Explore major events in the development of planet Earth, covering events such as mass extinctions, tectonic plate movement, geothermal/volcanic activity and other physical phenomena related to the formation of the Earth .

● Explore and explain the differences between weather and climate .

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World view learning experiences may include:

Futures learning experiences may include:

Lower primary

● Explore and identify ways schools, families and communities depend on natural environments to meet their needs, including learning where food comes from, the production process and its requirements .

● Examine how our culture, beliefs and attitudes affect the way we see, use and think about natural and built environments .

● Use stories from the past to show that all people have customs, traditions and practices but make changes to survive or improve their way of life .

● Identify and explain the role of various workers in the community including organisations such as National Parks and Wildlife, zoos, aquaria and so on .

● Examine and identify aspects or features of the built environment and explain how humans develop a built space to meet their needs . Explore the impacts of such actions and what the effects are on other living things with provision for presenting sustainable solutions .


● Examine the factors that influence our ecological sustainability including the health of our ecosystems, the conservation of our natural resources and the wellbeing of our community .

● Explore the human systems put in place to manage weather and extreme weather events . Examine anecdotes from tropical storms: Yasi, Tracy, Larry and Katrina .

● Take sustainability action by engaging in inquiry based investigations of real-life issues that draw out the environmental, economic and social considerations in relation to an identified need to improve or remedy a problem .

● Examine our interconnectedness to other communities locally and globally .

● Learn about relationships between wealth, consumption, ecological footprint, and the relationship between our lifestyle choices and their economic and environmental costs .

● Identify and examine local and remote social and environmental impacts of the processing and use of common materials .

Lower primary

● Explore concepts of growth and development by comparing early forms of transport to what we have today . Understand how quickly large groups of people can move around the globe now . Predict what transport will be like in the future .

● Investigate the development of technology in food production and its requirements .

● Explore and examine the changes in communication technology and its requirements . Compare the speed of communication today to our earliest forms of recording events .

● Construct a flow chart or time line of children’s toys from ancient civilisations through to the present day, with predictions for the future, noting the materials used, natural resource inputs and the advancement in technologies .

● Investigate how water, energy and waste removal services are supplied to our homes and school .


● Investigate renewable and non-renewable properties of resources (cradle-to-cradle cycle instead of cradle-to-grave) . Include exploration of natural resources such as marine, forest and mineral resources .

● Design and make model buildings, or suggest modifications and retrofits to real buildings to minimise environmental impacts and costs .

● Examine land use history locally, nationally and internationally and explain how technology has shaped today’s world . Use these understandings to make informed decisions for the future .

● Draw and predict how technology will be used and shape the world in the future .

● Construct a history of inventions chart that explains people’s ability to alter the nature of a landscape (for example, using a shovel through to heavy earth-moving equipment and explosives) .

● Create PMI charts to weigh up the pluses, minuses and interesting aspects of technological advancement .

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Sustainability as a cross-curriculum priority

Each Learning Area offers opportunities for education for sustainability.

English

English is a tool for communicating and exchanging ideas, a vital process when teaching for sustainability. It employs the knowledge and skills of communication to gather information, investigate topics and convey key understandings, report on significant findings, explore values and feelings through the analysis of issues and problems. Students are assisted to understand the complexity of issues, how values shape human viewpoints and how opinions are expressed from differing perspectives through the creation of texts (both literary and factual) for a range of purposes, audiences and contexts. This enables students to develop a world view of peoples and their place in a variety of ecosystems.

Read and experience stories, poetry, plays, songs, persuasive texts and picture books with environmental themes, and telling of human experiences, feelings and emotions.

Express feelings, emotions, opinions and responses to current affairs and sustainability issues through verbal and written communication such as debating, drama, journaling, scriptwriting and storytelling about a local development issue.

Write news articles on one sustainability issue from different perspectives and then discuss.

Interview experts, appropriate school community members and other schools on sustainability topics (for example, conservation in national parks).

Learn about ‘greenwashing’ and the power of advertising (for example, an oil company may advertise its petrol as ‘clean green energy’, when it is still a fossil fuel).

Science

Science is concerned with exploring, investigating and understanding the physical world around us and how it works. It is the basis for understanding technology and provides the means for reflecting on the ingenuity of the natural world and its life cycles, growth and physical worth. It provides a focus on changes in systems, their causes and consequences. Science

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encourages the development of perceptive observation skills, to make predictions and draw conclusions based on a body of evidence, observed trends or patterns and test ‘what if’ scenarios. Science provides the opportunity to explore and test possible solutions to global problems such as finite fuel depletion by investigating renewable energy in physics, biodiversity issues through bush regeneration, biomimicry in biology, salinity and water quality issues relating to agricultural use of the land.

Investigate, research, question, test (using fair test method), observe, hypothesise and record results or observed phenomena relating to a sustainability issue.

Think about experiments and investigations and their outcomes for human, ecological and societal wellbeing. School energy, water, waste and biodiversity audits would fit this activity.

Work towards solving social issues and other world problems such as experimenting with solar technology to mitigate global warming. Use solar technology to monitor the amount of energy that a school receives.

Examine the ethical dilemmas related to advancements in science, such as genetically modified food, cloning and nuclear waste.

Use the school grounds and surrounds as a field of study, living laboratory or learning resource (for example, undertaking bird counts and setting up insect traps).

Weigh up the positives and negatives of scientific achievements.

History

Our sense of place, or understanding of our local identity and heritage, is shaped by our ability to look back into our past to examine the factors, stories and events. History helps us to see that the problems we face today have usually been faced before and much can be learnt from past experiences. We learn why certain sites become significant and to whom, why we should respect tradition, custom, indigenous culture and knowledge. We also learn that there is a need to preserve, conserve or protect items of value both natural and built. History assists us to reflect on the way we do things, the consequences of behaviours and actions, and to see the need for change if necessary. History provides the means of looking at any environmental issue, technological change and social condition in any era. We can then compare, contrast and project an event into the future so that we have at our disposal a means of supporting a case for change or preserving things of value.

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Examine human innovation throughout time, such as the use of fire, the age of steam, electricity and now the need for renewable energy technologies.

Reflect on how values have changed throughout history and understand the importance of tradition and heritage to a sense of community.

Use the school grounds and immediate community to reflect on relationships between people and their environment as a way to observe and record changes over time.

Investigate the past misuses of Earth’s resources and the impacts of human activities such as tourism.

Study and learn from indigenous cultures, for example, some Indigenous Australian groups use a six season calendar cycle, based on their knowledge of Australian climatic conditions, or the movement of the stars.

Geography

Geography assists in learning about sustainability by equipping students with the skills, knowledge and values to understand natural structures, land surface features, global and local systems (weather, climate), physical forces (erosion, weathering, volcanic activity) and how they all interact to shape the Earth and where we live. Geography helps us to understand the contributing factors for communities to settle and remain in some places with great success, while in other areas communities struggle to survive, prosper or even exist. Geography shapes our understanding of the world by providing us with the means to see where we are in relation to others in terms of distance, location, climatic regime, biodiversity and economic standing. Geography is very much linked to our understanding of living and working in a market economy society and the need to include the environmental costs in economic analysis.

Discover where natural resources are sourced, how they are extracted, traded, manufactured, transported and consumed and whether these processes are conducted sustainably.

Investigate social and political systems, and decision-making processes relating to sustainability which are governed by laws, treaties, constitutions and the like.

Undertake mapping activities. Appreciate cycles in nature and how they influence weather patterns, species migration, pollination, climate control and other life supporting systems.

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Examine the impacts and issues of population growth. Develop critical thinking skills to grapple with issues such as unrestricted economic growth, resource equity concerns, unsustainable and sustainable development.

Examine natural resource depletion and its consequences.

The Arts

Music, dance, visual arts and drama are the vehicles for creative expression of ideas, social comment and events in time, past, present and future. These art forms allow us to explore or contemplate our past, the present, new worlds, ways of thinking and ‘what if’ scenarios. Through the Arts we can comment on the plight or condition of living things. All of these enable us to question the ethos and methodologies of systems, institutions, organisations and other social constructs. Creative expression can also provide immense spiritual and emotional joy, and fulfilment. Many great artists have drawn their inspiration from nature and there are myriad examples where the essence of nature has been captured in visual images, music, dance and theatre. All environments, built and natural, as well as imagined, are sources of inspiration for us to express how we see and feel about the world in which we live and entertain different possibilities.

Creatively express interpretations of the world, using a variety of forms and mediums, thoughts, feelings and imagination. Tell a story through music, dance, drama or artwork.

Explore personal history, learning about people, culture, society, values, world views and creatively express socio-political understandings or comments.

Build a sense of community through collective efforts such as the construction of murals, festivals and celebrations that capture the character and values of community.

Express feelings and emotions in response to social justice issues, environmental issues, peace or current affairs events.

Present ideas or social comments using images without words.

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Mathematics

Mathematics enables us to make informed decisions about present and future actions we should take. It equips students with the skills of measurement, mathematical modelling, data collection, representation and analysis. Actions to improve sustainability can involve students in processes like auditing, reading measures and gauges, and interpreting data on invoices and accounts (for example, energy bills). Mathematics helps us to explain and express patterns, and the relationships between numbers. Mathematical thinking is a tool that can assist us to understand things in relation to each other, through the use of scale, quantity, bulk, space and correspondence. We can make mathematical analogies to explain concepts of sustainability, for example, conclusions such as that it would take five planet Earths to sustain a population of nine billion people.

Work in groups to gather information, measure, count, calculate, interpret data and solve problems.

Apply mathematical understandings and skills to real-life problem solving when conducting sustainability audits, reading meters, measuring garden spaces and so on.

Develop an enjoyment and fascination with numbers. Contemplate the idea of infinity and understand limits.

Explore and contemplate population growth concepts and issues. Discover mathematical systems in nature, such as the Fibonacci sequence. The first two Fibonacci numbers are 0 and 1, then each subsequent number in the sequence is the sum of the previous two (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and so on). Fibonacci numbers may be found in the uncurling of a fern frond, the patterns in the florets of flowers and arrangements of leaves on a stem.

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ChapTer 3 Energy Energy is the ability to do work or make something happen. This could be to make something move or change condition. For example: ● ice melting into water ● boiling water turning into steam.

Systems

From a systems viewpoint, energy in its most basic form can be seen as light and felt as the heat that we directly experience from the sun. We can see moving or kinetic energy in the form of waves breaking on a beach or the wind blowing through the treetops making them sway. We experience the transforming process of chemical energy when we eat food. We chew and digest a variety of solids and liquids that our body breaks down using a range of chemicals to extract the nutrients from food required by the body to keep organs and systems functioning.

Potential energy is stored energy. We feel this potential to move something before we lift our feet to start walking or flex our muscles to jump. Potential energy is the energy contained within an object before it utilises that energy, for example, the energy contained within a coiled spring, or a lump of wood to be used on a camp fire.

Chemical and mechanical energy are both used by our body to change the food we eat from a solid into vital nutrients required by our body to survive. First our teeth grind down the food into small chunks (mechanical energy), while mixing the chunks with saliva to slide down our throats where it is deposited in a bath of hydrochloric acid (chemical energy) in our stomach. The acid together with the pulsating muscular movement of the stomach work to break down the small chunks into a nutrient soup that can be utilised by the body’s various parts as required. This entire systems process also produces heat which keeps us warm, as well as providing the energy supply we need to keep growing, moving, breathing and ultimately surviving. Without energy, nothing would ever happen, nothing would ever change. Energy is the vital force or element of change.

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Energy

Energy constantly changes form, such as when a wind turbine changes mechanical energy into electrical energy, or light and heat energy are converted by a solar cell into electrical energy. There is also an energy change when it transfers from one location to another, for example when heat flows too fast out of your body into the environment and you are left feeling cold, or heat flowing from a stove into a pot of water when left long enough will make the water boil then turn into steam.

Lower-primary-aged students can learn to identify simple forms of energy as part of a system. They can name these forms and see, or come to understand, how energy is a vital force needed by all living systems. In terms of a systems approach, students at this level can understand that energy comes from the sun in the form of heat and light which plants use and need to survive. Students can appreciate that energy from the sun is used and changed by plants, and is the basis of all food chains and food webs. They can see that there are several types or forms of energy, like mechanical, heat (thermal), light (luminous), stored (potential) and chemical energy. Students can come to understand that without energy from the sun there would be no life, food chains or food webs – they would simply collapse. They are also interested to find out that coal and oil are examples of stored or potential energy formed over millions of years, which when burnt or refined can power our vehicles, houses and schools and are the basis of many synthetic household products.

Students can explore various forms of mechanical energy (wind, water, physical movement) and how they make objects move. They can investigate stored energy by investigating elastic bands, bouncing balls, firewood and volcanic bricks. Students can identify chemical energy by seeing how a change has taken place or how something has happened, for example, an apple browning when exposed to the air. Squeezing lemon juice over the apple to prevent it from browning (or oxidising) is further evidence of the release of chemical energy in the chemical reaction. Students can see a change occurring and realise that it must be something in the surrounding air causing the apple to brown. They can draw the same conclusion about something in the lemon juice that stops the apple from turning brown. Metalanguage, or specific terms such as ‘chemical,’ can be introduced to students in this way.

As they mature, students in middle and upper primary begin to appreciate that fossil fuels are the main sources of energy used by our society. They will learn that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are waste products

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produced from the burning of fossil fuels. These can contribute to climate change and can have adverse environmental, social and economic impacts. Students can discover the direct relationship between global temperature increase and accelerated atmospheric carbon dioxide which have occurred at an unprecedented rate over the last 220 years (since the Industrial Revolution), evidence of which can be found in geological ice-core samples. They can see the benefit of harnessing alternative cleaner energy sources in order to mitigate climate change impacts and the shortage of fossil fuel supplies in the future.

There are many learning experiences you can provide for your students to help them appreciate a systems approach to energy. For example, students may investigate the environmental impacts of fossil fuel use over time, from its raw resource extraction, through to the entire refinery process. Students can track the environmental considerations and impacts at every stage of the process, just like the coffee example in Chapter 1. Students can come to understand aspects of global warming and climate change covering all the biological impacts and the impacts they have on human beings. You can use this also to investigate and examine concepts of global warming, the water cycle and carbon cycle.

World View

From a world view perspective, energy is a major issue. Oil rich locations determine those nations which have political power and economic advantage. The world’s thirst for oil determines decision making at the highest level. The possibility that we have reached peak oil (that is, the point when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production is in decline) stimulates countries to look for energy alternatives. The burning of coal and the subsequent increase of greenhouse gases is one of the dominant world view issues we face in the 21st century, making it a vital topic to be included in a curriculum for preparing students for the future.

Energy consumption is connected to the wealth of a country and its climate, but there is also a large difference between the consumption by individual highly developed countries, such as Germany (around 6 kWh per person) and the United States (around 11.4 kWh per person). In most developing countries, such as India, the per person energy use is substantially lower.

When teaching about energy from a world perspective, emphasise to students that most energy is obtained from oil and coal, and that it drives almost all of the industrial processes around the world, making fossil fuels the basis of

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Energy

the global economy. It is useful to discuss with your class how climate change could have social, environmental and economic consequences. It could affect water supply, the ability to grow food, the preservation of coral reefs and the ability to withstand extreme weather events.

Lower-primary-aged students learn that energy makes things work, move or change and the local environment is the focus. Many items in schools and homes use electrical energy. At the middle to upper primary level, students can understand that our choice of energy generation is determined by factors such as cost, government regulations in different countries, infrastructure, convenience, values and even different attitudes towards energy use across the world. Students can explore how various forms of harnessed energy, from the simple to the complex, have led to civilisation as we know it today, particularly our dependence on a fossil fuel-based economy. Discuss with students the advantages, disadvantages and interesting aspects of fossil fuel-based power generation around the world. Students can compare fossil fuels with renewable and alternative energy solutions.

Futures

The way we use energy today has far reaching consequences into what energy sources will be available in the future. In many countries, energy generation at present comes from fossil fuel sources, with renewable energies a lesser component of the total world energy production. This raises questions about its long term and sustainable use involving carbon pricing, food production and transport. The energy we use today will affect the environment both now and in the future.

We know that energy production has changed over time and will continue to do so. Mechanical energy has been changed over time into electrical energy (for example, the old pedal radio), but advances in technology have enabled us to alter or change our environment and no doubt we will make further adjustments as we move into newer energy sources.

Futures thinking involves the exploration of such issues as climate change, carbon trading and global warming. It involves not just letting the future happen, but planning for a preferred future. Over time humans have used fire for heating, then charcoal, gas and later still electricity from coal, followed by solar cells converting light energy into electricity.

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The technology of producing electricity from coal has remained relatively the same since it was first invented. Electricity can be generated by using combinations of energy such as heat–chemical–mechanical, light–heat–chemical–mechanical and so on, proving it can be achieved in a variety of ways other than by burning fossil fuels. Technology can assist us to design and make better buildings to meet specific environmental needs or conditions. Energy efficient building structures to conserve and save energy are already a major design priority and will become even more important in the future.

Lower primary students can be encouraged to use their imagination and make up stories about how we may live in the future. They can pose questions about energy and new inventions that might be available to make our lives more comfortable in the future. For example:

Will we still have power stations?

What will make our electricity? Will it be cheaper or more expensive?

What might we have to change today to make sure we still have

energy for our cars tomorrow?

How might we make electricity in the future if coal and oil run out?

Middle and upper primary students can appreciate that electricity is generated by using various combinations of energy. They can also appreciate that a variety of ways of generating electricity exist other than the burning of fossil fuels. Students at this level can imagine a future world where no fossil fuels are used and record their visions. You can pose questions to students to further encourage future thinking:

Why might it be necessary to imagine a future world where no fossil

fuels are used?

What changes would we have to make now if we were to live in that

imagined future world?

Students can come to understand that a sustainable future is shaped by our present behaviour and practices regarding energy generation, consumption and conservation. By increasing our use of renewable energy sources, we can reduce the impact on climate change in the future. How we might develop energy more efficiently in the future is a priority and this is where building design also becomes important. Students can undertake design tasks to meet specific needs by utilising a renewable energy source. Students can construct models and use software such as Google SketchUp, to design energy efficient houses for the future.

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Energy

Learning Experiences Integration key — E = English, M = Maths, S = Science, H = History, G = Geography, A = Arts

Lower primary

environmental● Investigate heat and light energy from the

sun by standing for five minutes in the sun (ensuring sun safe routines are observed), recording the sensation of heat on the body then standing in the shade .

● Identify and explore sources of energy used in our lives .

● Conduct experiments that show how plants need and respond to light, including photosynthesis .

● Explore examples of chemical energy outside in a natural area (for example, saltwater corroding iron, limestone cave formation, the smell of mangroves and other examples in the playground or neighbouring environment) .

economic● Investigate ways of saving or reducing

energy use in the immediate environment (for example, turning off lights when leaving a room, turning off lights in a room that is well lit by sunshine) .

● Explore various forms of energy used in the home and school and how they meet specific needs (for example, heat energy from the stove cooks our food) .

● Track the energy inputs that are required for making everyday items (for example, bread, milk, tea, a shoe, a T-shirt and so on) . Display energy use charts .

● Explore how people have kept themselves warm from early times up to the present .

– Which methods have cost money? – Which methods are the most economical?

Social● Identify sources of energy used in our lives .● Find examples of where and how human

beings have altered the environment to meet their energy needs (for example, air conditioners to cool a room, fridges to preserve food, damming rivers for hydro-electricity) .

● Pose ‘what if’ scenarios and record ideas, solutions, thoughts and feelings about adapting to a required change (for example, imagining there was no more electricity) .

E, M, S

S, M

G, S

S, E

G, E

E, S

A, E, S, G

G, S, H, E

S, E, G

H, S, G

E, S, G

H, S, G

S, G

S, G, E, M

G, E, S

S, A, E, M

G, M

G, A, E, S

M, S, G

E, G, S, A

G, E


environmental● Explore how various forms of energy, from

the simple to the complex are essentially sourced from nature either in the present (wind) or from the past (oil)

● Explore how chemical energy is supplied naturally by the environment and how we utilise it for our daily needs .

● Construct a systems diagram showing how fossil fuels were formed and how their release of CO2 relates to global warming and possible climate change .

economic● Examine energy alternatives of geothermal,

tidal, solar, wind and biofuel .● Use graphic organisers to understand

energy production on a large scale . Draw on a variety of information sources including excursions to power stations, hydro-electric dams, wind farms and the like to observe and experience energy production in the real world and in context .

● Undertake design activities and introduce tasks to utilise a renewable energy source .

● Identify and mark on a map the developed and developing nations . Record their energy fuel sources as a percentage breakdown .

● Compare statistics in the form of graphs, tables and charts . Include looking at pictures from space of the world at night .

Social● Design and produce storyboards, videos,

stop animation films, books, posters and billboards that illustrate the history of energy technology from its rudimentary beginnings to the large scale power plants in operation today .

● Imagine and record visions of a future world with no fossil fuels .

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Energy Audit and Action Process

The energy audit process outlined below is best undertaken by middle and upper level primary students. However, with greater teacher support and guidance, some aspects of the audit process could be carried out by lower primary students.

Conducting an on-site energy audit

You could conduct an energy audit of your school by looking at your school’s monthly energy bills over the course of the year alone, but this would not provide a means for identifying which locations and buildings have the highest and lowest energy use, or which rooms contain the highest energy consuming items. This method would not deliver a detailed energy profile of the school and determining the areas of need would be more difficult. A more comprehensive energy audit, as outlined on the following pages, will tell you how much, why and where energy is used in the school. Some schools elect to have an outside auditing team come into the school to carry out the energy audit, but this excludes students from the entire process and denies them the opportunity to develop deep understandings and ownership of the sustainability action process.

Start by discussing the possibility of conducting an energy audit day at a staff meeting. Explain the process and gain the support of all stakeholders to secure an appropriate day and time for carrying out the audit. To conduct the audit, students will need to interview teachers, students and other school workers about how long and how frequently electrical items are in use in every room of the school.

The energy audit is best done all in one day as some members of staff may find it a bit disruptive. It is important that the whole school knows the day on which the audit is to take place, its purpose and how the information will be used by students. It is crucial that all ancillary staff, including the canteen helpers, have been informed and know what has been planned. Failing to keep everyone informed about what is involved could cause problems for the audit and disrupt people unnecessarily.

TiP: If possible, take digital photographs and video all through the audit process of students

carrying out various steps as this will prove to be an excellent resource when compiling the audit

presentation, as well as providing a visual diary of the process.

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Energy

Energy bill tracking

1 Collect a year’s worth of your school’s energy bills. Have students examine the bills and discuss their features.

2 Using the information from the bills, construct a table that records the month, kilowatts consumed, greenhouse gas emissions and cost. For example:

School energy Bill profile: 20_ _

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DeckW CO2 kg Cost $

Once completed, the energy bill tracking table can be used to compare periods of highest and lowest use. It can also be used to make comparisons later, when energy reducing and efficiency actions have been implemented.

School capture maps or blueprints

3 Obtain copies of the school capture maps or blueprints. Capture maps are scale floor plans of all buildings in the school with a coding system for every room, storeroom and amenity that builders, plumbers and other workers refer to when carrying out building works. Usually the principal or office staff will have such maps on file. If other school maps or blueprints are used, have students create a code for each room of the school.

4 As a class or in small groups, have students mark on the map which rooms are occupied by specific classes and teachers. Continue to label each room according to its function or who uses the room, for example, general assistant’s shed, canteen, sick bay, principal and so on. Colour-code each building block to make recording audit data easier.

Sample of part of a school capture map, including codes for each room .

AR00

25

AR00

18

AR00

17 AR00

16

AR00

10

AR00

09

AR00

05

AR0015

AR0014 EDBAR

0004

AR00

06

AR00

08

AR00

11

AR00

03AR

0002

AR00

07

AR00

12

AR00

13 AR00

01AR00

25AR

0019

AR00

23AR

0020

AR0022

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Measuring energy use

5 Discuss how energy is measured and where the wattage on a variety of household items can be found. Demonstrate this to students by pointing out the label that has this information on a CD player, computer or other small appliance in the classroom. Here is a table showing the average wattage of some everyday household appliances.

6 Websites may be found online that can calculate the costs of different appliances (for example, one small appliance cost calculator can be found at www.csgnetwork.com/applianceeleccostcalc.html).

Demonstrate how the cost calculator works, by entering in the cost of the last bill, the wattage of the appliance, the number of hours the appliance is in use and other information. Have students use the calculator for a few trial runs. Once they are confident using it, set students the task of auditing their own bedroom. Have students share their results and compare them in class. Explain to students that they can use the same process to audit the school.

Creating audit recording sheets

7 Using their labelled capture maps, have students create audit recording sheets for each individual room of the school. Tell them to label the sheet with the map code number for the room, and the occupant or function.

appliance or electrical item Watts

Refrigerator 500Microwave 900Toaster 1200Colour TV (70 cm) 170Satellite dish 30DVD/CD player 30Stereo 55Cordless phone (on standby) 5Fluorescent light 15Incandescent light 40–100Electric clock 4Computer 55Monitor (43 cm) 45–100Inkjet printer 25Laser printer 900Fax machine 50Alarm system 6Air conditioner 1500©

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Energy

Set up a blank electronic version to transfer the data students gather later. These sheets could be colour-coded to match the map. For example:

inside building electrical item per room audit – Building A Map code: AR001 Occupant/function: Staffroom Date audited: _/_/____ Audit team: _______________

electrical Wattage Total for Time item is kW per day Cost CO2 per year item room on per day /kW per per day (appliance) week

8 Repeat the step 7 process, but this time label the building as an outside audit sheet. These buildings will have items such as security lights or solar panels on the roof. For example:

Outside building electrical item audit – Building ADate audited: _/_/____ Audit team: _______________

electrical Wattage Total for Time item is kW per day Cost CO2 per year item room on per day /kW per per day (appliance) week

Gathering information

9 Organise students into audit teams, no larger than a group of four. Make sure every student has a role to play in the audit process: two people can check the wattage of the various electrical items; one person can ask how long the items are in use; one person can record all the data on the sheets, and so on. Each group could come up with an audit team name.

10 Allocate all of the audit areas and record sheets to the audit teams. Ensure students understand the difference between the indoor audit and the outdoor audit. The information from both will eventually be combined to construct the overall energy profile of the building as a whole.

11 Ensure that students know what they have to do and then send them out to audit the school. They need to gather the information and fill out their forms as per this example:

appliance or electrical item Watts

Refrigerator 500Microwave 900Toaster 1200Colour TV (70 cm) 170Satellite dish 30DVD/CD player 30Stereo 55Cordless phone (on standby) 5Fluorescent light 15Incandescent light 40–100Electric clock 4Computer 55Monitor (43 cm) 45–100Inkjet printer 25Laser printer 900Fax machine 50Alarm system 6Air conditioner 1500 ©


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inside building electrical item per room audit – Building A Map code: AR001 Occupant/function: Staffroom Date audited: 8/2/2012 Audit team: The Energy Avengers

electrical Wattage Total for Time item is kW per day Cost CO2 per year item room on per day /kW per per day (appliance) week lights 45 18 10 hrs computers 350 3 10 hrs fridge 320 1 24 hrs (and so on . . .)

Collating the data

12 Using computers, have students work in pairs to transfer the data they have collected to the electronic version of the recording sheet.

13 Tell students to then use the small appliance cost calculator (see step 6) to complete the audit sheets. Alternatively, once energy use has been calculated for each appliance, students could also calculate or estimate the costs by looking up the cost per kWh on the power bill. For example:

inside building electrical item per room audit – Building A Map code: AR001 Occupant/function: Staffroom Date audited: 8/2/2012 Audit team: The Energy Avengers

electrical Wattage Total for Time item is kW per day Cost CO2 per year item room on per day /kW per per day (appliance) week lights 45 18 10 hrs 8 .1kW/40 .5kW 92c/$4 .62 1620kg computers 350 3 10 hrs 10 .5kW/52 .5kW $1 .20/$5 .98 2100kg fridge 320 1 24 hrs 7 .6 kW/53 .7kW 86 c/$6 .12 2803 kg

(and so on . . .)

14 Have students total the kW per day/kW per week, cost per day and the CO2

emissions columns for each room and external building audit.

15 Set up a new blank audit sheet for each building on the interactive whiteboard. Have students report their results to the class. Record the total number of each appliance, total wattage, total cost per day and per week, and total emissions for the building by adding each room total together. Keep the outdoor or external building data separate from the indoor building total, but add it to the final overall total when calculating the building with the highest energy consumption, emissions and highest running cost. (Note: This is because the external items such as security lights are on for long periods of time. It can sometimes be the difference between running costs and emissions from one building to the next.)

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Energy

16 Once all audit sheets have been completed, have students calculate the cost per year and CO

2 emissions per year for each building. Create a building

total audit sheet, for example:

Building A Total – inside electrical item Wattage Total for Cost per day Cost per year CO2 per year (appliance) building lights

(and so on . . .)

Building A Total – Outside/External electrical item Wattage Total for Cost per day Cost per year CO2 per year (appliance) building lights

(and so on . . .)

Analysing the data

17 Record the cost per year and CO2 emissions on the whole school capture

map. Have students identify which buildings are biggest CO2 emitters and

most costly to run through to the least. As a class, rank buildings from highest emitters and cost, to the lowest.

18 Analyse the tables and other recorded information and have students propose reasons why some buildings have higher running costs and emissions compared to others.

19 Examine the school total for combined items such as air conditioners, fridges/freezers, computers and so on. With the class, determine a ranking from the highest emitters cost to the lowest.

Defining the scope for action

20 Display students’ findings and examine the results. Have students determine where efficiency can be improved, and where savings or changes in behaviour can be made. For example, lux meters or light meters could be purchased for the school. These meters measure the light levels inside a space. They are easy to use and students like the responsibility of checking the light levels each day. The device can be used to test the amount of light in a room and when above a certain level, it means that artificial lighting such as fluorescent lights can be switched off.

21 You could invite experts to come into the class to examine the audit findings and suggest other efficiency improvement strategies. Have students record

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data for each suggested solution or action using a retrieval chart. Assist students to consider the cost, difficulty of implementation, rules or laws, infrastructure needs or constraints and so on.

22 As a class, reflect on, evaluate and weigh up all the proposed actions. Identify and examine the resources (including human resources) necessary for implementing a proposed action and limiting factors.

Developing a proposal for action

23 As a class, decide upon which recommendations you would like to make for improving energy efficiency in the school.

24 Together, prioritise action based on the gathered information. On the interactive whiteboard develop a time line for action implementation.

25 Assist students to prepare and communicate the case for change and an action proposal using appropriate media.

26 Gain agreement, support and commitment for the proposal by presenting it to stakeholders and those with authority. Wide support will result in a big picture shared view of the planned course of action to bring about the desired change.

Implementing the proposal

27 Once approval is given, begin implementation of the proposed action in accordance with the time line set up in step 24. Delegate responsibilities for different measures to the relevant school community members.

Evaluating and reflecting

28 Assess the degree of success of the action and the efficiency of the management system used by having students conduct follow-up surveys, questionnaires and comparative audits to measure any improvements in attitudes, behaviours and resource use.

29 On an ongoing basis, have students identify possible future directions to maintain, improve or streamline sustainable energy action implementation.

30 Assess the learning that has resulted from the actions introduced or implemented.

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ChapTer 4 Water Water is a liquid, which in a pure state, is clear, odourless and tasteless. It is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen (H

2O). It is the

only substance on the planet that is found naturally in three forms: ● liquid (rain, lakes, oceans)● solid (ice, snow)● gas (water vapour, steam).

Systems

Water is essential to life. Life first began millions of years ago in the ocean and today the ocean is the most expansive habitat on the planet. Seventy-one per cent of the Earth’s surface is made up of liquid water and the overall amount of water on Earth has remained the same for some two billion years. This is why we must value this most precious resource on our planet and ensure that it is used sustainably, wisely and efficiently.

Water is the substance that makes it possible for life-supporting electrochemical processes within the human body to occur. Every human being is made up of 60% or more water. Water regulates the temperature of the human body and removes wastes. The average person can survive for several weeks without food, but less than a week without water.

The air contains vast amounts of water vapour that condenses to form clouds. The water cycle is a system of evaporation, condensation and precipitation (rain) which ensures water is recycled around the planet. As a system, the water cycle is almost as old as our planet. Over a 100-year period a water molecule (H

20) will spend 98 years in the ocean, 20 months locked up in ice,

about two weeks in lakes or rivers and less than a week in the atmosphere. We and all living things are part of that system. Every drink of water we take has water molecules that evaporated from all of the ocean’s surfaces and from all of the canopies of every forest in the world. Each day the sun evaporates a trillion tonnes of water, and a single tree will emit around 265 litres in evaporation. The same amount of water on Earth exists today as there was when the Earth was first formed. It is a closed system where nothing is lost. The water that runs through our taps contains molecules that the dinosaurs drank.

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In today’s world, a systems approach has enabled us to realise that water must be allocated to river systems for the health of the ecosystem and ultimately human health (for example, wetlands filter water before it enters the ocean). Our drinking water is the result of a natural cycle that is influenced by weather and climate systems around the world and aquatic ecosystems are diverse and sensitive to variables such as temperature, effects of pollutants and disturbances in food chains. Through a systems analysis we know that living organisms can act as biological indicators for determining the condition of the water quality and health of an ecosystem, and that the world’s oceans have lost more than 90% of large fish since the industrial revolution.

Lower primary students are able to understand that water sustains life, that it is a precious and limited natural resource and an ingredient of many products. They can appreciate that it is the habitat of many living organisms and its quality can be measured and maintained, or degraded, according to our actions. Examples of water being harvested, collected and recycled are also useful systems for students to investigate. They can also learn to identify the stages of the water cycle, or features of the weather by describing and recording them. They can study a local waterway and explore the importance of water for all life, including a simple water bug survey and other water quality related experiments. Constructing, drawing, painting or sculpting model replicas of water bugs and water birds, managing a garden or constructing a pond are all useful learning activities. Along with this they can discuss what lives in the local waterway and make a series of food chains that can then be displayed as a food web for aquatic habitats. Discuss with students the causes of pollution, and brainstorm clean-up actions which may include writing to the local council.

Middle and upper primary students can explore human impacts on the water cycle, for example, by damming a river, diverting water for irrigation, damming water for hydro power, clearing trees, storing water, using stormwater run-off, analysing factory stack emissions (acid rain) and case studies like the Murray River and the Coorong. Many schools carry out regular water quality tests on a local body of water to determine the health of the ecosystem or they investigate the concept of bioaccumulation. Chemicals such as DDT, dioxins, lead, mercury and other pollutants are ingested by animals which can become more concentrated the higher up the food chain they go. Students can investigate oceans as water bodies, especially their role

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Water

in the carbon cycle and its impact on coral reefs, and the effect of agricultural run-off. Oceans also play an important role in dispersing plants and animals around the world.

World View

Fresh water, potable or drinking water accounts for slightly less than 1% of all of the water found on Earth. Over 90% of the world’s supply of fresh water is located in Antarctica and more than three quarters of it is not available because it is locked up in the poles, or is inaccessible or polluted. One litre of leaking petrol can pollute 750 000 litres of water (consider the 2010 BP oil spill off the coast of Louisiana, USA). If the entire world’s water supply was condensed down to just 100 litres of water, our usable amount of fresh water would be approximately 0.003 of a litre, which would equate to filling only a half a teaspoon.

More than two billion people on Earth today do not have a safe water supply and freshwater animals are disappearing faster than land animals. Water is a natural resource that we in developed countries often take for granted.

Like oil, we are to a large degree ignorant about just how much water we require to make certain products and how much is truly available to service an increasing population. Water is used to make a lot of household items and in industrial processes such as electricity generation, canning food and industrial cleaning. Students can construct concept maps that record all the ways water is used by people, for example, drinking, firefighting, farming, swimming, washing, sewerage, cooking, cleaning, gardening, keeping pets and so on.

It requires this amount of water to make the following items:

450 L to produce one egg 35 L to process one can of fruit or vegetables 25 L to process one chicken 7000 L to refine one barrel of crude oil 25 700 L to grow a day’s food to feed a family of four 148 000 L to manufacture a new car .

Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth. The Murray River, Australia’s longest river, is one of the oldest or most ancient waterways, but it has a fraction of the water flow of other large global rivers. The Murray

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has 75 times less stream flow than the Amazon, and 25 times less than the Mississippi. Australia’s ephemeral river system’s annual stream flow is not only small, but extremely variable, especially to water catchments located west of the Great Dividing Range.

In New Zealand, many of the largest dams and reservoirs have been developed principally to produce hydroelectricity. Other uses include irrigation and municipal water supply. New Zealand is more fortunate than Australia in terms of water availability and is ranked 11th in the world with an available 86 554 cubic metres for the population. Australia ranks 38th with 25 708 cubic metres. Greenland has the highest (most locked up as ice) with 10 767 900 cubic metres.

Most civilisations developed around an access to water and spread with the development of water technology (for example, the Indus Valley, the Ganges and the Tigris-Euphrates river system in the Fertile Crescent) while others have used the oceans as a major food source throughout human history. Unfortunately, current commercial fishing practices are altering ocean ecology and oceans are becoming unsustainable. Also to our disadvantage, water is a finite resource and not equitably distributed either within a nation or around the world. Cultures around the world have many different beliefs about water and this affects the way they use, view and value it, which in turn can have a detrimental impact on water quality (for example, the polluted Ganges, Mekong and Fly Rivers among many others).

Students can explore, compare and examine statistics for seafood consumption around the world or investigate how cultural beliefs can influence the way water is used, valued and managed. Students can investigate how we use water for the removal of wastes, including sewerage and then do a follow-up on how some communities use ocean outfall sewerage treatments which affect the marine environment by discarding human waste products. Middle and upper primary school students are able to participate in replication or simulation games where each plays a role in a water dispute, such as a share of the water in the Murray-Darling Basin.

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Water

Futures

It has been said that while oil may cause major wars, future wars may be over water. Major river systems that rise in one country and flow through others may cause tension when the country upstream decides to dam the river and restrict the flow downstream. The Mekong in south-east Asia is an example of this, as it flows through five different countries. Because of the rising world population, more people are dependent on the same finite amount of fresh water, as demonstrated by the major crises that occur when East African nations suffer from drought and people starve from the loss of their food crops.

Already nations are seeking urgent solutions to safeguard future water supplies. Many resources are being employed to produce fresh water from the sea and large expensive desalination plants are being constructed in coastal cities. Water restrictions are imposed on cities and towns to deliver a more efficient and conservative use of water. People are installing rainwater tanks in their homes for washing, toilets and gardens. Education programs are offered by environment organisations and local councils, and stormwater is being collected for golf courses, parks and gardens. All of these programs and other, more innovative ones such as cloud seeding will have to be planned for the future.

Some issues to be considered in future planning are that the mechanical energy of water can be harnessed to generate electricity, and that the infrastructure needed to supply a city or large town with water is expensive, costly to maintain and difficult to service communities in remote areas.

Students can come to appreciate that water harvesting technology has evolved over time, from the simple use of a bucket, to a well, a windmill through to damming a river with a complex pipe system. This raises issues concerning sustainable versus unsustainable choices. To develop a deeper understanding of these issues you may wish to construct a PMI chart for each form of water technology. A comparison could enable students to determine which form has the least impact on the environment, which is the most cost effective and which one is sustainable in the long term. You could also conduct cradle-to-grave explorations on a variety of products to track water inputs, outputs, effects and impacts on the environment (including social impacts) and then

discuss the likelihood of this being maintained in the future.

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Learning ExperiencesIntegration key — E = English, M = Maths, S = Science, H = History, G = Geography, A = Arts

Lower primary

environmental● Conduct a variety of investigative

experiments that demonstrate how water makes objects move (for example, water wheel, water from a hose on a paint roller) . Adjust flow to show variability of spinning speed (for example, on a propeller, toy boat on a current, surfboard and so on) .

● Investigate and track the journey water takes to reach our taps in the home and school .

● Explore and invent ways to harvest rainwater both at school and at home .

economic ● Investigate ways of saving or reducing

water use in the immediate environment (for example, turning taps off, fixing leaking pipes and taps) .

● Design and construct posters that persuade people to install rain tanks, or grow native gardens and other water conservation strategies .

● Compare a homegrown produce item to a processed item (for example, fresh tomato/tinned tomato, peaches/tinned peaches and so on) in terms of the amount of water and waste that is used in producing the item . Determine which method of production is a better way of conserving water .

Social ● Identify sources of water used in our

everyday lives .● Investigate what happens to a waterway

when it used by humans in a damaging manner (for example, use two fish tanks filled with water . Both represent a creek, river, dam or similar water body: add pollutants to one and leave the other clean and then compare) .

● List all the ways water is used in the local area and keep a rainfall record .

S, G, E

E, G, S

S, E, M

E, G, M

A, G

M, S, G

G, S, E

E, S, G, A

S, G, E

E, G

M, A, H

G, S, E

M, G, E

G, E


environmental● Conduct a cause and effect activity to

explore the consequences of losing a water supply from a river .

● Design and produce storyboards, videos, stop animation films, books, posters and billboards that illustrate the history of water technology from its rudimentary beginnings to the large scale storage systems of today .

● Examine the water cycle and suggest how nature is dependent on it .

— What happens if the cycle is interrupted, for example, rain is absent?

economic● Construct concept maps that record all the

ways water is used by people for example, drinking, farming, swimming, washing, sewerage, cooking, cleaning, gardening and so on . Investigate their economic implications .

● Explore how cities and towns get their drinking water . Visit a dam or water catchment authority if possible .

Social ● Investigate how water was gathered and

harvested in the past and compare it to present day methods .

● Gather data about a current situation relating to water including behavioural evidence of those interviewed .

H, G, E

M, S, E

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Water

Water Audit and Action Process

The water audit processes outlined on the following pages are best undertaken by middle and upper level primary students. However, with greater teacher support and guidance some aspects of the audit process can be carried out by lower primary students.

Conducting onsite water and stormwater audits

In order to carry out successful and meaningful water and stormwater audits it is most important that the principal, general assistant, after school care staff, canteen staff, cleaning staff and teaching staff are consulted during the planning phase well before the actual audit day.

The water audit involves turning off the school’s water supply at the mains in order to establish whether or not the school has an undetected leak. It needs to be turned off by the last person to leave the school at night, and for that person to record the water meter reading at that point in time. Often it is the after school care staff or the cleaners who are the last to leave the school grounds in the evening. Likewise, it is usually the cleaner or the general assistant who is the first person to arrive at the school in the morning. One of these staff members will have to record the morning water meter reading, and turn the main water supply back on. This process requires the entire school community to be informed and for everyone to have the water audit purpose and key steps of the process clearly explained to them. Taking the time to do this properly and thoroughly will ensure substantial community support to carry out the audit.




Water/Stormwater audit procedure equipment

1 Some equipment will be required for the water audits. Gather together and have students bring in the following:

satellite image map of the school site and surroundings

(highlighting waterways or water bodies if present)

waterproof dot stickers (5 cm diameter)

waterproof marker pens

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stopwatch

rubber gloves

buckets

old clothes

sun protection.

Water audit procedure

2 Explain the purpose and audit process to students.3 Obtain a base map and capture maps of the school. They should clearly

show all buildings and rooms in the school. (See Chapter 3 – Energy, page 37.)

4 Examine and discuss each map with the whole class using hard copies or scanned maps on the interactive whiteboard. Note a common starting point and direction (usually north) so that each map is systematically labelled and there is no doubling up of tap or drain numbering.

5 Develop a coding system with students, that clearly distinguishes between outside water fixtures and indoor water fixtures, for example:

A OST 3 stands for Building A, outside tap 3A RT 1 stands for Building A, rainwater tank 1A OSF 12 stands for Building A, outside fountain 12 and so on.

The letter (I) would be used to indicate indoor taps, fountains and so on, for example, A iT 1 stands for Building A indoor Tap 1. The key point here is to make sure that you work your way systematically through the school from the same starting point so that the numbering system remains in sequence and logical. A coding system becomes very useful when having to report and identify leaking water items, be it outdoors or indoors. Some schools prefer to use a metal engraver to code the tap which solves the problem of stickers being removed, fading with weathering or blown off the fixture by the wind.

Labelling water items

6 Once students have a clear understanding of the maps and coding system, complete the outside or grounds auditing as a whole class group.

7 Walk around the school using the base map with the whole class. Begin at the identified starting point and mark on the map all the water items in the school grounds (taps, drinking fountains, rainwater tanks and so on). Also mark where the water meter is located on the map.

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Water

8 Divide the class into indoor audit teams and allocate a map section to each team. Issue teams some of the waterproof dot stickers and have them record water items (taps and so on) on the map with crosses or dots, and write the identification code on the sticker. Have them place the coded sticker above each indoor water item as shown.

When all water items have been recorded and coded using the stickers, you could choose to engrave the water items and remove the stickers, so each water item is permanently engraved with its code identification.

Testing for leaks

9 Choose a day and afternoon time for example, 3.45 pm, to turn off every tap, drinking fountain, toilet cistern, shower and urinal. Make sure the entire school community is aware of the day and time this will occur. This is to test to see if the school has a leaking pipe somewhere.

10 When all the water items are turned off, make sure any after school care groups do the same. Ask someone to read the water meter at the end of the day, this might be at 6.30 pm when the last person leaves. An example of the water meter reading might be Monday, April 7, 6.30 pm: 0484.795.4 kL.

Outdoor tap with coded sticker .

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Black numbers measure kilolitres (kL – thousands of litres) . Red numbers measure fractions of kilolitres .The meter in the photograph is reading 484 kL + 795 L + 400 mL or 484 .795 .4 kL

11 Organise for the first person to arrive in the morning to read the water meter (this may be the general assistant). The recording might be Tuesday, April 8, 6.30 am: 0484.804.6 kL. As this reading is different to the reading taken the previous evening and all the mains water has been turned off, this would indicate that the school has a leaking water pipe or device. If the Tuesday morning reading was exactly the same as the Monday evening reading then this would indicate that there are no leaking water connections.

Measuring leaks

12 Using the coding system on the taps, have students measure the amount of leaking water from taps and other water items that are not working or leaking by placing a measuring jug under the drip. Students can use a stopwatch to record the water collected over a one minute period, and a 10-minute period.

Measuring water use

13 Have students work in pairs to take daily water meter readings at the same time for at least four weeks. You could record and save the information in a table on the interactive whiteboard and add to it every day. This will give students an idea of how much water the school uses.

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Water

14 Use all the collected data to calculate how much water the school uses on average, per day and per week using the water meter reading data. You could have students complete the calculations in their maths book. Extend the calculations to solve water lost from any leaking taps over an hour, day, week, month and year.

15 Have students calculate the cost, which can be ascertained by obtaining the cost per kilolitre from the school’s last water bill.


16 Display findings and examine results to determine where efficiency can be improved, and savings or changes in behaviour can be made. Have students display information using pictures, graphs, video and other appropriate forms of communication.

17 Invite experts, including the principal to examine the audit findings and suggest other efficiency and improvement strategies. Record data for each suggested solution or action using a retrieval chart. Consider the cost, difficulty of implementation, rules, laws, infrastructure needs or constraints, and so on.

18 Reflect on, evaluate and weigh up all proposed actions. Identify and examine the resources (including human resources) necessary to implement a proposed action while considering limiting factors.


19 As a class, decide upon which recommendations you would like to make for improving water efficiency in the school. These could include repairing any leaking water items, planting native plants and mulching the gardens to use less water, and installing retro-flush devices in toilets.

20 Prioritise action based on gathered information, and develop a time line for action implementation.

21 Prepare and communicate the case for change and action proposal using appropriate media and means to meet intended purpose. Students could create posters, visit other classrooms to discuss action and give presentations at an assembly.

22 Gain agreement, support and commitment by presenting it to those with authority and other stakeholders to support the action so that there is a big picture shared view of the planned course of action to bring about the desired change.

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24 Assess the degree of success of the action and the efficiency of the management system used by conducting follow-up surveys, questionnaires and comparative water audits to measure any improvements in attitudes, behaviours and water use.

25 On an ongoing basis, have students identify possible future directions to maintain, improve or streamline sustainable water action implementation.


A stormwater audit helps us to know what goes down our drains, into our creeks, lakes, lagoons

and oceans.

Stormwater Audit Procedure

1 Use a base map of the school and mark where all the stormwater drains are located. With the class, develop a drain identification code, for example, D1, D2, D3 and so on.

2 Ask the general assistant or a parent to assist on the audit day to lift off the drain grills for students.

3 Have students dress in some old clothes. Put them into small groups and create an audit team name. Allocate a drain to each team, and have them carefully inspect the drain contents using gloves, shovels and buckets.

4 Have students complete a survey of contents data sheet, recording the number of buckets of debris, contents breakdown as percentages of organic matter and other waste products in drain.

5 Collate and discuss results/findings using a large scale retrieval chart. For example:

Drain

D1D2D3D4D5

Team

Water WarriorsH 2 WhoaLiquid LightningHydroelectricSplashtastic

Number of buckets of debris

202 .50 .542

% Organic matter

100%100%70%99 .5%70%

% Litter

0%0%30%0 .5%30%

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Water

6 Investigate where the drains empty out their contents. The local council staff/education officer can assist schools with this information.

7 Where possible, take photos of the stormwater outlets and trace the pipe system back to the school drain system. Note what is in the pipe and what is coming out of and around the pipe. This helps students and members of the school community to see that the school site and everything that happens on their site is part of a bigger, wider catchment system.

8 Create a ‘best practice’ checklist with the class. Include questions about how outdoor surfaces are cleaned (are they hosed down or swept?), what happens to chemicals that are used on outdoor surfaces (are they washed away into the drains?), are stormwater drains are kept free of litter, leaves and dirt (is mesh fitted to keep debris out?) and so on. Have students form research teams and interview the principal, general assistant, all of the administration staff, teaching staff and students, cleaners, canteen staff, after school care staff and the parents and citizens committee using the checklist.


9 Collate data, display students’ findings and examine the results. Include the findings as part of the water audit presentation.

10 Develop a proposal for action and implementation proposal (stormwater) and include as part of the overall water action plan proposal.

Stormwater outlet .

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ChapTer 5 Waste Waste is anything left over or superfluous, as excess material or by-products. Waste occurs in different forms and can be known as rubbish, trash, refuse, garbage or junk. It consists of human unwanted or useless materials.

Systems

Some components of waste have economic value – they can be recycled, re-used or reduced. These are the three Rs of waste, but some people say there is one more R to consider – refused. This means, for example, deliberately choosing not to buy products that have unnecessary packaging, thus lessening the volume entering the waste stream. In other words ‘avoid’ it. The waste cycle can be presented as a hierarchical system with avoid or refuse at the top, then descending in order of priority to reduce, re-use, recycle to finally, the least desirable, deposited waste in landfill.

most favoured

least favoured

avoid or refuse

minimise or reduce

re-use

recycle

dispose

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Waste

A country’s capacity to support its population depends directly on its resource consumption, which includes the quantity of resources it needs for export and trade. Resources maintain our current standard of living, but also create the level of waste we produce. The more a country grows economically, the more waste it usually creates. This subsequently increases problems associated with waste disposal. The millions of tonnes of waste we send to landfill or for disposal into our environment every year serves as a concrete representation of our presently unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. The cradle-to-grave explorations conducted on any number of products (see Chapter 1) illustrate the system of resource use and waste generation associated with any given product. Waste can come in three forms: dry waste (solid), liquid waste and gaseous waste.

Most people do not consider where rubbish ends up once it is tossed into the bin or out on a curb-side clean-up. Does waste pose any problems? Or, does it just disappear from thought as it is being buried deep beneath the earth in excavated landfill sites? We rarely, if ever, ask ourselves if we can re-use what we are consuming. Could the packaging that the item comes in be recycled or managed in a better way? A linear process involves the extraction of raw materials, the manufacture of these materials into a desired product, followed by packaging and distribution to the consumer, and the disposal in a landfill site. It’s probable that most of us can see the potential for a water bottle to be recycled, but only to perceive it as being turned back into another bottle or perhaps a plastic container. Yet we now have the technology to transform the same plastic bottles into park benches and even clothing.

This is not what happens in nature or in natural cycles. All resources, elements, nutrients, products and by-products are returned to a system or the Earth, either as a solid, liquid or gas. They are then perpetually circulated in various forms in the biosphere so that there is no waste. There is no need for a waste management system in nature. Nature has its own efficient system already, using less energy and effort. Systems analysis also demonstrates that the Earth puts every element in its place: carbon is withdrawn from the atmosphere by plants and geological processes, and iron is removed from the ocean by plankton. Lead, mercury, zinc, uranium and a plethora of other elements have been safely locked away deep inside the Earth’s rocks. There are no waste products in natural systems, but human activities such as mining, burning coal and oil, clearing forests, dumping waste in landfills and sewerage

avoid or refuse

minimise or reduce

re-use

recycle

dispose

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into the ocean, is undoing the work of the Earth carried out over millions of years to sequester or safely store elements occurring in the biosphere.

When learning about waste as system, ensure that students understand that nothing in nature is wasted: all elements or materials are recycled and used again. Many of our waste products can be used again, or used in a different way or made into something else. Unfortunately materials that we cannot re-use or recycle contribute to our pollution problems. You can show the graphic impacts of waste to students by providing them with examples of extreme pollution, such as the waste mountains in Mumbai and Lima, the Citarum River in Indonesia and the plastic islands floating in our oceans. Upper primary students can also explore and research the process and effects of the bio-accumulation of elements such as lead, copper, uranium, silver, zinc, mercury, cadmium and arsenic found in products like anti-foulants on boat hulls, car batteries, mobile phones, electronic items, petrol, burning coal, fluorescent lights and batteries. Another system worth investigating is that of sulphur: it is present as a waste particle in the smoke emitted from a coal smoke stack, which then mixes with the water in the clouds to form sulphuric acid and falls back down on the Earth in the form of ‘acid rain’.

World View

The waste we generate from our high consumption habits is not the only waste our society produces. There is also the waste produced from our industrial sector including nuclear power generation, coal-fired power generation and fertiliser production, to name but a few. It is these big industrial producers that pose enormous problems for our society and the world to manage. We certainly can’t do without them at the moment but we need to minimise the problems they can cause. You only have to look at examples of the environmental, economic and social problems existing in places like Mumbai and Naples to discover the debilitating health issues poor waste management practices can cause. Those of us who are fortunate to be living in a developed, affluent nation rarely get to see, let alone experience, a life based on foraging through massive waste mounds to find discarded items for a minuscule financial return. Compounding the visual pollution, health and ecological problems caused by poor waste management practice is the fact that our landfill sites are responsible for emitting powerful greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide which exacerbate global warming.

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Waste

Electronic waste, or e-waste, is also a very big problem. In March 2010, the UN issued a new report on e-waste highlighting the problems caused by the mounting sales of mobile phones, PCs and other electronic appliances, especially in developing countries. The contents of these devices can be hazardous to human health as they are made from polyvinyl chloride plastic as an insulator, and include brominated flame retardants and chemicals used to laminate printed circuit boards. Most of these can be disposed of safely, but some countries have not made laws to ensure that happens. One of the dangers in the disposal of these e-wastes is the leaching of heavy metals such as zinc, cadmium and lead. This has dire consequences when it reaches a drinking water supply.

The ‘liveability’ or amenity of a community declines as levels of waste increase. Waste therefore needs to be disposed of in ways which minimise its negative impacts. Much of the waste humans produce is not biodegradable (or decomposable). Even with increased public awareness of waste issues and a greater level of general recycling in many countries, the level of waste production per capita is not declining. It is essential that education programs focused on waste do more than simply raise awareness of waste issues. They must contain a component for action.

In developing a world view perspective with students, you can emphasise that uncaring attitudes towards waste can affect the aesthetics of an area and pose health problems for humans and other living things. You can show that everyday products that become waste items were once raw materials extracted from the Earth, some of which have been changed by humans in a way that makes the material very difficult to break down. Plastics, polystyrene, e-waste and radioactive waste can remain as pollutants in the environment for hundreds to thousands of years.

Students can investigate and explore the need to minimise waste, and adopt systems that focus on reducing, re-using and recycling waste. They can also explore how animal vectors (for example, birds) transport disease and environmental problems right around the world from landfill sites and polluted waterways, illustrating our connectedness to all living things, geographic locations and physical systems. As a contrast they can examine case study stories of indigenous people from places such as Maralinga, Pine Gap and around the Montebello Islands.

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Futures

Taking the time to learn about the waste we generate as a society, its impacts and how we manage it can be an eye-opening experience for students. The problem with waste is that out-of-sight, out-of-mind waste management practices of having the council collect weekly rubbish from the bin by a garbage truck means we give little thought to our responsibility in managing our waste in more ecologically efficient ways. This includes bad habits such as disposing of liquid and sometimes solid wastes down our drains. Not only is it important to learn how to separate and manage our waste in an ecologically responsible manner, students can learn about why we need to. Developing a more conscious attitude towards the waste we produce and what is done with it is essential. A change in waste disposal methods can help to restore biodiversity and improve the quality of our land, air and water. Waste management issues have local and global consequences, many of which we know little or nothing about. This is one reason we need to prepare for the future, ensuring that generations to come do not suffer illnesses caused by the toxic waste created by past actions.

In promoting a futures perspective with students, you can show that various forms of technology are being used to recycle and re-use many products that were once considered to be waste, and illustrate how biodegradable products are made from materials that will decompose in the environment. Students can predict how products will be designed to be recyclable and re-useable in the future. Students can also investigate how technology has influenced the increase in our waste.

Students can explore the history of packaging, the technology used and the development of waste disposal methods. If possible, you could arrange a visit to a bio-fuel site such as a landfill area that captures the methane gas produced and burns it to generate electricity. Alternatively, you could invite chemical engineers and other experts to talk to your students about various methods for dealing with waste management issues, such as leachate from landfill sites, or removal of heavy metals from soil on contaminated sites. Students can also investigate the technology and resources needed for recycling a variety of products.

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Lower primary

environmental● Conduct waste deterioration experiments

on litter items found in the playground to compare the breakdown rates of waste items such as organic/compostable items, plastics, metals, rubber, glass, polystyrene and so on . (These experiments need to be left out in the open for at least a month to expose the materials to the elements and wildlife . Birds and ants for example will quickly dispose of food scraps and this is a powerful indicator for students to see how nature interacts with discarded items .)

● Examine the impacts of litter, carelessly discarded waste and other pollutants on our ecosystem .

● Write stories from the point of view of an animal affected by pollution .

economic● Investigate a waste item such as a plastic

bag . Track its life from the supermarket to where it ends up, either in a landfill site or in our oceans . Produce a report about the bag and its impact on the environment .

● Investigate the recycling of a variety of products to establish what they are transformed into, for example, car tyres made into park benches or offshore reefs, plastic bottles made into furniture or nylon shirts . Arrange findings and examples as a display .

● Visit a local council waste management depot .

Social● Using digital cameras, construct a before

and after photo display of areas in the playground that contained litter and then had the litter removed . Display with caption questions such as ‘Which playground would you rather play in?’

● Get students to examine and compare the contents of their lunch box to classify their lunch products into organic/compostable waste, recyclable and general or avoid waste (that is, materials that can’t be recycled or re-used) .

S, G, E

E, S, G

A, E

A, M, G, E

A, E, G

G, S, E

A, M, E

G, S, E

E, S, G

G, S, H, E

H, G, S

G, S, E, M

G, S

G, S

E, M

G, S, E

E, G, S


environmental● Study the closed-loop processing of

elements in cycles in nature (for example, carbon cycle, decomposition of a dead animal or tree log, Earth’s production of crude oil, coal and natural gas) .

● Read pollution case studies where the effects of particular pollutants can be seen and understood (for example, the backward-walking cats of Minamata Bay in Japan due to mercury poisoning) .

● Explore the history of waste disposal including repositories such as middens and investigate the acidification of our oceans and its impact on coral reefs and shellfish .

economic● Conduct cradle-to-grave analyses and note

their cumulative impact (for example, one motor car’s emissions multiplied by millions overall) .

● Examine waste disposal and pollution issues around the world and how they impact on the local and global environments .

● Explore the costs (environmental, economic and social) involved in disposing of various waste items including the need for waste levies .

Social● Conduct surveys and questionnaires to

establish our attitudes, thoughts and ideas about waste .

● Investigate what happens to our rubbish once we have placed it in the bin by watching documentaries, visiting waste depots and reading information .

● Explain and explore the ‘not in my backyard’ (NIMBY) viewpoint in relation to contentious issues such as nuclear waste and carbon geo-sequestration .

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Waste Audit and Action Process

The waste audit process outlined on the following pages is best undertaken by middle and upper level primary students. However, with greater teacher support and guidance some aspects of the audit process can be carried out by lower primary students.

Conducting an onsite waste audit

In order to conduct a successful waste audit, all bins should not be emptied for an entire day. Both indoor and outdoor bins should be collected and locked up overnight. You will need to meet with all participants, including the principal and cleaners to inform them of the process and what will be required of them.

You will also need to arrange for notes to be sent home to parents and the school community, explaining the purpose and process of the waste audit. The notes should include important information such as the need for participating students to wear old clothes, thick rubber gloves, protective shoes and to bring along a pair of tongs for sorting through the rubbish.




Waste audit procedure equipment

1 Some equipment will be required for the waste audit. Gather together and have students bring in the following:

old clothes thick rubber gloves protective shoes tongs stickers to label the bins large tarpaulins (to empty the bins upon) scales (for every audit station)

buckets (at every audit station for each waste category).

Labelling the bins

2 Obtain a base map of the school. It should clearly show all the buildings and rooms in the school. (See Chapter 3 – Energy, page 37.)

3 Examine and discuss the map with the whole class, using hard copies or scanned maps on an interactive whiteboard.

4 Have students label all the bins in the school with stickers describing their

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Waste

location and identification. This must be done for all indoor and outdoor bins.

5 Mark all bin locations on the map including on-site dumpsters.

Waste audit procedure

6 On the day before the audit – make sure this is a day that generates canteen rubbish (some canteens only operate a few days a week) – ensure that the contents of all the bins are not emptied. At the end of the school day, collect every bin and lock them up overnight in preparation for the audit the next day.

Waste sorting record sheets

7 Have students create waste record sheets in books or using software, to record the contents of each bin, for example:

Area: Office and staffroom

Area: Classrooms

Audit stations

8 On the audit day, set up the audit stations in a suitable location. Each station should have:

1 large tarpaulin (preferably close to a tap or hose for washing down on grass)

1 set of scales set of waste recording sheets with clipboard and pencil set of buckets, one for each waste sorting category (seven buckets

per station).

9 Organise students into audit teams, no larger than a group of six students per team and station.


10 Distribute the indoor and outdoor bins equally as much as possible across the audit stations.

11 Have students empty out one bin at a time onto the tarpaulin, ensuring that its location and identification has been recorded on the sheet.

Bin No . Compost paper Glass plastic Cans Cartons avoidLocation kg buckets kg buckets kg buckets kg buckets kg buckets kg buckets kg buckets

Bin No . Compost paper Glass plastic Cans Cartons avoidLocation kg buckets kg buckets kg buckets kg buckets kg buckets kg buckets kg buckets©


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12 Explain and perhaps demonstrate to students how to sort, weigh and record the contents of each bin according to each category (compost, glass, plastic, paper, cans, cartons and avoid/waste).

13 Have students continue to empty each bin, sort, weigh and record its contents on the record sheets, until all allocated bins have been audited.

14 Assist students to clean-up and clear the area.

Analysing the information

15 After the audit, as a class you can collate, discuss and display results using graphs and tables using various forms of technology. Students could make pie graphs to show the amount of waste by weight and volume, for example:

16 Now students can extend the figures and calculate estimates for the volume and weight of waste per week, per term and per year.


17 Students can use these findings and other supporting data to formulate a case for change to better manage and minimise waste. Encourage students to propose reasons with evidence to advocate a case for change which will include the recognition of the views, values and interests of all stakeholder groups.

Waste by weight

Category Order by weight (kg)compost 88 .10plastic 63 .45paper 60 .60avoid 31 .50cartons 4 .95cans 2 .06glass 0 .00

Waste by volume

Category Number of bucketspaper 76 .5plastic 54avoid 26 .5compost 26cartons 6 .25cans 4 .25glass 0 .00

cartons 2%

avoid 13%

paper 24%

plastic 25%

compost 35%

cans 1%

cartons

2%

avoid

13%

paper

24%

plas4c

25%

compost

35%

cans

1%

cartons

avoid

paper

plas4c

compost

cans

paper 40%

plastic 28%

avoid 14%

compost 13%

cartons 3%

cans 2%

paper

40%

plas+c

28%

avoid

14%

compost

13%

cartons

3%

cans

2%

paper

plas+c

avoid

compost

cartons

cans

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Waste

18 Students could interview the principal, grounds maintenance, office, teaching and cleaning staff on ways to better manage waste.

19 Assist students to devise systems across the whole school to reduce and manage waste more efficiently, responsibly and safely. Students could create posters to raise awareness about recyclable materials, encourage fellow students to carry lunch in re-useable containers or create a school compost heap for green waste.

20 As a class, identify and examine the resources (including human resources) necessary for implementing your proposed action. This may involve identifying constraints such as time, money, a lack of expertise, legal requirements and other limiting factors that may hinder the implementation of your proposed action.


21 Have students prioritise action, after considering the gathered information and developing a time line for implementation.

22 Prepare and communicate the case for change and action proposal using appropriate media and means to meet the intended purpose. Students could create posters, visit other classrooms to discuss action and give presentations at an assembly.

23 Gain agreement, support and commitment by presenting it to those with authority and other stakeholders to support the action so that there is a big picture shared view of the planned course of action to bring about the desired change.


24 Begin the implementation of your proposed action in accordance with the time line set up in step 21. Delegate responsibilities for different measures to the relevant school community members.


25 With the class, assess the degree of success of the action and the efficiency of the management system used by conducting follow-up surveys, questionnaires and comparative audits to measure any improvements in attitudes, behaviours and resource use.

26 On an ongoing basis, have students identify possible future directions to maintain, improve or streamline sustainable waste action implementation.


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ChapTer 6 Biodiversity Biodiversity is the immense variety of living plants, animals and microorganisms within an ecosystem. Biodiversity is also a measure of an ecosystem’s health. It is a word incorporating two ideas: ‘bio’ meaning living, and ‘diversity’ meaning variety.

Systems

A systems approach to biodiversity involves looking at connections and relationships between plants, soil, climate and all living things including humans. One way to learn about biodiversity is to go walking in the bush or forest, or even simply a natural environment like a backyard garden. Biodiversity can entail simply appreciating the natural world and getting satisfaction, peace and inspiration from it. When you go walking in a natural environment, you can be astounded by scenic panoramas, the scent of clean, fresh air and the chance of spotting some unique and colourful wildlife.

The feeling of invigoration and an uplifted spirit would be very different however, if that same walk was taken in a plantation pine forest where every tree is the same. The pine needles drop to the forest floor, forming a springy, stringy, brown carpet mass that is too acidic for any other plant to grow. As a consequence, you rarely see or hear a variety of wildlife in this type of plantation. There is little or no food source for larger organisms to feed on due to a lack of plant variety, and no lower layer of shrubs because very little light penetrates through the clumped, tangled mass of pine fronds. Plantation forests are sometimes referred to as being ‘as biodiverse as a car park’, because very few other organisms live in such a homogenous habitat.

Like all systems, biodiversity is a network of connected and interconnected natural and built parts of an ecosystem. We as humans are a part of that system and if one connection is broken it inevitably leads to a breakdown of other parts within it or even the whole system itself. Removing vegetation from a system, for example, may lead to a reduction in certain animal species, because they will have lost their habitat. Greater biodiversity implies greater health. Biodiversity asks us to consider three interconnected levels: species diversity, ecosystem diversity and genetic diversity (or genetic pool). It encompasses the vast array of different plants, animals and microorganisms,

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Biodiversity

the genetic information they hold and the ecosystems they build, all emphasising the connectedness and interconnectedness of the living world.

This vast, intricate web of plants, animals and microorganisms is the very foundation on which we all survive. The services delivered by biodiverse ecosystems include pollination, soil production and protection, pest control, replenishment of water, storage and the circulation of essential nutrients, such as elements like carbon. The carbon cycle is a classic example of a system with connections between vegetation, the ocean, the atmosphere, fossil fuels, dissolved organic carbon, marine animals and soils, all powered by the sun.

Plants generate our oxygen-rich atmosphere and help to remove carbon dioxide through the process of photosynthesis which depends on the sun’s energy. This process provides the basis for every single food chain in any given ecosystem. Even the decaying of dead materials, such as the rotting carcass of a dead animal or the decomposition of a plant, provides for life in the system. As other living organisms feed on a carcass or a plant they break them down into useful nutrients and elements to make extra soil. In this replenished soil new plants can grow, thus completing the cycle of a life loop.

When a rapid environmental change occurs, there are usually extinctions of plants and animals as a consequence. Some scientists tell us that only one per cent of the species that have ever existed on Earth are still with us today. We also know that since life began on Earth there have been five major mass extinctions and several minor events that have led to large and sudden drops in biodiversity.

The current global extinction rates and patterns threaten not only individual species, but entire ecosystems, as is the case with top order predators such as sharks, polar bears, whales and tigers, to name but a few. Human beings are the highest predator on the food chain. Scientists estimate that approximately 50 000 species are driven to extinction every year. Prominent scientists like Dr Tim Flannery suggest that if we (the human race) continue as we are, within this century we stand to risk exterminating up to six out of every ten living species. While we as a species won’t become extinct ourselves, our lives collectively and individually would be likely to suffer greatly. The loss of small invertebrates such as krill or termites would result in a disastrous collapse of both the marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and ultimately catastrophic consequences for human society.

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Actions such as planting out huge tracts of land with a single species of plant, alter drastically the ecosystem relationships between species in that area. This is most commonly in the form of planting crops like wheat, rice, coffee, canola and other cash varieties on a large scale, where biodiversity is significantly reduced due to the dominant presence of a single plant type. This is done because in the short term we need to produce high yielding food crops cheaply and efficiently for our growing population, but in time we may be forced to modify our methods or find other ways to feed ourselves. Some people have suggested we could grow food using a system known as permaculture: where farmers or gardeners first noticed that plants naturally group themselves together into communities that support each other.

Lower primary students can come to appreciate that healthy, resilient habitats are made up of a variety of plants and animals. They can learn that an ecosystem with only one species has a very limited biodiversity, rendering it susceptible to a systems collapse when events occur such as the spread of a plant disease. They are able to see connections and agree that ecosystems are worth saving. Above all, they may soon realise that humans can be the biggest threat to biodiversity through their land clearing, release of feral species, use of pesticides, pollution and expanding urban development.

Middle and upper primary students can begin to see the importance of transpiration and photosynthesis as vital processes in supporting life. They come to realise that ecosystems which contain the greatest variety of plants and animals are often the most stable, resilient and adaptable, and influence the types of animals living in the habitat they provide. Fauna communities will ultimately be determined by vegetation in the area and the climatic conditions that accompany it.

World View

Biodiversity is an integral part of our global market economic system. Worldwide it is estimated that the environment returns approximately US$33 trillion in goods (food, fuels and pharmaceuticals) and services.

The services provided by ecosystems are provided free through pollination, air production and soil formation, all occurring relatively unnoticed by most people and to a large extent undervalued. Their value is often only recognised when they have become damaged in some way, for example, the severe salinity problems, erosion and loss of productive agricultural land, due to land

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Biodiversity

clearing in the Murray-Darling Basin region of Australia. Land degradation in Australia directly costs hundreds of millions of dollars annually and is extremely difficult to remedy. It is much harder to reconstruct or repair an ecosystem than it is to destroy it.

Biodiversity based industries such as fisheries and agriculture make a significant contribution to the Australian and New Zealand economies. The value of commercial fisheries in New Zealand has passed NZ$4 billion. The Murray-Darling Basin’s rivers, wetlands and flood plains provide approximately $AU187 billion in ecosystem services annually and this region produces two-thirds of Australia’s food. Australian and New Zealand terrestrial ecosystems are estimated to contribute hundreds of billions per year to their economies.

Biodiversity, as well as being aesthetically pleasing, is also a vital contributor to the world economy. Unfortunately, the environment is often pitted against the economy or job losses through heated debates about environmental and sustainability issues. Some examples where such debates occur are carbon taxing, emission trading, water allocations to irrigation farmers, old growth forest preservation (such as the Tasmanian pulp mill in the Tamar Valley), damming rivers for hydroelectric schemes and nuclear energy, to name but a few.

Lower primary students are soon able to understand that everything comes from the Earth and that we all depend on the natural environment to meet our needs. In our modern society, middle and upper primary students see that if we clear vast amounts of land to build our cities, grow our food, graze our livestock, mine for minerals and harvest our timber, that all of these activities have a detrimental impact on biodiversity if we choose to use unsustainable and inefficient practices. Through studying various examples and case studies they can see that human beings have changed the natural world over time.

Futures

Convincing everyone of the importance of biodiversity is one of the biggest challenges of this century. The issue in many cases will be to deal with today’s problems before they become major disasters for the future. The future of our food supply, world health, climate and the existence of leisure and wilderness areas, are all matters to be considered today to ensure we have a more sustainable and guaranteed lifestyle in the future. While it is necessary to understand that as populations grow we must plan the development

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of city and urban landscapes, we also must appreciate that we have often fragmented many natural habitats and reduced regional biodiversity. Hunting methods over time have evolved from simple means to sophisticated, large scale technological efforts, meaning we can kill and harvest more animals in a shorter period of time for our food. With modern trawling nets we can catch greater fish numbers in one night, but we must consider the ability of the reduced number of remaining fish to be able to reproduce sufficient offspring for our future food supplies.

When adopting a futures approach, you may find it useful to ask your students to explore and investigate a simple range of habitats like a forest or perhaps a marine, pond, freshwater stream or rock pool habitat. Students can make connections between the life forms that are associated with each one of these. You can also conduct a simple plant survey of the school vegetable gardens, the community gardens and playground and then carry out a simple invertebrate survey for each habitat. Students will then be able to compare results and draw conclusions from them. Students often develop a deeper understanding of these links by constructing a giant picture collage of all the different types of industry in their country. They can then write comments about the benefits in one colour and the disadvantages in another, for example, mining gives us aluminium to make soft drink cans (colour blue), mining could destroy the homes of many different animals if not managed carefully (colour red).

Another activity is to invite grandparents and other elders to talk about their favourite childhood activities, such as catching tadpoles, fishing without limits, picking wildflowers, collecting and catching marine organisms from rock pools and so on. Compare these activities to the rules and regulations found on signage in and around national parks, beaches, estuaries and other natural areas today. Ask your students to pose reasons for the enforcement of protection rules. Visits to the zoo will reinforce these conservation values.

Finally, you can always invite experts to talk about conservation practices and things we can do as individuals to help maintain, restore or preserve biodiversity. By looking at the recent past and understanding what has happened to ecosystems and biodiversity, we are in a good position to learn how we can ensure that we have healthy ecosystems in the future.

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Lower primary

environmental● Investigate the important role insects play

in pollinating fruit trees, controlling pests, producing nutrient rich soil (worm farming) and indicating the season (for example, hearing cicadas in summer) . Link these ideas to the production of our food .

● Read and explore the concepts contained within books such as Jeannie Baker’s picture book, Where the Forest Meets the Sea .

● Compare photographic images of landscapes taken over a period of time and describe changes to the ecosystems . Look at the changes in vegetation, the growth of towns, the building of roads, the loss of animals and so on . Draw the scene highlighting the main changes and what has happened to the natural environment .

economic ● Do a fieldwork study of the noxious weeds in

your school and ask: – How did they first arrive in Australia or New Zealand?– How do they disperse their seeds?– How do they affect our food crops?

● Investigate the range of products humans obtain for their daily use and examine their impacts on ecosystems, for example, medicines from very sensitive habitats such as rainforests and oceans, or palm oil for food processing and soap .

● Trace the production path of a product you use every day and note its cost to the environment and economy .

Social● Read books like Jeannie Baker’s Window,

which tells the story of changes in an area over a number of generations . Discuss the changes and relate them to the local area .

● Plan a community garden choosing indigenous plants and vegetables .

S, G, E

E, G, S

H, G, M, A

G, E, S, H

S, G, E

G, S, E, A

E, S, H

G, M, S

E, G

G, S, E

G, M, S, E

H, G, E, M

H, G, S

G, E, S

H, E, G

S, E, A, G


environmental● Conduct a cause and effect activity to

explore the consequences of removing vegetation from a natural forest .

● Investigate and examine several case studies of environmental disasters . Compare the problems faced, the impacts on the environment, the people, the steps taken to solve the issues and what the long term effects are, if any, for other living things .

● Learn how to use an ecological footprint calculator to determine your lifestyle’s impact on the Earth and discover the resources required to sustain that lifestyle . Ecological footprint calculators are available online (for example, www .powerhousemuseum .com/online/bigfoot) .

economic● Investigate a range of case studies that

focus on biodiversity issues and explore the social and economic considerations they present using PMI charts or Venn diagrams, for example, water and the fragmentation of habitat, the introduction of the prickly pear cactus, rabbits or other feral species to Australia and New Zealand .

● Examine the impacts of British colonisation on the Australian and New Zealand ecosystems (for example, the introduction of European farming techniques, the consequences of logging for the timber industry) .

● Invite experts to talk about their job responsibilities, and how their work contributes to achieving a sustainable future .

Social● Examine and compare how indigenous

cultures used the lands on which they lived .● Imagine, design and propose a sustainable

city for the future that has been constructed in ways that preserve and conserve biodiversity . – What would it look like? – What would the buildings be made of? – How would people live and work in a sustainable city?

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Biodiversity Audits and Action Process

Have students conduct a biodiversity audit to establish the composition of flora and fauna species in the indigenous habitat. There are five separate major biodiversity surveys that you can conduct with your students:

a bird survey

an invertebrate survey

a weed survey

a surface survey

a habitat survey.

Before beginning any of the audits, students should first make a case for change for better biodiversity in your school. When meeting with the principal, staff and parents, they should outline the purpose of the audits, who is to be involved, the data collection required, the plan for a time line, how to report the findings, the resources required, the setting of dates for follow-up meetings and answer any questions that may be raised by those attending the meetings.

TiP: If possible, take digital photographs and video all through the audit processes of students



Conducting an on-site bird survey

1 With the class find, or create a bird identification chart for bird species endemic to your district. Information about bird species found in your locality may be obtained from the local council, an environmental education centre, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, or failing that, you can use software to produce your own bird identification chart. Use scanned photos from field guides or digital photos of observed birds taken in the playground. Make sure that it includes native and introduced bird species, and features all the birds known to your district, including nocturnal birds such as owls. After you have found or made your own chart, print it and distribute a number of laminated copies to students conducting the survey.

Bird survey recording sheets

2 Have students create a bird recording sheet to record direct sightings or evidence three times per day, AM, noon and PM, over a one-month period.

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Biodiversity

For example:

Behaviour/habitat notes(for example, perching, hiding, feeding, nesting, sleeping, aggressive, mating, flying and so on)

Status: N = Native; I = Introduced

evidence: D = direct sighting; E = evidence observed (scratch marks, feathers, droppings, nests, feeding evidence)

Bird survey recording sheet

Observation team _____________________________ Map area/zone _______________________________

Date _____________________

Time aM noon pM

Bird species evidence Tally Status

3 Using an aerial photo or large scale map, divide the school grounds into different research zones and observation areas. Clearly signpost the zones, so that everyone in the school knows what is happening and what its purpose is. (Note: Keep the zones the same for each survey of the biodiversity audit.)

4 Have students work in pairs and assign them a single observation area or zone. Each observation team will need a clipboard, three survey data recording sheets (one for AM, one for noon and one for PM sightings) plus ideally (but not mandatory) binoculars and a digital camera.

A ten-minute observation session is adequate. Explain to students that they will observe more activity if they are extremely quiet, patient and hidden from the birds’ view as much as possible (for example, observing from behind the cover of a shrub).

Conducting an on-site invertebrate survey

Invertebrates are the staple diet of many bird species and an important indicator as to the health of the habitat.

This survey can involve the whole school. The more invertebrate traps that are set, the better the information that can be gathered and the more school ground that can be covered.

This audit involves collecting insects for observation. Make sure students do not handle the insects

they trap, in case of stings and bites.

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Constructing invertebrate traps

1 Have students work in pairs to construct invertebrate traps. These can be made by using plastic meat tray containers. Using Blu-Tack, stick a wooden or plastic block in each corner of the tray. Attach a plastic bag cover with Blu-Tack to the top of each block (to prevent animals drowning in wet weather). Place food stuffs in the trap to attract invertebrates, for example, meat or fruit. Alternatively, you could use a large plastic soft drink bottle with the top cut off and inverted into the base to make a pit-fall trap.

Identifying invertebrates

2 It is much easier for students to identify the invertebrates they trap if they first become familiar with those they might find. Use field guides relevant to your local area and online resources to help students recognise different species (for example, www.bugwise.net.au or www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biosystematics/invertebrates/invertid).

Invertebrate survey recording sheet

3 Create (or have students create) a recording sheet with invertebrates from your area. If possible, include small diagrams of each invertebrate. Here is an example:

Date ________________ Survey zone _____________________________________

mayflyspidercentipedeaphidmitecockroachbutterflymoththripspringtailstick insectother

Invertebrate Tally Total Invertebrate Tally Totalantbeemosquitograsshopperfleadragonflywormcaddisflypraying mantisleafhoppersawflylacewing

4 To manage large numbers, a scale is necessary. For example, insects such as ants can reach counts in excess of hundreds, so the following scale assists students to work with abundant sightings:

O = Occasional: 1–5 F = Frequent: 5–20 A= Abundant: 20+

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Biodiversity

Planning the survey area

5 Using an aerial photo or large scale map, determine where the traps are to be laid and ensure that there is good coverage of the total area being investigated: not too many traps close together or classes on top of each other. The idea is to get an even coverage of the school grounds as much as possible. This is something you could calculate with your class as a mathematics exercise. Each class in the school can be allocated a zone or observation area.

6 Once the traps have been constructed and everyone is sure of their survey area, an afternoon must be selected for the setting of the traps. This should be done at the same time on the same day by everyone, preferably in the afternoon so that invertebrates can be trapped from the end of a day, overnight and early the next morning before the traps are examined.

Setting the traps

7 Have students set their traps by using a trowel to dig a shallow hole for the trap to sit in (in their allocated location). Then, they must backfill the soil so that the sides of the trap are level with the ground or soil layer. Ensure that everyone understands the traps must be dug in and set flush with the soil level. The trap works by catching the invertebrates as they move along the ground then fall into the trap. If the trap is set above the soil level then you are less likely to trap anything, as the invertebrates will not crawl up and over the plastic sides of the trap.


8 Have the audit teams check their traps the following morning and record their findings using the invertebrate survey recording sheets. They may require some assistance identifying invertebrates.

9 Once the traps have been checked and their contents recorded, instruct students to remove the traps, carefully release the invertebrates and fill in the holes with soil and leaf litter cover.

Gathering further data

10 Another method for surveying invertebrates that can be used in conjunction with the ground traps is the technique known as a ‘leaf shake’. Have students work in groups of five, to hold a white sheet 2 m x 2 m beneath a shrub. One student needs to vigorously shake the shrub above the sheet to dislodge the invertebrates hiding in the shrub canopy. The white sheet makes the bugs easy to see. Students can then place the sheet on the ground and observe their sample. Magnifying

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glasses are a useful tool for students to use during this activity. Students can record their findings using the invertebrate survey recording sheet.

Collating the data

11 Gather all the recording sheets and collate the data, so that findings can be analysed, displayed and reports presented. This might be completed by a few classes or audit teams allocated within a class. For example, if the school grounds were divided into portions of a third, such as the front, middle and back of the school, an individual class might collate the data for a particular zone then report on their findings to the wider group before combining their results to form the overall big picture of the school. How the findings are to be reported and displayed can be negotiated and discussed with the participating groups. Your class might publish graphs of results, for example:

Invertebrate audit results—front third of school as percentages

When combined with other components of the biodiversity audit such as the weed survey, findings

might arise such as that a high number of invertebrate pest species occurs in the same zone with the

highest rating of weed species. A correlation such as this could lead to the action of targeting this

zone to remove the weeds which would in turn reduce the presence of ticks, flies and mosquitoes and

encourage the return of native vegetation which may deter the presence of pest species.

Conducting an on-site weed survey

Weeds and pest animals in natural habitats are recognised as the second greatest cause of biodiversity decline after habitat destruction. Some native plants not endemic to an area can also be weeds (for example, some wattles).

Weeds compete with indigenous plants for space, light, nutrients and other resources. In some cases they completely replace indigenous plant

worms 11.24%

ground hoppers 4.60%

millipedes 3.32%

slaters 4.98%

spiders 9.07%

tick mites 6.64%

larvae 4.60%

beetles 5.24%

ants 50.32%

worms

11%

ground hoppers

5%

millipedes

3%

slaters

5%

spiders

9%

7ck mites

7% larvae

5% beetles

5%

ants

50%

worms

ground hoppers

millipedes

slaters

spiders

7ck mites

larvae

beetles

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Biodiversity

communities, add toxins to the soil and water supply, and often provide food and shelter for pest animals. Weeds can also alter fire patterns and conditions by increasing the fuel load and burning at a greater intensity than indigenous species.

For this survey, students will need a number of coloured ribbons or tags to mark invasive species as they conduct the audit.

Identifying weeds

1 With the class, find or create a weed identification chart for weeds endemic to your district. Information about weeds found in your locality may be obtained from the local council, an environmental education centre, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, or failing that, you can use software to produce your own weed identification chart. Use scanned photos from field guides or digital photos of weeds taken in the playground. Make sure that it features all the weeds known to your district and includes any indigenous plants that are invasive. After you have found or made your own chart, print it and distribute a number of laminated copies to students conducting the survey.

Planning the survey

2 Use a map of the school with zones or audit areas marked. Ensure they match the bird, invertebrate and habitat surveys.

3 Divide the class into audit teams and provide each team with a map that has a 1 cm grid overlay. Provide students with coloured pencils, coloured marker ribbons and a copy of the weed or invasive plant species identification chart.

4 As a class, create a colour code for each invasive species on the chart. Students could stick a coloured marker next to each name and picture.


5 Have the teams move through the audit zone from east to west, tagging weeds observed in the location with marker ribbons.

6 Use quadrats to determine the percentage cover of weeds in a selected space. A quadrat is a square or rectangular area of vegetation, selected at random for the study of the plants, which are regarded as typical of the surrounding area. Usually your quadrat will be 3 m x 4 m, but if it is a small area 1 m x 1 m quadrats are appropriate.

7 Have students count the number of each species present in the quadrat.

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lantana 12

camphor laurel 10

ochna 29

cassia 44

farmer’s friend 18450

arrowhead 5535

fishbone fern 15480

asparagus fern 7740

climbing asparagus 1680

trad 3870

12 10 29 44 0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

20000

Type of weed

We

ed

po

pu

lati

on

An abundance scale may need to be used, for example:O = Occasional: 1–5 F = Frequent: 5–20 A = Abundant: 20+

Collating the data

8 Instruct students to use the matching colour pencil to mark the weed presence on the map zone.

9 Students can create a more formal representation once all the data has been collated, like a bar graph, for example:

The graphical information and the findings for every zone in the school will build up an overall picture of your school.

Conducting an on-site surface survey

This aspect of the biodiversity audit is used to determine the type of surface coverings contained within the school grounds and the percentage cover of each type. This exercise provides data for future planning for actions such as restoring native bushland areas, establishing vegetable gardens, reducing paved/tarred areas and so on.1 Using a 1 cm grid overlay on a school map, develop a surface covering key

with the class by colour coding each type of surface.2 Tell students to move through the school, recording the surface coverings

by shading accordingly on the map.

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Biodiversity

3 Have students calculate the percentage of covering by counting the shaded portion divided by total of squares covering the area and multiplying by 100. Your results may look like the following:hard surfaces 13.29%

school buildings 13.75%

grassed areas 52.04%

bushland areas 19.11%

gardens 1.81%

Conducting an on-site habitat survey

This part of the biodiversity audit is used to determine the health of the school grounds and the provision of the grounds to host a variety of habitats for living things. Remember, when an area is dominated by a singular plant species, it significantly reduces the variety of other living organisms that can inhabit that area.1 Use the same map system that you have used for the other areas of the

biodiversity audits.2 Have students work in teams and allocate a zone of the school ground to

each team. Tell students to observe and rate the vegetation characteristics of their zone or observation area using a habitat survey recording sheet. Create a scoring system for students to use when rating the area, for example:

audit team __________________________ Zone/Observation area _________________Date _________________________Scoring: 0 = none 1 = one or two 2 = few 3 = quite a few 4 = lots

Total Score

ground covers (not lawn) score

trees score

ponds or water score

leaf litter or mulch score

shrubs score

flowering shrubs score

rocks or fallen logs score

plant layers score

tree hollows or nest boxes score


1 Display students’ findings and examine the results. Have students determine where biodiversity can be improved, maintained and restored. Actions to increase and maintain biodiversity in the school could include, seed clipping during spring, the physical removal of prevalent weeds,

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establishing a local indigenous seed propagating system, or converting a portion of hard surface area into a garden.

2 Assess each one using criteria that consider cost, time, human resources, infrastructure needs, local council rules and regulations, likelihood of compliance by stakeholders and other identified criteria. Then, you can agree on a set or course of actions in order of priority with a time line.


3 As a class, decide which recommendations you would like to make for improving and maintaining biodiversity in the school. One of the actions proposed might be to plant an indigenous or native shrub layer in the school grounds, or to encourage students not to leave food scraps on the ground in order to reduce the presence of pigeons and other pests.

4 Together, prioritise action based on the gathered information. On the interactive whiteboard, develop a time line for action implementation.

5 Assist students to prepare and communicate the case for change and an action proposal using appropriate media.

6 Gain agreement, support and commitment for the proposal by presenting it to stakeholders and those with authority. Wide support will result in a big picture shared view of the planned course of action to bring about the desired change.




8 On completion of your project, you can then assess the degree of success of the action and the efficiency of the management system by conducting follow-up surveys, questionnaires and comparative audits to measure any improvements in attitudes and behaviours, and the use of resources.

9 On an ongoing basis, have students identify possible future directions to maintain, improve or streamline sustainable biodiversity action implementation.


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Masterclass

MacMillan

www.macmillan.com.au

Implementing the Australian Curriculum

Also available:

Macmillan Masterclass Interactive Whiteboards with CD by Peter Kent ISBN 978 1 4202 6500 2

Macmillan Masterclass Learning with ICT by Peter Kent ISBN 978 1 4202 6883 6

Masterclass

MacMillan


What does sustainability really mean?Why has education for sustainability become so significant? How does sustainability relate directly to all Learning Areas?

With this guide in hand you will be able to answer these questions, and implement teaching for sustainability at the classroom as well as the whole school level.

Within the book you will find: How to track the life of a product from cradle to grave Breakdown of inquiry based learning and the action process Tips for teaching sustainability to students at different levels Learning experiences for the concept organisers: systems, world view

and futures Cross-curricular learning experiences for environmental, economic

and social components of sustainability Topic chapters (Energy, Water, Waste and Biodiversity) with

background information and step-by-step guidelines for conducting sustainability audits.

MacM

illan M

aster

class

Teaching for S

ustainability Jillia

nC

upitta

ndS

ydS

mith

About the authorsJillian Cupitt is a sustainability educator and an Assistant Principal. In 2006 she was awarded the title of NSW Environmental Educator of the Year by the Gould League.

Syd Smith has over 40 years’ experience as a primary and secondary teacher. He led the team to develop the NSW Environmental Education Policy for Schools, and later initiated the Sustainable Schools Program. Syd now works as a sustainability education consultant to schools and communities.



Inquiry,valuesandactionacrossthecurriculum

Professional learning for busy teachers

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Documents

Macmillan Masterclass: Teaching For Sustainability