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The lesson plan consists of a series of activities designed to introduce students to the concept of sustainable development and "ecological accounting." Students measure their own ecological footprint and compare it to others as a means of calculating how much pressure one's lifestyle is putting on the planet.
Once students have done the "calculating", they are asked to consider what changes they might make to reduce their footprint.
The resource helps students develop those skills associated with ecological accounting - analyzing and presenting data,
A number of factors contribute to the appeal of the lesson:
Teachers may enhance the lesson by including a post-mortem discussion on the strengths, limits and cautions associated with the concept of ecological footprint.
Understanding Sustainable Living may be used to introduce students to the concept of sustainable development and the line between our daily activities and sustainable communities.
It can be used to support those units in Social Studies and Science that deal with our use of resources, the link between consumerism and responsible citizenship and regional and global inequities. It can also be used as a real-world example in those Math units dealing with Statistics and Probability and Patterns and Relations.
The following tool will allow you to explore the relevant curriculum matches for this resource. To start, select a province listed below.
|Consideration of Alternative Perspectives||Satisfactory|
The lesson assumes that sustainable development is a desirable goal and that achieving it requires that we be aware of what is meant by sustainable development and how we might contribute to its achievement through our lifestyle choices. It accepts the use of the concept of ecological footprints as scorecard in measuring sustainable living.
|Consideration of Alternative Perspectives: |
|Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions||Good|
In examining their daily activities (social) and making comparison with others, students will recognize the interplay between one's economic status and the demands made on the environment.
|Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions: |
Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.
In calculating their ecological footprint, students will recognize the impact their daily activities have on the planet and be less inclined to regard these as benign. In comparing their footprint with others, they may be expected to appreciate something of the inequities that exist with relation to the demands we make on the planet's resources. What should emerge is a heightened sense of individual responsibility and a greater awareness of social inequities.
The use of individual ecological footprints as a measurement of sustainable living is useful but has limits.
|Respects Complexity: |
The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected.
|Acting on Learning||Good|
Teachers are advised that if they wish to encourage students in the belief that that they are not helpless, that change is possible, and that they can drive it, they should make use of Design for Change. The Design for Change website provides a generic framework to guide students in taking collective action on issues of concern to them. The framework is based on a series of steps - Feel, Imagine, Do, Share - and may be used to help students take action related to their findings on ecological footprints.
|Acting on Learning: |
Learning moves from understanding issues to working towards positive change — in personal lifestyle, in school, in the community, or for the planet
Examining one's ecological footprint is an exercise in stocktaking and may be expected to lead students to a consideration as to what value they place on convenience, on self indulgence, on consumption, on nature, and on their responsibility for the collective good.
|Values Education: |
Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values.
|Empathy & Respect for Humans||Good|
In comparing their ecological footprint with others, students will gain an appreciation of the advantages enjoyed and challenges faced by their peers around the world.
|Empathy & Respect for Humans: Empathy and respect are fostered for diverse groups of humans (including different genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences, etc.).|
|Personal Affinity with Earth||Good|
As students measure their ecological footprint, they will begin to recognize the demands they make on the natural world, both in resources consumed and waste generated. Further investigation based on the concept of sustainable development would have students investigate how fast nature can absorb our waste and generate new resources.
|Personal Affinity with Earth: |
Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.
|Locally-Focused Learning||Very Good|
In measuring their own ecological footprints and those of their classmates, students gain an appreciation of their individual and collective impact on local resources such as water land, and energy
|Locally-Focused Learning: |
Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community.
|Past, Present & Future||Good|
An ecological footprint provides a snap shop of current practices and their consequences. Once students have the data, consideration can be given as to what changes they might make that would ensure a more sustainable future.
|Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future.|
In evaluating various lifestyle choices for sustainability,students analyze the relative impact of their daily activities and that of others. The data gathered will enlarge their understanding of the economic and environmental consequences of one's actions. Their "answer" or response to their findings will depend upon their sense of responsibility in realizing a more sustainable future.
Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer.
The lesson addresses issues related to resource use and disposal, local and global inequities, and responsible citizenship that are found in Social Studies curricula. The gathering and analyzing of relevant data is the stuff of mathematics and the organization and presentation of the information gathered supports the realization of a number of skills related to the Language Arts curriculum.
|Integrated Learning: |
Learning brings together content and skills from more than one subject area
The lesson plan adopts a guided inquiry approach. The teacher introduces the concept of sustainable development and ecological footprint in a series of open or small group discussions and provides a framework for students to measure the individual's level of "sustainable living".
|Inquiry Learning: |
Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.
Each of the lesson plan segments includes suggestions for differentiation and alternatives for instruction. The alternatives provide another possibility for whole class instruction while the differentiation is intended to suggest activities that may be suited to certain individuals in the class.
|Differentiated Instruction: |
Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.
The concepts of sustainable living and ecological accounting help students approach and understand the larger issue of sustainable development in a way that is both concrete and relevant. The data gathered by students in analyzing ecological footprints provides them with a unequivocal and unambiguous picture of the impact of our daily lives and a blueprint for taking meaningful action.
|Experiential Learning: |
Authentic learning experiences are provided
Students are introduced to the concept of ecological footprint by working in open or small groups to discuss their lifestyle and work in mixed-ability groups where they read profiles of students in different countries to identify clues and information that would allow them to calculate their character's ecological footprint.
|Cooperative Learning: |
Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.
|Assessment & Evaluation||Satisfactory|
Student presentations on the ecological footprint of their assigned character allow teachers to make a formative judgement of student understanding, while the bar graphs produced as part of the exercise may be used for summative evaluation purposes.
|Assessment & Evaluation: Tools are provided that help students and teachers to capture formative and summative information about students' learning and performance. These tools may include reflection questions, checklists, rubrics, etc.|
The lesson plans rely on guided discussion to explore the concepts of sustainable living and ecological accounting but there are opportunities for students to share their ideas with others as to how one may reduce their footprint.
|Peer Teaching: |
Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.
|Case Studies||Very Good|
The core of the lesson is the activity in which students are assigned profiles of students in other countries and asked to calculate their character's ecological footprint using the online Personal Footprint Calculator. This helps students see in a vary concrete manner the relative impact others have on the planet and against which they can compare their impact.
|Case Studies: |
Relevant case studies are included. Case studies are thorough descriptions of real events from real situations that students use to explore concepts in an authentic context.
|Locus of Control||Satisfactory|
Students are guided through a series of activities by the teacher but the segment of the lesson entitled Differentiation and Alternatives includes suggestions for individual students to undertake further investigation of certain topics.
|Locus of Control: Meaningful opportunities are provided for students to choose elements of program content, the medium in which they wish to work, and/or to go deeper into a chosen issue.|