Sustainability, Final Project Planning

Taking Action by creating a Public Service Announcement

As stated in the previous blog, the Grade 5 at ISB took some risks this year by attempting an integrated (social studies, language arts, and science) unit on Sustainability. Not only does this meet our school's mission of developing Global Citizens, but it also incorporates a fair amount of the TAIL standards:

• Recognize bias in digital resources while researching an environmental issue with guidance from the teacher. (TAILs: 1, 2)
• Explore causes, consequences, and possible solutions to persistent, contemporary, and emerging global issues, such as pollution and endangered species. (I.f)
• Recognize and interpret how the "common good" can be strengthened through various forms of citizen action (A.j)
• Identify, collaborate, and investigate a global issue and generate possible solutions using digital tools and resources. (TAILs: 1, 2, 4, 5)

We framed this final "take action" phase of the unit with this essential question: As global citizens, how can we contribute to a sustainable future?

Through this third phase of the unit, we were hoping that students would develop the understanding that Global Citizens . . .

• understand that sustainability is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
• keep informed about current sustainability issues
• examine sustainability issues, in depth, in which they’re interested
• learn how to deal with sustainability issues, which do or can affect them
• consider probable and preferable futures and human potential to affect change
• plan and take action towards a sustainable future

We then developed the following GRASPS Task:
Goal: Help your family reduce its ecological imprint. (We've been exploring the concept of an environmental footprint and uncovering the reality that currently humans consume more resources than the earth can replensh and therefore we are not functioning in a sustainable manner. Students engaged in an online "footprint" analysis and then came up with ways they were willing and able to diminish their footprint)
Role: You are a global citizen concerned about the impact your family is having on the sustainability of the environment.
Audience: Your family and any other interested global citizens around the world
Situation: You need to analyze one aspect of your family’s environmental footprint, research why there is such an impact and propose innovative ways to diminish that impact in order to create a preferable future.
Product, Performance, Purpose: * You will make a compelling Public Service Announcement to include the following:
1st min (max) = communicate what the problem is
2nd min (max) = communicate why this is a problem and its impact on the sustainability of the planet?
3rd min (max) = what are we going to do about it, solution to the problem

http://treadlightly.tigweb.org/challenge.html

Thanks to our to our Tech leader, Chrissy, here is our proposed tentative timeline:
1 session: Explore iMovie (Great idea from Jeff Utecht)
1 session: Introduce and analyze PSA using “Digital Bridges”
1-2 sessions: immersion in PSAs and analysis of several (Problem, cause/effect, solution + use of audio, visual, and text in delivering the message)
2-4 sessions to Plan (brainstorm, research, + storyboard phase)
• Use a storyboard to plan out your PSA • Write a script based on the research • Find pictures, talk about research, citing sourcing, how to save and organize images Use: Compfight or Search:Creative Commons (both search flickr) • Find creative commons music for the video (no copyright probs) Use: http://jamendo.com
2 sessions: Create the PSA
1 sessionL Peer Review
1 session: Reflect

Evidence of Learning:

• Rubric: (generic digital storytelling rubric currently being tailored to suit this project, which includes the content pieces)
• Class Reflection: what could have been improved and to what degree we might be impacting future environmental sustainability
• Self-Assessment Rubric (generic digital storytelling self-assessment rubric currently being tailored to suit this project)
• Sharing: Students upload their PSA to their blog
  
• Individual reflection: write blog post reflecting on their personal experience with the project

The next four blogs will be reflections on the various stages of turning this plan into reality.