UOI: Sustainability

Two weeks ago we started our new UOI about sustainability:

From a previous blog post:

We had our initial lesson of our new unit about sustainability.

After watching short videoclips, the students drew what the clips made them think about. One clip was about our beautiful nature. Another about plastic polluting water.

They already used many words and images that will be part of our unit: 

waste, production, pollution, reduce, reuse, recycle.

I am looking forward to our new inquiry together.

Since then the students have inquired into:

• what does sustainability mean 

• how human actions affect the sustainability of Earth's nature and resources

• sustainable practices in every day life

Here are some resources they have viewed:  

Generation Awake

Sustainability Kids Videos

Imagine water

The largest pile of trash

Where do recycled items go?

Water Wiz

Carbon Footprint

 Sea of Plastic Ted talk

 

Defining sustainability:

The term "Sustainability" is not easy to define even when you have a feeling of what it means.

We read some definitions but the language in them was not child friendly.

The term ‘sustainable development’ is defined as ‘development fulfilling the needs of current generations, without decreasing the possibilities for future generations to fulfil their needs’

http://sustainablefootprint.org/about-this-project/sustainable-footprint

"Sustainability is an economic state where the demands placed upon the environment by people and commerce can be met without reducing the capacity of the environment to provide for future generations. It can also be expressed in the simple terms of an economic golden rule for the restorative economy: leave the world better than you found it, take no more than you need, try not to harm life of the environment, make amends if you do."

From Wikipedia :  Sustainability is a characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely. The term, in its environmental usage, refers to the potential longevity of vital human ecological support systems, such as the planet's climatic system, systems of agriculture, industry, forestry, and fisheries, and human communities in general and the various systems on which they depend in balance with the impacts of our unsustainable or sustainable design.

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations to meet their own needs. —Brundtland (1987)

Sustainability is the "long-term, cultural, economic and environmental health and vitality" with emphasis on long-term, "together with the importance of linking our social, financial, and environmental well-being"

http://sustainableseattle.org/   

"Sustainability encompasses the simple principle of taking from the earth only what it can provide indefinitely, thus leaving future generations no less than we have access to ourselves."
http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/  

Thomas Jefferson Sustainability Council

"Sustainability may be described as our responsibility to proceed in a way that will sustain life that will allow our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to live comfortably in a friendly, clean, and healthy world .

http://www.tjpdc.org/

We proceeded to come up with our own definition

First the student gave individual explanations:

Sustainability it can be good things like recycling, no pollution, no carbon dioxide, healthy earth and healthy people and healthy nature.

Sustainability means that we protect environment, use reusable thing, Give your old clothes to small cousin so you don't have to throw it away, people throw trash in trash not leaving it around.

Sustainability is saving the world

Sustainability is ability to do what someone is supposed to do, if we cut down all the trees, make clothes, it will be wasting.

What we produce is ruining nature.

Sustainability means how long you can have or keep something without ruining or breaking it.

Sustainability means good side, not cutting trees but only a branch. The best is to cut only a few trees.

Perfect balance is sutainable, cut down few, plant new, we make paper but still get fresh yair

Sustainability means trying to keep the earth clean

We have done enough harm that nature can't digest.

The they worked in a groups:

Sustainability is trying to keep the nature and human community even. It is about keeping the earth clean.

The world can be a better place

Stop making plastic, throwing trash int eh ocean. Cut down less trees. Stop polluting

Lead the world to better hands, keep the world in better balance, recycle, lead your children to good lives

Here is our  current whole class working explanation:

Sustainability is about saving the planet to lead people, animals and nature to a good life. People can help by reducing how much thrash they make, by recycling and reusing, and looking for ways to make the planet cleaner, and by using materials and resources that don't harm Earth.

This week the students spent time creating texts to show what they have learned during the past two weeks. They had to choose a topic and narrow its focus. They had to figure out what they want their readers to know and feel after reading their texts. Using what they have learned about writing process and craft they had to write texts that are informing and interesting. The expectation was that their texts included some description, explanations and examples.

They had a free choice of the genre and point of view.

Next week they will choose a publishing format.