Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

OverviewThis integrated unit illustrates the Actsmart climate change focus area. It connects the content of the Science, HASS and Maths learning areas of the Australian Curriculum to develop students’ knowledge, understanding and skills which build their capacity to think and act in ways that are necessary to create more sustainable futures. Actsmart Schools has linked its climate change focus area and big understandings to the content descriptors of the Australian Curriculum. You can find this matrix here. The big understandings of the climate change focus area addressed in this unit are:

Understand what climate change is The causes of climate change Actions we can take to make a difference

The unit introduces students to new concepts related to weather and climate, investigates greenhouse gases and asks students to consider action they can take to address climate change.The lessons develop a concept and may take several class lesson timeslots to complete. Some lessons have been fully developed and provide detailed teacher instructions and teaching resources. Other lessons have a skeleton structure and provide teaching ideas and resource suggestions teachers can use to personalise the learning for their students. The lessons are intended to be done in sequence.The learning in this unit was developed using a backward by design methodology driven by the Achievement Standards of the Australian Curriculum. It is mapped to the Achievement Standards and specific Australian Curriculum content descriptions below. The unit deliberately employs high impact teaching and the lessons are structured and include questioning, explicit and differentiated teaching, and collaborative learning.

The lessons are intended to be delivered in sequence.Lesson 1: Tuning in to climate changeThis lesson introduces climate change through sorting and discussing stimulus pictures. Students sort and record ideas and information and develop questions about climate change to investigate.

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

Lesson 2: What is weather?Students are explicitly taught about weather and use the BOM website to access and interpret weather forecasts. They present their interpretation of weather forecasts using weather and climate specific terminology. Lesson 3: What is climate?Students are explicitly taught about climate in general and in Australia.Lesson 4: What is climate change?Students research climate change ‘facts’ to develop their understanding of climate change. They share their points of view and present evidence which supports their position, as well as respecting and listening to the points of view of others.Lesson 5: How do greenhouse gases work?Students develop their science inquiry skills and with guidance, conduct an experiment to investigate the how increasing CO2 in the air changes how much heat it holds. They make and record their observations accurately in a table and graph, interpret their results and communicate their findings.Lesson 6: Reflecting and acting on climate changeStudents investigate actions they can take to address climate change and make and perform a class rap chant about climate action.AssessmentThroughout this unit there are opportunities to collect evidence of student learning which teachers can use to make on-balance judgements of student performance against the achievement standards of the Australian Curriculum as identified in the curriculum mapping document.

Evidence could be assembled into a portfolio of work by the teacher or by students. These opportunities include:

Lesson

Evidence opportunity

1 Participation in discussion2 Weather - worksheet responses

TV meteorologist presentation (group work)Expressive movement depiction of extreme weather

3 Cloze paragraph or paragraph reconstruction activity4 Climate change worksheet responses, presentation of findings

Climate change statements and justification of position5 Conduct of experiment, recording, analysis and communication

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of findings 6 Research of action options

Development of a rap chant verse which reflects their learning

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

Curriculum mappingAlignment with Achievement Standards and learning area content from the Australian CurriculumScienceYear 3 Year 4By the end of Year 3, students use their understanding of the movement of Earth, materials and the behaviour of heat to suggest explanations for everyday observations. They group living things based on observable features and distinguish them from non-living things. They describe how they can use science investigations to respond to questions.Students use their experiences to identify questions and make predictions about scientific investigations. They follow procedures to collect and record observations and suggest possible reasons for their findings, based on patterns in their data. They describe how safety and fairness were considered and they use diagrams and other representations to communicate their ideas.

By the end of Year 4, students apply the observable properties of materials to explain how objects and materials can be used. They describe how contact and non-contact forces affect interactions between objects. They discuss how natural processes and human activity cause changes to Earth’s surface. They describe relationships that assist the survival of living things and sequence key stages in the life cycle of a plant or animal. They identify when science is used to understand the effect of their actions.Students follow instructions to identify investigable questions about familiar contexts and make predictions based on prior knowledge. They describe ways to conduct investigations and safely use equipment to make and record observations with accuracy. They use provided tables and column graphs to organise data and identify patterns. Students suggest explanations for observations and compare their findings with their predictions. They suggest reasons why a test was fair or not. They use formal and informal ways to communicate their observations and findings.

Earth’s rotation on its axis causes regular changes, including night and day (ACSSU048)

Earth’s surface changes over time as a result of natural processes and human activity (ACSSU075)

Science involves making predictions and describing patterns and relationships (ACSHE050

Science involves making predictions and describing patterns and relationships (ACSHE061)

Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of their actions (ACSHE051)

Science knowledge helps people to understand the effect of their actions (ACSHE062)

With guidance, plan and conduct scientific investigations to find answers to questions, considering the safe use of appropriate materials and equipment (ACSIS054)

With guidance, plan and conduct scientific investigations to find answers to questions, considering the safe use of appropriate materials and equipment (ACSIS065)

Compare results with predictions, suggesting possible reasons for findings (ACSIS215 )

Compare results with predictions, suggesting possible reasons for findings (ACSIS216)

HASSYear 3 Year 4By the end of Year 3, students identify individuals, events and aspects of the past

By the end of Year 4, students recognise the significance of events in bringing about change and

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

that have significance in the present. They identify and describe aspects of their community that have changed and remained the same over time. They describe the diverse characteristics of different places at the local scale and identify and describe similarities and differences between the characteristics of these places. They identify connections between people and the characteristics of places. Students explain the role of rules in their community and the importance of making decisions democratically. They identify the importance of different celebrations and commemorations for different groups. They explain how and why people participate in and contribute to their communities.

Students pose questions and locate and collect information from sources, including observations, to answer these questions. They examine information to identify a point of view and interpret data to identify and describe simple distributions. They draw simple conclusions and share their views on an issue. They sequence information about events and the lives of individuals in chronological order. They record and represent data in different formats, including labelled maps using basic cartographic conventions. They reflect on their learning to suggest individual action in response to an issue or challenge. Students communicate their ideas, findings and conclusions in oral, visual and written forms using simple discipline-specific terms.

the importance of the environment. They explain how and why life changed in the past and identify aspects of the past that have remained the same. They describe the experiences of an individual or group in the past. They describe and compare the diverse characteristics of different places at local to national scales. Students identify the interconnections between components of the environment and between people and the environment. They identify structures that support their local community and recognise the importance of laws in society. They describe factors that shape a person’s identity and sense of belonging. They identify different views on how to respond to an issue or challenge.

Students develop questions to investigate. They locate and collect information and data from different sources, including observations to answer these questions. When examining information, they distinguish between facts and opinions and detect points of view. They interpret data and information to identify and describe distributions and simple patterns and draw conclusions. They share their points of view, respecting the views of others. Students sequence information about events and the lives of individuals in chronological order with reference to key dates. They sort, record and represent data in different formats, including large-scale maps using basic cartographic conventions. They reflect on their learning to propose action in response to an issue or challenge and identify the possible effects of their proposed action. Students present ideas, findings and conclusions using discipline-specific terms in a range of communication forms.

HASS (continued)Pose questions to investigate people, events, places and issues (ACHASSI052)

Pose questions to investigate people, events, places and issues (ACHASSI073)

Locate and collect information and data from different sources, including observations (ACHASSI053)

Locate and collect information and data from different sources, including observations (ACHASSI074)

Interpret data and information displayed in different formats, to identify and describe distributions and simple patterns (ACHASSI057)

Interpret data and information displayed in different formats, to identify and describe distributions and simple patterns (ACHASSI078)

Reflect on learning to propose actions in Reflect on learning to propose actions in response to

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response to an issue or challenge and consider possible effects of proposed actions (ACHASSI060)

an issue or challenge and consider possible effects of proposed actions (ACHASSI081)

The main climate types of the world and the similarities and differences between the climates of different places (ACHASSK068)

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

MathematicsYear 3 Year 4By the end of Year 3 students recognize the connection between addition and subtraction and solve problems using efficient strategies for multiplication. They model and represent unit fractions. They represent money values in various ways. Students identify symmetry in the environment. They match positions on maps with given information. Students recognize angles in real situations. They interpret and compare data displays.

Students count to and from 10 000. They classify numbers as either odd or even. They recall addition and multiplication facts for single-digit numbers. Students correctly count out change from financial transactions. They continue number patterns involving addition and subtraction. Students use metric units for length, mass and capacity. They tell time to the nearest minute. Students make models of three-dimensional objects. Students conduct chance experiments and list possible outcomes. They conduct simple data investigations for categorical variables.

By the end of Year 4, students choose appropriate strategies for calculations involving multiplication and division. They recognise common equivalent fractions in familiar contexts and make connections between fraction and decimal notations up to two decimal places. Students solve simple purchasing problems. They identify and explain strategies for finding unknown quantities in number sentences. They describe number patterns resulting from multiplication. Students compare areas of regular and irregular shapes using informal units. They solve problems involving time duration. They interpret information contained in maps. Students identify dependent and independent events. They describe different methods for data collection and representation and evaluate their effectiveness.

Students use the properties of odd and even numbers. They recall multiplication facts to 10 x 10 and related division facts. Students locate familiar fractions on a number line. They continue number sequences involving multiples of single digit numbers. Students use scaled instruments to measure temperatures, lengths, shapes and objects. They convert between units of time. Students create symmetrical shapes and patterns. They classify angles in relation to a right angle. Students list the probabilities of everyday events. They construct data displays from given or collected data.Use scaled instruments to measure and compare lengths, masses, capacities and temperatures (ACMMG084)

Collect data, organise into categories and create displays using lists, tables, picture graphs and simple column graphs, with and without the use of digital technologies (ACMSP069)

Construct suitable data displays, with and without the use of digital technologies, from given or collected data. Include tables, column graphs and picture graphs, where one picture can represent many data values (ACMSP096)

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

Lesson 1: Tuning in to climate changeThis lesson introduces climate change through sorting and discussing stimulus pictures. Students sort and record ideas and information and develop questions about climate change to investigate.You will need:

Climate change - Stimulus pictures (1 set for each group of 6 students and one set for the teacher – pinned to a display board)

Display board with heading Climate Change, a set of stimulus pictures pinned up, and subheadings Key Words, I think…., and I wonder?

Post-it notes

Learning sequence:

1. Depending on the size of your group, you may want to either work as a whole group with several sets of cards, or organise students into small groups (about 6 students) and give each group a set of stimulus pictures.

2. Give the students some time to look at the pictures and talk about them amongst themselves, to identify some of the images. Talk with students about the images and work towards deciding, as a class, what the theme of the collection is. Once you have identified the theme (climate change or global warming) consider the individual pictures again and discuss why they might have been included in the set.

3. On the whiteboard, write the 3 subheadings from your display board (Key Words, I think, I wonder). Elicit from students some of the things they think they know about climate change and put them on the board as an example. Give students 10 minutes to chat and write down all the things they think they know about climate change on post-it notes and put them on the display board. Do the same for key words and questions/theories under the I wonder? heading. Asking them how they feel about climate change might give rise to some interesting questions.

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

4. Once the ideas are on the board, work with students to group like ideas, words and questions to get a picture of what students already know, what needs clarifying and what they’re interested in finding out. Use this information to develop three or four inquiry questions. Examples of questions might include:

a. What exactly is climate change?b. Is weather the same as climate?c. Does 2 degrees really make a difference?d. What is CO2?e. What are greenhouse gases and why are they important?f. Is climate change real and how do we know?g. Have humans caused climate change?h. I’m just a kid – what can I do about it?

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

Lesson 2: What is weather?Students are explicitly taught about weather and use the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) website to access and interpret weather forecasts. They present their ideas using weather and climate specific terminology.You will need:

What is Climate Change PowerPoint slides 4-8 (contains links to videos) Weather – Teacher fact sheet (for your reference) Ask students to then work individually to predict what the weather will

be like 2 days from now Smart board with internet access

Learning sequence:1. Explicitly teach students about weather. The Weather – Teacher fact sheet

provides information you may like to use.

2. Use the BOM webpage to access weather forecasts (link in PowerPoint). http://www.bom.gov.au/act/forecasts/canberra.shtml. Walk students through a Canberra forecast, explaining the terms and abbreviations (eg min, max, chance of rain, UV index) and their relevance.

Ask questions such as: I’m watching my friend play soccer on Saturday. Should I take a raincoat

or umbrella? Which is the best day to go for a picnic? Are we going to get a frost this week? Which season are we in? If we were in summer/winter, would you expect the temperatures to be

higher or lower than these ones?

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*This is also a good opportunity to continue the discussion with students about how to identify which websites are likely to be good/reliable/credible sources of information.

Ask students to then work individually to predict what the weather will be like 2 days from now and record the information in their books.

Conduct a class discussion to review students’ answers.3. Be a tv meteorologist – Students develop and perform a 2 minute, 5

day weather forecast for a tv audience.Show students a couple of tv weather reports (available on You Tube). Pick a funny one and a serious one at least.Discuss with students how the reports are structured (general description of recent weather with some photos and stories of people out enjoying themselves, outline of weather coming up with warnings if needed, detailed forecast for tomorrow and then next five days) and how images are used to provide extra information. You may wish to develop a model structure for the segment and use this to develop as a whole class weather report before students do it themselves.Divide the class into groups of 3 to 5 students and allocate each group a city. Each group will:a. Use the BOM website to get the forecast informationb. Write a script (Good morning Melbourne! This week has been a bit wet

and our umbrellas have been having a bit of a workout as we’ve had rain across most of the city today. I hope everyone’s got their winter woollies ready to go this week. Those of you who like to ski – looks like there might be some fresh powder on the slopes this weekend! Etc etc Back to you Karl)

c. Prepare a visual for the report (map, local photos, props of some sort)d. Present the report (live or via video)

4. Students use expressive movement or mime to depict extreme weather

Explicitly teach students about extreme weather. The Weather – Teacher fact sheet provides information you may like to use.

Divide students into small groups. Give each group two or three types of extreme weather. Give groups 3 minutes to come up with a mime for that weather.

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

Each group performs one of their mimes for the class to guess which extreme weather it is.

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

Lesson 3: What is climateStudents are explicitly taught about climate in general and in Australia.You will need:

What is Climate Change PowerPoint slide 8 (cloze activity as shown below)

Climate – teacher fact sheet (for your reference) Weather and climate – sentence matching activity from PowerPoint (1

copy for each pair of students) Smart board with internet access White board and markers.

Learning sequence:

1. Explicitly teach students about climate. You might like to use the Climate – teacher fact sheet for information.

2. Use a summarising activity to help students consolidate their understanding, for example:

the cloze activity below (also on the unit PowerPoint) or paragraph reconstruction activity (Weather and climate – matching

activity)

Cloze activity – Students choose the correct word and write the completed paragraphs in their notebooks under the heading Climate.

dry four climatetemperate weather tropicalpolar Australia Canberra

____________ is the day by day changes to the temperature and conditions of the atmosphere. ____________is the usual weather of a place.

There are ____________ main climate types on Earth. Only three of those are found in ____________. Places near the equator have ____________climates. Desert climates can be cold or hot but are always ____________. The most moderate climates are called ____________ climates.

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____________ has a temperate climate. Areas near the North and South poles have ____________ climates.When the usual weather of a place, its climate, changes over the years it’s called climate change.

Conduct a class discussion to review students’ answers.

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

Lesson 4: What is climate change?Students research climate change ‘facts’ to develop their understanding of climate change. You will need:

What is Climate Change – PowerPoint slide 9 (contains links to videos) Climate change – worksheet (1 for each student) Internet access for each student Smart board with internet access

Learning sequence:

1. View one or more of these videos about climate change below and discuss it with the class.

Cool Australia (2013) Climate change everyone’s business (focus on trees)https://vimeo.com/65187288 (10min 10 sec)TedEd – Earth’s giant game of Tetris (2014)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztWHqUFJRTs (2min 48sec)Climate change (according to a kid) (2015)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv7OHfpIRfU (2min 11 sec)

2. Working individually, pairs or in small groups, students complete the Climate change – worksheet by researching each statement on the internet, deciding if it’s true or false and providing the true statement or evidence.

3. Two options are provided below for deepening understanding of climate change.

Option 1

Get yourself a gavel and wig, and call the students in groups before you. Pick one question for each group and have them defend their case.

Option 2

Students make and evaluate statements about climate change.

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

Invite students to make some statements about climate change and note them on the board. You’ll need at least 6.

Label one end of the room true, the other false.

Read out one of the statements on the board and students move to one end of the room. Give them a few minutes to talk about why they chose that end then invite one or two students to explain why they think the statement is true or false. Ask the students at the other end to do the same thing.

Give students a chance to change ends if they would like.

Position yourself at an end and explain if necessary.

Move on to the next statement.

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Lesson 5: How do greenhouse gases work?Students develop their science inquiry skills and with guidance, conduct an experiment to investigate the how increasing CO2 in the air changes how much heat it holds. They make and record their observations accurately in a table and graph, interpret their results and communicate their findings.You will need:

What is Climate Change PowerPoint slides 10-13 (contains links to video)

For each group doing the experimento 2 clear plastic (soft drink) bottleso Watero Alka-Seltzer (substitute 2 teaspoons of citric acid to 1 teaspoon

of bicarbonate of soda)o 2 stoppers with holes (or plasticine)o 2 long thermometerso Lampo Timer or watch

Greenhouse gases – Experiment template (1 for each student)

Learning sequence:

Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwtt51gvaJQ (3min59sec) to see how to set up the experiment (pause video at 2:17 and show results at the end).

Depending on the amount of equipment you have available you may choose to do the experiment as a whole class or divide the class into groups. Whichever way you choose to do it, you will need to get students to set up their table to record their results before they start, then show them how to set up the equipment.

1. Quick revision of the theory about greenhouse gases trapping more heat and causing the atmosphere to warm up. Explain to students that they are going to test that theory.

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2. Distribute the experiment template. Scaffold students to fill in the hypothesis and the list of equipment. Discuss how they might use the equipment they have.

3. Show them how to set the equipment up. Don’t let them turn the lamp on until you have checked their setup and they can tell you what their next steps are. Don’t forget to get them to record the starting temperature in each bottle before they turn the lamp on.

4. Once they are underway, students check the temp every 5 minutes and add the information to their results table. In between they can be writing up their method and you may get some to draw a graph.

5. Once the experiment is complete, discuss what they have found and support students to write a conclusion. You may need to do it as a cloze activity or provide sentence starters and the vocabulary for them to use.

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

Lesson 6: Reflecting and actingStudents investigate actions they can take to address climate change and make and perform a class rap chant about climate action.You will need:

What is Climate ChangePowerPoint slides 14-16 (contains links to videos)

Smart board with internet access. Internet access for each student

Learning sequence:

1. Show one of these videos: BTN item (https://www.abc.net.au/btn/newsbreak/global-strike-4-

climate/11532132 - 5 min 10 sec) on student climate strike the Greta Thunberg story

(https://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/greta-thunberg-tackles-climate-change - 7 min 57sec).

Conduct a class discussion, talk about how everyone can make a contribution, including the reasons for the strike and the difference between encouraging others to take action and taking direct action themselves.

2. Students investigate action they or their families can take and write a few down. Some possible websites they can visit include:

https://theconversation.com/5-ways-families-can-help-tackle-climate-change-126512https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/what-is-climate-change-what-can-we-do/

3. www,actsmart.act.gov.au Introduce the idea of a class rap chant on climate change – start them off, don’t forget to throw in the hand movements. It might be something your class can consider doing for a school assembly.

Actsmart SchoolsClimate Change 3-4

(This activity could be built into several lessons in which students respond to, examine and create rap chants as literature and as per the Australian Curriculum: English if you have time.)

The goal is to get students to write a verse of their own that reflects one of the actions they can take.

Hot and dry, hot and dryWe can beat climate change if we tryThe weather’s changing, the climate’s warming, need to do something so we don’t fry

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphereNeed to reduce these it’s very clearClean up our factories, use less fuel, maybe we shouldn’t be driving to schoolADD EXTRA VERSES IN HEREHot and dry, hot and dryWe can beat climate change if we tryThe Earth needs our help if we can work out how, everyone can do something, we need to start now

4.[3.] Wrap up the unit by revisiting the questions you developed in the first lesson, discussing how their knowledge has changed, talking about what other things they might like to know about climate change now.