How the students can influence positive change on a local environmental challenge. Review the Influencing Environmental Change Transcript Example as you prepare to record your video content and for some ideas for how to talk about these sorts of ideas
Create a 3- to 4-minute video about how the students can influence positive change on a local environmental challenge. Review the Influencing Environmental Change Transcript Example as you prepare to record your video content and for some ideas for how to talk about these sorts of ideas to a middle school audience.
Include the following components in your video:
Identify a local environmental challenge.
Summarize the local environmental challenge. Support your summary with at least 2 sources from the University Library, reputable environmental groups, or government websites.
Explain why this challenge is relevant to the middle school class. Remember that while it is important to be honest with children about the realities of the health of the environment, be sure not to scare them. Focus on why it should be important to them, and that they can take action to help.
Identify any local regulations or policies that have been created in response to this challenge. Remember, the purpose of this presentation is to help the students think about how they can change their behavior, not to teach them about regulations. Only mention the regulations so that students can understand how society has used regulations to change behavior. Do not spend too much time explaining details of the regulations to the students.
Recommend 3 sustainable actions the middle school students can do in response to this challenge to help.
The environment is everything that is around us, including the air, soil, water, plants and animals. And we need a safe, healthy environment to maintain our health and well-being.
Unfortunately, there are more than 7.6 billion people living on Earth, and we’re taking natural resources faster than the planet can replenish them. We’re also using up more energy, producing more trash and releasing more pollution into the atmosphere. Not surprising, our actions are exasperating current environmental issues, like global warming, pollution and the depletion of non-renewable resources.
As educators, you can help create positive change by teaching students about the issues affecting the environment and how to protect it. And the good news is that students are actually more interested in learning about the environment than other subjects like science and history, according to a recent survey.
The findings show that two-thirds of the children surveyed wanted to learn more about wildlife and nature, and almost as many (62%) wanted to learn about “green” – or environmental – issues. Even more, almost all the children were at least a little worried about people damaging the planet.
Environmental Scrapbook: Teaching Students About Environmental Issues
After school programs have a unique opportunity to tap into students’ curiosity and inform them about environmental issues through fun and engaging activities. In this collaborative activity, students will create a scrapbook of news articles, stories and other items pertaining to the environment. As they collect the items, they’ll learn about environmental issues affecting the world and possible ways they can help protect the environment.
Before starting the activity, discuss the various environmental issues and how they impact the earth’s natural resources as well as humans, animals and plants. You can also check out these kid-friendly environmental websites to empower students to protect the environment in a fun, creative way.
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