Sustainability
A PBL Unit by Hannah Taylor
Year 3/4 Lesson
Find something in the school or at home that you and the school/your family could change/do today to increase sustainability and design a step-by-step plan.
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Students choose a topic (Plastics & Recyclables, Food & Waste, Air Pollution)
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Students grouped in 3
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Each student in group gets a role card to help with collaboration
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Research how chosen topic affects sustainability
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Students brainstorm ideas to immediately begin improving their sustainability around the topic (i.e., Plastics & Recyclables: Use reusable packaging, create a better separating routine for recyclables in the school; Food & Waste: Start growing vegetables and composting; Air Pollution: Take public transport, walk to school, or ride bike)
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Design a step-by-step plan to make those changes
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If time, students create a poster that motivates others to follow the plan
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In the poster, students must present at least one statistic found in their research using fractions or percentages
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Roles:
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Scribe: The one that writes their plan out
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Illustrator: The one that draws out any ideas or makes and illustrations
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Spokesperson: The one that will present the plan
What Can I Do To Live More Sustainably?
The Lesson
Learning Goals:
If there is time in the lesson
What can I do to live more sustainably?
To create a plan or design a project that positively impacts sustainability in my house, school, or community.
STEAM Goals
Explore the process of plastic decay and recycling. (Among other topics)
Use the internet to search and identify reliable information from various sources.
Design a Step-by-Step plan.
Use various mediums of art for means of expression and communication.
Accurately use percentages and fractions to display statistical findings.
Literacy Goals
Use instructional writing to create a plan.
21st Century Skills
Problem Solving
Students will be brainstorming a solution to improve sustainability that can immediately be applied.
Collaboration
Students will be working in groups of 3 throughout this lesson.
Communication
Students will need to find ways to communicate well in order to effectively collaborate.
Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Information, Media & Tech skills
Students will be using all three of these through the research and application of that new knowledge in developing a plan to improve sustainability in their daily lives.
Students will be provided with a checklist at the beginning of the lesson. Students will be encouraged to check it throughout the development of their plan.
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At the end of the lesson, groups will be paired with another group to pair and share their plans. The partnered groups will peer review the other groups' plan using the checklist.
Assessment
Collaboration & Communication
All member completed their roles
Science & Technology, Information, Media, & Tech Skills
Research your topic using the internet
Problem-Solving, Creativity, & Critical Thinking
Brainstorm an idea for a goal to live sustainably starting today
Engineering & Literacy
Use the template to create a step-by-step plan to reach that goal
Literacy
Use sequencing words in your plan (First, Then, Next, Last)
Art
Include a drawing of your plan using color
Collaboration & Communication
Present your plan to another team for feedback
The teacher(s) will observe the students as they are working on the project and doing their presentations. The teacher will complete a formative assessment using these observations and the final product of each team to assess: the students' application of 21st century skills during the project, the quality of the work created, and the content around sustainability that was included in the final product.