Multidisciplinary studies/Climate change 2.-4.1.2019
We started our multidisciplinary projects Three Seasons by watching the film Before the Flood (by Leonardo DiCaprio) in order to set the pupils’ thoughts into this topic.
All the pupils had chosen in advance, which theme they wanted to work with. Themes were:
- Art project
- Expression and exercise
- Citizens of the world
- Science
- Creative solutions
Apart from the first theme the themes were divided into smaller workshops that handled the climate change from their point of view.
Art project:
Art project continued till 17th April
- Why are some pictures so impressive? What factors do you recognize? What is poetry slam? Pupils wrote poetry slam on climate change and combined texts with impressive pictures. The aim was to increase knowledge as well as learn to use different kinds of applications.
- Pupils also wrote some longer texts and shared their opinions on climate change. Some of these create the basis for some parts of the art project. Pupils also chose appropriate music for the project as well as made slogans on climate change.
- pupils performed their show for the whole school on 16th and 17th of April. They were also asked to perform in Rantasalmi Theater Day.
Expression and exercise
- Pupils made surveys on hobbies and their influence on the climate change. Had had to think about their carbon footprints and concrete actions how to minimize them.
- As a concrete action against climate change two classes went out with buckets and collected rubbish on and around the school area. Then they sorted them out and recycled it as much as they could. The aim of this action was to combine exercise and recycling. Some of the recyclable waste was used for making signs with suitable slogans against the climate change.
Citizens of the world
- Pupils made essays on energy production on historical basis (oil, hydroelectric power, wind power, coal). How have different energy sources being developed so far and what their influence on the climate change has been.
- Seed paper: https://climatekids.nasa.gov/seed-paper/ . Pupils tore used paper into little pieces and let it soak overnight. Next day they used a blender to make it into papier-maché. They used different forms and made cards for relatives/friends. The cards had plant seeds in them and the receiver could plant the card into soil and grow flowers or herbs that the card had.
Science
- Posters on climate change: What are the courses and what could we do to prevent/slow down the process. What is happening globally and what locally?
- Pupils studied different subjects that affect the climate change. They made little surveys for instance on consuming food (vegetarianism), commuting, recycling at home, time spend on social media etc. During the day they interviewed as many people as possible, gathered some background information on the topic and made diagrams on the grounds of the interviews. They created posters in Google Docs.
- Save the penguins -workshop concentrated on penguins living in Southern Africa and how the climate change has altered their habitat. Pupils build for the penguins such cottages that helped their nests to stay cooler. The whole work was based on engineering work and on heat transmission capacity of certain materials.
- Domestic food: using local products and organic products in cooking. Sustainability in cooking and in making choices. World on your plate: Environmentally friendly plate model and carbon footprint. Ingredients: oat milk, vegetables and berries. Emphasis on domestic and local ingredients. Final product: Karelian pies (Thursday 12-15, mrii)
- The last workshop handled different occupations in engineering and energy production. After learning something of this area pupils “worked” as engineers and created ideas how to produce energy in future in an environmentally friendly way (a separate presentation).
Creative solutions
- Making impressive videos by using Geenscreen and iMovie. Pupils wrote and read their own poems and put together videos. After making the videos they watched and gave peer feedback. They also looked for music videos on climate change and made their own lyrics so that they described the situation in 2050s. (Friday 9-15, sras)
- Pupils had to create two utmost different characters (G. Enius and B. Oaster). G. Enius was as energy efficient as possible and B. Oaster the opposite. Then people had to compare the difference of their energy consumption on daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis. They draw figures on the paper and wrote about the choices that affected the environment.
- they also watched a film on the Nauru Island and analysed the structure of the news. Then pupils wrote news situated in the future: They supposed that there are only three seasons in Finland anymore. What has happened?