Mathematics & Religion

Lesson title: Knowing my impact

Summary & Background Information:

This lesson focuses on looking at data trends and using this information to make better choices. Using a carbon footprint food calculator, students will get a glimpse at how their food choices can affect global greenhouse emissions. Students will be tasked to make changes in what they eat based on data from the calculator. They will also begin to think about goals and how to continue to strive for them as St. Paul describes in Sacred Scripture.

Curriculum Links:

Math

Curriculum Links:

Grade 3:

A1.4 build relationships and communicate effectively

A1.6 think critically and creatively

B1.1 read, represent, compose, and decompose whole numbers up to and including 1000, using a variety of tools and strategies, and describe various ways they are used in everyday life

B2.1 use the properties of operations, and the relationships between multiplication and division, to solve problems and check calculations

B2.3 use mental math strategies, including estimation, to add and subtract whole numbers that add up to no more than 1000, and explain the strategies used

C1.1 identify and describe repeating elements and operations in a variety of patterns, including patterns found in real-life contexts

D1.2 collect data through observations, experiments, and interviews to answer questions of interest that focus on qualitative and quantitative data, and organize the data using frequency tables

D1.5 analyse different sets of data presented in various ways, including in frequency tables and in graphs with different scales, by asking and answering questions about the data and drawing conclusions, then make convincing arguments and informed decisions

Grade 4:

A1.4 build relationships and communicate effectively

A1.6 think critically and creatively

B1.1 read, represent, compose, and decompose whole numbers up to and including 10 000, using appropriate tools and strategies, and describe various ways they are used in everyday life

B2.1 use the properties of operations, and the relationships between addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, to solve problems involving whole numbers, including those requiring more than one operation, and check calculations

B2.3 use mental math strategies to multiply whole numbers by 10, 100, and 1000, divide whole numbers by 10, and add and subtract decimal tenths, and explain the strategies used

C1.1 identify and describe repeating and growing patterns, including patterns found in real-life contexts

D1.2 collect data from different primary and secondary sources to answer questions of interest that involve comparing two or more sets of data, and organize the data in frequency tables and stem-and-leaf plots

D1.6 analyse different sets of data presented in various ways, including in stem-and-leaf plots and multiple-bar graphs, by asking and answering questions about the data and drawing conclusions, then make convincing arguments and informed decisions

Grade 5

A1.4 build relationships and communicate effectively

A1.6 think critically and creatively

B1.1 read, represent, compose, and decompose whole numbers up to and including 100 000, using appropriate tools and strategies, and describe various ways they are used in everyday life

B2.1 use the properties of operations, and the relationships between operations, to solve problems involving whole numbers and decimal numbers, including those requiring more than one operation, and check calculations

B2.3 use mental math strategies to multiply whole numbers by 0.1 and 0.01 and estimate sums and differences of decimal numbers up to hundredths, and explain the strategies used

C1.1 identify and describe repeating, growing, and shrinking patterns, including patterns found in real-life contexts

D1.2 collect data, using appropriate sampling techniques as needed, to answer questions of interest about a population, and organize the data in relative-frequency tables

D1.6 analyse different sets of data presented in various ways, including in stacked-bar graphs and in misleading graphs, by asking and answering questions about the data, challenging preconceived notions, and drawing conclusions, then make convincing arguments and informed decisions

Religious Education - Fundamental Concepts

Grade 3, 4 & 5

BL3: In God's plan of Salvation, Christ founded the Church as One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.

ML1: Christian Morality as a living response of our human vocation to life in the Spirit as revealed by reason, the Scriptures' and Tradition.

ML2: Freedom and Responsibility, Reason, Conscience and Conscience formation.

LS1: We are called to live our Christian vocation within the human community

LS2: Social Justice Teachings of the Church

Catholic Graduate Expectations:

3. REFLECTIVE, CREATIVE AND HOLISTIC THINKER who solves problems and makes responsible decisions with an informed moral conscience for the common good.

5. A COLLABORATIVE CONTRIBUTOR who finds meaning and dignity and vocation in work which respects the rights of all and contributes to the common good.

6. A CARING FAMILY MEMBER who attends to family, school, parish and the wider community.

7. A RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN who gives witness to Catholic social teaching by promoting peace, justice and the sacredness of human life.

Guiding Questions:

1. What is data?

2. What are the various ways data can be represented?

3. How is data used to inform us about environmental issues?

4. What is the human impact on the environment?

5. How does the data support the need for urgent action?

6. What environmental goals can be developed based on data collection?

7. How can data motivate a call to action?

8. How can we use statistics and/or data to help us make informed and ethical choices?

9. What predictions can be made from studying past and present data?

10. How can I use data to make informed decisions about what I buy and/or consume?

11. How can the Gospel or Catholic social teachings help make me become a steward of the earth?

12. As Catholic Christians, how can we make a positive contribution to society and the world?

13. How can we work for the common good of all people and be the change we want to see?

Learning Goals:

By the end of this unit, students will be able to:

• understand, apply and communicate information from data sets.

• represent data in various ways.

• understand how data is used to assess the effects of environmental issues.

• understand that humans are responsible for most environmental issues.

• see how data supports the need for urgent action.

• use data to make predictions about how environmental issues will evolve.

• use data to make informed decisions about what they buy and consume.

• connect Gospel and Catholic social teachings to their call to be stewards of the earth.

• develop attitudes and values founded on the principles of Catholic social teaching and act to promote social responsibility, human solidarity and the common good.

• become models of Christian living for all those we encounter in our daily lives.

Success Criteria:

I can

• compare, contrast, interpret information from data sets.

• represent data in various ways.

• examine and explain how data is used to assess the effects of environmental issues.

• identify the human impacts on the environment using data sets.

• analyze and explain how data supports the need for urgent action.

• use data to make predictions about how environmental issues will evolve.

• use data to make informed decisions about what I buy and/or consume.

• use Gospel and Catholic Social Teachings to help become a steward of the earth.

• develop attitudes and values founded on the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and act to promote social responsibility, human solidarity and the common good.

• Students can show the difference of their meals in a bar graph or line graph and make a prediction of how this graph would look in 2030 if the trend is to increase or decrease.

• Have students present their graph, predictions and explanations to the whole class, discussing their findings.

• Ask students to share their environmental impact, by using these (or other) questions to prompt the discussion:

  1. • How many kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions were produced in this meal in 2010, today, and in 2030.

     • What was the equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions in kilometres travelled and how many days of heating for an average home could it provide?

     • How many showers equal the amount of water used for this meal?

Scripture

• Say: “In Saint Paul's letter to the Philippians he describes the ability to keep focused and make a commitment to reach an ultimate goal. Saint Paul asks us to use goals to guide our lives as he does to guide his.”

• Read the passage together and as the message in the scripture says, let us pray for strength in keeping committed to our goals with God’s help. (Philippians 3: 12 - 16)

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal of the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then wo are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too god will reveal to your. Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.

• Discuss with students: In Philippians 3: 12 - 16, St. Paul describes one measure of becoming mature or growing up as the ability to keep a commitment to a goal. Mature people (weather ten, twenty or thirty) are always working to make themselves better and reach their goals. The goal that guides St. Paul's life is to know Jesus Christ, his message and the power of his life, death and resurrection. Have you noticed that you have grown up since last year? What are some of the ways you can tell you are maturing or growing up? Do you have goals you are working toward? What are your goals (for the environment, school, faith etc.)?

• Have students meal plan for a whole day, using the "Climate Change Food Calculator" to carefully choose what they are putting on each plate to minimize their carbon footprint. Which meal has the lowest GHG emissions?

• Have students create a SMART goal for one way they will reduce their carbon footprint (see the weekdone.com SMART Goal template for guidance).

• For more information on the topic of climate change and data students can watch the videos "Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye the Science Guy" from the Smithsonian and "Is Our Climate Headed for a Mathematical Tipping Point?" from TEDEd .