This is one of a series of posts on the Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project. Other posts in the series include: Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project (CCP) - Intro Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Research Techniques Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Evaluation Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Use augmented reality Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Create a multi-level game Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Create a sustainability video Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Build a sustainability app Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Design a sustainability city or town Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Overview For a more student-friendly layout visit the Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project website. When undertaking research begin with the following questions: - What do I know about this topic? - What do I want to know about this topic? - Why am I interested in this topic? - What do I need to research this topic? Search engines - Why don't you google it? A search engine is a program that finds relevant sources (articles, websites, etc. ) based on your search term. Google is one of the most popular search engines used to research topics for school assignments. There are a range of other search engines which will provide you different sources than the ones you can find using google. Some other search engines you could use are: Google Scholar is at www.scholar.google.com.au/ Duck Duck Go is at www.duckduckgo.com Iseek is at http://education.iseek.com OJOSE is at http://www.ojose.com Dogpile is at http://www.dogpile.com Yippy is at http://yippy.com There is a Library blog post which outlines the details of some search engines: http://eppinglibrary.weebly.com/blog Your sustainability project Planning your research: Create a research plan for your group. In your plan consider the following: - What information do you need? - When will you need each piece of information? - Who will be responsible for each task? - Are there certain tasks that need to be completed in a certain order? Which tasks will need to be completed first? What order should the rest of the tasks be completed in? Developing a Research Plan As part of your plan develop a calendar which shows a timeline to completion. Make sure that you allocate more time for complex tasks and less time for simple tasks. You will need to use in-class time and out-of-class time. When you have put together your plan, have a conference with your teacher to see whether it is feasible (whether it will work).
Prior Reading: Before you can become too involved in your project you need to read widely. Each person in your group needs to read five articles or five websites that relate to the topic of sustainability. You will be required to take notes about the article. You will use your notes later in the project. You should record the site that you visited, the date you viewed the site and a series of summary dot points. Use the Research scaffold to record your information. Articles: Epping set for transformation as 54ha rezoned for housing and retail Sydney suburbs earmarked for high-rise blocks
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This is one of a series of posts on the Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project. Other posts in the series include: Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project (CCP) - Intro Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Research Techniques Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Evaluation Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Use augmented reality Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Create a multi-level game Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Create a sustainability video Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Build a sustainability app Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Design a sustainability city or town Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project - Overview For a more student-friendly layout visit the Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project website. How can we make our community more sustainable? The Sustainability Cross-Curriculum project is a compulsory project for all Year 7 students., facilitated by several days of activities which will build student knowledge about sustainability as well as ongoing lessons. The Cross Curriculum Project will be completed in groups of no more than 4 students. All Year 7 students will attend the Youth Eco Summit, and attend a range of workshops to learn about sustainability in a range of different situations.
Working in groups Who are the members of your group? Write down the names and email address of each of your group members. How can you be a good group member? - put forward ideas and explain them clearly - listen to other peoples' point of view - express how you feel but don't attack others - ask questions to find out more about other's ideas and encourage others to express their feelings - maintain a positive attitude and encourage your other group members to do the same be sensitive to other peoples' feelings Will you be a good group member? What skills and characteristics do you have which will make you a good group member? Create a list. Working effectively in your group To ensure that your group is productive you must maintain a good group dynamic. To do this you need to have a number of important skills within your group. Solve common group work problems: Before you begin your group work, create a set of group rules. These may include things like: everyone must contribute, listen to each other, and show group members respect. It is up to you what your group rules are, but if you take some time to develop a good set of group rules you group work should be more effective over the course of the project. Learn how to provide constructive feedback: Don't make comments about another person, rather make comments that relate to the task that they are working on. For example, don't say, "You are lazy", instead say "We really need the piece of writing you are working on". Provide feedback early so that the person doesn't feel like they have wasted a lot of time. Try to give positive feedback as well as negative feedback. Have detailed discussions: In group discussions, take it in turns to speak. If your group is having trouble coming up with ideas you may need to spend more time reading, brainstorming, making notes and reflecting on the topic or problem. Consider spending some time working individually and then coming back to the group discussion. Manage the group: An important part of managing your group is to create and stick to work plans. Create a flow chart of all of the different parts of the project that need to be completed. Each of these parts will require your group to complete a list of specific jobs (typing notes, brainstorming ideas, etc). Create a detailed list of all the jobs that need to be done and allocate the jobs to group members. Be sure that no individual group member is overburdened with too many jobs to do. Practising group work Play Pictionary using words related to sustainability. Provide constructive criticism to the group members that draw the pictures. Imagine that you were going to make a model of the Eiffel Tower. Create a flow chart showing all the different parts to making the model. Create a list of jobs that would have to be done to complete the model. The end product.... In your group you need to think about what the overall aim of your project will be. The options to choose from are below: Design a city or town showing how you could incorporate a range of different sustainable technologies and techniques which would maintain a growing population for 50 years. Read more... OR Create a 5 minute video about sustainability in the Epping community. Read more... OR Develop a visual representation of a design using graphics programs. Import the graphics into augmented reality software to represent the design in the location or to augment the information in certain contexts. Read more... OR Create an app to teach the community about sustainable practices they can implement in their home. Read more... OR Create a multi-level game which explores the consequences of not using sustainable practices in the Epping community. Read more... For more information, click on the idea to find out about the process of creating that particular product.
What is sustainability?
Sustainability is development which meets the needs of the present population without endangering the capacity of future generation to meet their needs. It incorporates three main principles: economic development, environment protection and social and cultural well-being. Each of these three principle is considered equally important, and act as a criteria to judge new development against. View sustainability infographic. Central Park, Ultimo Central Park is a development on the site of the old Kent Brewery at Ultimo. The development has been hailed as the next step in sustainable design. It has incorporated a grand-scale eco-design from its inception, includes vast areas of public space, is pedestrian friendly, and has retained some heritage elements. It has done all this while at the same time creating what will be a booming commercial and residential area in the heart of Australia's busiest city. Grand-scale Eco-design The design of several of the buildings incorporate huge vertical gardens designed by Patrick Blanc. Frames of growing plants are being constructed around the walls and roofs or the buildings. Eventually as they growing the gardens on the walls and roofs will grow into each other to cover the buildings. An issue associated with the creation of GRW is rhe need for water. It is important that they do not just create another burden on water. In Central Park they have installed a water recycling system to be used to water plants. Green roofs and walls - City of Sydney. Read more... Planting the town green. Read more... David Suzuki's vision for a sustainable city Parking spots make way for bus lanes. The title for this blogpost came from a comment Dermot O'Gorman made in his presentation at the Eco Expo last weekend (you can read my post Living in Harmony with Nature for more information). As I listened to his presentation I was typing away on my iPad and yes I did tweet. I was a little taken aback by the comment because I have used twitter to connect with environmental groups, researchers, other geography teachers and whole range of like-minded people. As a teacher, Twitter has given me access to current research in education, geography and science, newspaper articles from around the world and discussions on a whole range of issues. It came as a bit of shock to think that maybe sharing all this information wasn't actually achieving anything beyond my own classroom.
Last week as the new Federal government axed the Climate Commission and moved forward with plans to cut the carbon tax, I saw a plethora of disheartened people conversing, but it seemed that everyone was feeling a little helpless and depressed. Links to a few petitions regarding the axing of the Climate Commission were making the rounds, but they were interspersed with a number of other petitions about new government policies (NBN, cuts to universities, etc). O'Gorman's comment came back to me. Is all this discussion actually going to get anywhere? At midnight, a new twitter and facebook account opened - the Climate Council. People were invited to sign up and donate money to get the Climate Council off the ground. Made up of many of the same people as the Climate Commission, this group are set to continue the work of the Climate Commission without using federal government money. So many people signed up and tried to donate that the twitter account got suspended several times and the facebook account kept requiring captcha requests to ensure that the popularity and spread of the site was legitimate. In the first 13 hours they had raised $160,000 to get the council up and running, and by the end of the day they had reached over $247,000. This is a great example of how the virtual world can create real change in the real world. Read more... Scientists say climate cuts leave public in the dark. Support for Climate Council takes off. Climate Council Above: Photo from the Central Park sales building. Yesterday I attended a forum on the use of green walls and roofs in Sydney. The forum was part of the Sydney Design series and put on by the Powerhouse Museum and City of Sydney Council. This was an examination of the issues associated with city living, the need for sustainability to be considered in city design, and the solutions offered by green roofs and walls. The presenters were Sacha Coles, a director at landscape architecture firm ASPECT Studios, professor Stuart White, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures, and Lucy Sharman, Senior Project Officer Green Roofs and Walls, City of Sydney. I will attempt to do justice to their ideas. What is a green roof? Structurally a green roof consists of waterproofing, a membrane, soil and plants. To be considered as a "green roof" over 30% of the surface must be covered in vegetation. What is a green wall? The definition of a green wall is less restrictive. It can be something being grown up a wall (such as a vine), planter boxes next to a wall with plants reaching up and along the wall, or a vertical forest installation such as the work of Patrick Blanc. Urbanisation and sustainability An increasing proportion of people live in the world's cities. Initially we can see this as exacerbating the world's environmental problems with issues of housing demands, increased pressure on food supply from the farmland on the periphery of the city, photochemical smog, loss of open space, storm water pollution, and a raft of other problems. However, we need to think of cities as centres of sustainability. The increased density associated with city living can actually mean that cities can provide viable sustainability solutions. Increased densities result in decreased car dependency, easier transport solutions, less need to lay new roads, electrical lines and water (unlike new developments in new suburban areas on the outskirts of cities) . Architectural innovations such as green walls and roofs can provide cities with the ability to improve their capacity to feed themselves, filter their water and waste, and moderate temperatures associated with the urban heat island effect. Globally some cities are already making a grey to green transition. These include Chicago, Basel, London, Stuttgart.
How can governments encourage GRW? Some cities around the world have begun introducing incentive program's to encourage GRW. These include: - subsidies - fee reductions - reduced storm water & levee fees - density bonuses - awards - education programs - technical support and advice - mandatory legislation In Sydney there are still some barriers to widespread use of GRW. It is still quite poorly understood, there are technical issues and cost barriers, and industry is not quick to embrace it.
In the City of Sydney currently:
27 green walls 53 green roofs in Sydney 94,000msq At least one DA each week which incorporates a green wall or roof. Documents from the City of Sydney Council that support sustainability and Green roof and walls developments. - Sydney 2030 - Greening Sydney Plan 2012 - Green Roofs and Walls Strategy Check out other upcoming events at PowerHouse Museum as part of Sydney Design 2013. Relevance to the classroom So how can this information be integrated into the classroom? After all, this blog is supposed to be about teaching. If you are using Sydney as your large city case study in Year 12 Geography Urban Places, this fits in perfectly. I'm considering looking at Central Park specifically and how this development gives us some hope of the improved sustainability of development in the city. I will also tie it in with a number of other examples of development around the city. My previous blog about the Inner West Light Rail extension fits in well with this topic too. Click for lessons on Sustainability in Sydney for Yr 12. There is scope to look at cities and sustainability in the broad sense in Year 11 Geography when you are examining the Population topic and looking at social, economic and environmental impacts of population growth. This also ties in with some of the presentations at the Australian Geography Teachers Association Conference in January from Professor Peter Newman about the transformation of Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul and Singapore as a biophyllic city. You could also tie this in with Year 10 Geography Australia's Future as part of a broader discussion on sustainable development in Australia. Why not create a vertical garden in your classroom or somewhere in your school? Flower Power currently sell a frame and planters to create your own vertical garden. It is only about 1m by 1m and will cost about $300 to set up but it would be a great way to attract some attention to your faculty or even your school depending on the scale. You may even be able to access a grant from your local council. A key issue in the sustainability of Sydney is its car-dependence. Every improvement in public transport is a step towards improving Sydney's sustainability. The Inner West Light Rail Extension involves utilising former freight lines to extend light rail services from Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill. Community groups have also been lobbying for the continuation of a Greenway Trail along the light rail corridor to link up with the Cooks River cycleway. The combination of both light rail and the Greenway will encourage public transport use and cycling/walking both for recreation and commuting, reducing some of the car dependence in this part of Sydney. There are also plans to develop light rail between Circular Quay and Kingsford.
Inner West Light Rail Extension. Read... Greenway Trail. Read... NSW State Budget to give Sydney light rail project $75m funding boost. Read... More councils sign on to Sydney's extended light rail. Read... Stalled greenway corridor plan fades from Coalition's map. Read more.. Read more... |
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