I attended the Department of Education’s STEM Showcase (see the tweet feed at #STEMShowcase). In case you’ve been living under a rock – STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. STEM is clearly a movement that is gaining momentum, and my question is where does geography fit into this? Or History? Or Commerce? I have been trying to think of a new acronym to get us in on this movement. If you have any ideas, please let me know. What occurred to me is how many of these STEM projects have very obvious crossovers with humanities subjects, particularly geography. This post will look at a few of the presentations that I saw today and some ideas of how humanities subjects could also be included.

Baulkham Hills High School – Weather TECH
 
Students created a STEM project involving the construction of a weather station. This involved a design process, coding of the equipment, manufacturing the equipment with a 3D printer, and collecting and analysing weather data.
 
In the Science faculty, this was undertaken as part of a student research project. In TAS, students developed skills in using CAD and CAM software and Arduino to design, code and create the equipment. In Maths, students' skills were developed in analysing and presenting the vast amount of weather data collected. Students (and teachers) successfully created a working model with equipment collecting weather data every second. The real world applications to agriculture were emphasised.
 
In the new NSW Geography syllabus the WeatherTECH project would fit easily within the Water In the World topic, particularly Water resources and the Water cycle. It also addresses fieldwork requirements – using weather instruments.
 
Examine the WeatherTECH project site.
 
Bellingen High School - Survive the Shake
 
The topic of this STEM project was earthquake proof buildings. Students designed, produced and evaluated a multi-storey building with a small fooprint, which was specified. Students were provided with a design process to follow which provided a scaffold to follow during project. Students were required to use cheap materials such as straws, toothpicks, marshmallows, etc to create a model of their buildings. Building designs were tested on an earthquake shake table created by the teachers.
 
In the Science faculty, the project tied into content related to earthquake size and magnitude, damage and destruction and prediction of quakes. In Maths it tied in with content related to geometry, 3D design shapes and budgets. The construction of the buildings and the design process involved the TAS faculty.
 
In the new NSW Geography syllabus the Survive the Shake project would fit into Landforms and Landscapes, particularly Geomorphic hazards. This could easily incorporate the inquiry based learning skills in the syllabus.
 
Examine the Survive the Shake project site.
  
Riverside Girls High – Post-Earth Survival
 
The girls at Riverside completed a STEM project examining the requirements to sustain life. Students explored the universe and designed a colony suitable for sustaining life on another planet. Students focused on: What do humans need to survive?
 
The project used a design process from the TAS faculty and this was used to determine project milestones. TAS introduced the students to the tools they would need to complete the project such as Sketch Up, 3D printing, etc.
Students brainstormed what it would be like if they were locked inside their house and had to stay there for 2-3 years. What would they need? What would they have to change? Students collected data on energy and water use in their own homes. From a Maths perspective students had to develop problem solving and reasoning skills, as well as data analysis. The project also incorporated the EcoMuve program from Harvard University. Assessment and presentation involved peer review and feedback.
 
In the new NSW syllabus the Post-Earth Survival project would fit into Place and Liveability, particularly Influences and perceptions. This could also incorporate the inquiry based learning skills in the syllabus.
 
Examine the Post-Earth Survival project site.

Promoting Geography and boosting numbers
A lot of time, effort and money is being spent on promoting STEM to our students. As Geography teachers, we are constantly looking for ways to promote our subject and boost senior numbers. There are plenty of ways to do this, but I think getting involved in STEM projects or at least other cross curriculum projects might be one idea that is worth a bit more consideration.

The Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project was a compulsory task for all students in Year 7 at Epping Boys High School in Term 2014. It was facilitated by project lessons once a fortnight as well as several days of activities supporting learning about sustainability and the technology tools that would help students to complete the project. The project was completed in small groups of between 3 and 5.

Students had a choice of how to present their projects. These choices are outlined below.
• Design a city or town showing how you could incorporate a range of different sustainable technologies and techniques that would maintain a growing population for 50 years.
• Create a 5 minute video about sustainability in the Epping community.
• Create an app to teach the community about sustainable practices they can implement in their home.
• Create a multi-level game that explores the consequences of not using sustainable practices in the Epping community.
• Develop a visual representation of a sustainable design using a graphics program. Import the graphic into augmented reality software to represent the design in a suitable location, or to augment the information in certain contexts.

A project website was designed to provide students with additional resources and explanations and links to tutorials.

Projects skills development: Academic Principles, Collaborative Learning, Thinking and Research skills

Students began the project by discussing the importance of being a good group member. The group structure was a valuable aspect of the project and supported the school’s student welfare program. Boys were encouraged to work collaboratively with their peers, participate fully in group discussions and practice conflict resolution techniques in managing their group. Creative thinking skills were modeled in the whole class setting, and in the presentation of the project to students, by way of using different techniques to brainstorm ideas, categorise and present information. Research techniques were examined including how to source quality information, use different search engines and summarise information. Students were provided with research scaffolds to begin recording information from their reading about their chosen topic. Referencing, citing sources and plagiarism were discussed and students were given access to referencing guides, videos and referencing scaffolds to support their project. After the students were taught each section of relevant information they were asked to apply their knowledge to the development of the project. In doing so, they gradually developed their project throughout the term in an academically rigorous, but supported way. 

Youth Eco Summit
Students attended the Youth Eco Summit, an annual event organised by Sydney Olympic Park, the Department of Education and Communities and 
the University of Western Sydney. The timing of the Sustainability Project in Term 4 was intended to take advantage of this event. The festival-style event provided students with the opportunity to attend workshops, engage with interactive displays, participate in seminars and watch student presentations. All of the activities focused on environmental, cultural and economic sustainability. The event included video conferencing opportunities for remote schools. It also used this technology to provide students with access to experts from around the globe through interviews and web chats.
Environmental Education Centres, universities and community organisations ran stalls and workshops on topics such as solar cars, bicycle power generation, composting and waste management. The day was organised to allow groups to attend up to three pre-booked workshops. This allowed flexibility and choice for groups to explore the myriad activities that were scheduled across the venue. The workshops engaged the students in hands-on, interactive activities, and emphasised the real world, practical application of student learning about sustainability.

In the lead up to the Youth Eco Summit professional learning sessions were run at Sydney Olympic Park to increase teacher capacity in delivering content related to sustainability. ​

Project development: Scaffolding the project creation process
A project creation process was replicated across each of the five project options to ensure that students developed their ideas in a logical sequence. Students examined and reviewed existing examples of their chosen end-product, for example existing games or videos about sustainability. They then brainstormed their own ideas for the creation of an original product. Students were provided with basic scaffolds to plan the creation of the project including relevant subject content. Links to relevant tutorials, videos and online resources were provided to allow students to further develop their skills and knowledge. 
See examples of research scaffolds provided to students on pages 32 and 33. Examples of scaffolds to assist the creation stage of the project.

Technology and technique workshops
Students spent a day attending technology and technique workshops to provide them with some of the technical skills to be able to complete their project. Staff from a variety of faculties volunteered their time to run the workshops. The technology sessions included Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere and app design. A group of Year 10 students also led the students through the use of digital game design using Kudo with the assistance of a teacher. Technique workshops included sessions on dramatic techniques and model building. These sessions were important to develop essential skills in students to become, “…creative and productive users of technology, especially ICT…” ,(p8, MCEETYA, 2008), and to ensure that any existing deficiencies in technology would not hinder the creation of the project.

Presentation and reflection
Students presented their projects in front of a class of their peers in the school auditorium. Students used websites such as appmakr.com, appypie.com and iBuildapp to create app prototypes. Many of the students used the skills they had developed in the technology workshops to create sustainability games in kodu. SketchUp was most commonly used to create a city model. Several groups created high quality videos. Interestingly, none of the groups chose to present their project as augmented reality. Augmented reality is where a student is able to present a computer-generated image so that it appears to be placed in the real world. This is usually done using apps such as Aurasma. 

This may reflect the need for additional support in understanding and mastering augmented reality apps. 

Students were required to present a written report to make a judgement on how sustainable their community is at present, and how their project would contribute to its sustainability into the future. It was in this section of the project that evidence of cross curriculum thinking was most evident. Students were expected to explicitly state the links between their chosen subjects, sustainability and their project end-products. Students chose to present their evaluations in a variety of forms such as Prezi, PowerPoint, oral presentations and written report.

Students were given a set of questions to guide a reflection on their learning. Many students described issues with working within a group structure, time management and workload. They also indicated a deep understanding of the concept of sustainability and its relevance in a range of contexts.

Project rationale
The rationale for the project was to provide an alternative methodology to the traditional secondary pedagogic model, where concepts are taught in subjects often with limited connections to other fields of study. In line with the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008) and the Department of Education and Communities’ Middle Years Transition Matrix there was a desire to develop cross curricular thinking and an ability to solve problems by drawing on a range of disciplines. It is also a way of meaningfully incorporating principles of 21st century learning, and facilitating professional dialogue across faculties about the Australian Curriculum’s Cross Curriculum Priorities. This project aimed to foster collaborative and inquiry-based learning, to encourage social activity and cohesion between classes, and to give students the opportunity to extend themselves and explore their own interests. The project was the first implementation of this concept across a whole year group at Epping Boys High School.

​Why Sustainability?
The topic of the project was selected from the Cross Curriculum Priorities developed by ACARA for the Australian Curriculum and adopted by the BOSTES in the new NSW syllabuses. For 2014 the topic of sustainability needed to be incorporated into all the Phase 1 subjects for implementation (Math, English, History and Science). As the new syllabuses are released for the Phase 2 and 3 subjects, sustainability will also need to be incorporated. The Department of Education and Communities’ NSW Policy, Implementing the Environmental Education Policy in your schools (2001) has previously provided 
a framework for and specified methods of integrating environmental sustainability in teaching across the curriculum. For this project the subjects that are addressed are Science, Geography, Timber, Metal, Drama and Technology. 
The topic of sustainability provided a great platform for a project to have real world application. The main inquiry question for the Sustainability Project was “How can we make our community more sustainable?”. This enabled students to engage with issues and developments at 
a range of scales from their immediate community to national and global contexts. It also provided a pathway for students to become more informed citizens who are actively engaged with their community.

​Why implement a Cross Curriculum Project?
The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians determines a nationally consistent direction for Australian schools and provides guiding principles to shape future planning. One of the key ideas of the declaration is enhancing middle years development by giving students the opportunity to move across subject areas in the development of new expertise and the ability to solve problems that draw upon a range of learning areas and disciplines (MCEETYA, 2008). The Sustainability Project incorporated subject content and skills from a range of Key Learning Areas as well as several of the General Capabilities identified by ACARA and adopted by BOSTES. Students were asked to explicitly integrate content from two subjects chosen from TAS, Geography and Science, however depending on choice end-products also incorporated Technology and Drama. Students were required to demonstrate literacy skills in the two pieces of written work to accompany the project.

Students were provided with a Wordle (examples are provided next to each subject) and a list of modified, relevant syllabus content for each subject (TAS, Geography and Science) from Stage 4 syllabuses. This was a means to spark student thinking, to encourage connections between subjects and to provide the opportunity for students to choose topics of most interest. For Science, the new BOSTES syllabus incorporating the Australian Curriculum was used. 
​
In Geography content was drawn from the existing BOSTES syllabus, but some content from the draft new BOSTES syllabus was also used. For TAS, the existing 

BOSTES syllabus was used. The implication of this is that if the project is to be used again in the future it will need to evolve to transition to all new syllabuses as they are released. 
The suggested content related to Geography includes introductory concepts related to sustainability such as the importance of physical environments (air, flora and fauna, soils, solar energy and water), the operation of ecosystems, and renewable, non-renewable and continuous resources. Content from the existing Geography syllabus includes the interaction between human and physical environments, and the way humans, including indigenous groups, interact with the environment. Content that has been incorporated from the draft BOSTES Geography syllabus includes the availability of fresh water resources, potential sources of freshwater, and the environmental, social and economic effects of water movement as it connects places.

The TAS (Metal and Timber) courses mirror each other in the way they deal with sustainability. Relevant content includes issues related to sustainability in the metal/timber industry, examples of renewable and non-renewable resources in the timber/metal industry, the role of recycling in metal/timber industries, and the effects of the metal/timber industry on the environment.

The project incorporates several of the General Capabilities developed by ACARA and adopted by BOSTES including critical and creative thinking, ethical understanding, information and communication technology (ICT) capability, literacy and personal 
and social capability. The project requires students to critically analyse and draw conclusions about the sustainability of their community and evaluate how their project contributes to sustainability. Students employed creative thinking by generating original ways to encourage or address sustainability, refining their ideas, and producing end-products in a variety of formats such as video, digital games, augmented reality, models or apps. The topic of sustainability inherently requires students to undertake ethical judgments regarding issues of resource allocation, fairness, equity and the actions of individuals and groups. The project structure also incorporated ethical understanding related to academic principles and research techniques. Collaborative use of ICT was used for the purpose of creating and presenting solutions to complex problems. A formal literacy activity was included as one of the supporting documents to be handed in with the project. This was scaffolded and explicitly explained to provide support for students requiring learning support including EAL/D students. Personal and social capability was addressed by the project in the fact that students had to work in groups and manage themselves and their relationships with their peers to bring the project to fruition. Students needed to communicate, collaborate and negotiate in order to navigate the project.
Teachers led a class of approximately 30 students, or seven groups. The teachers were selected to provide a range of cross-disciplinary expertise and as such came from a range of faculties. Additional teachers provided support through the provision of technology and technique workshops. Throughout the various stages of the project faculties represented included Social Science, Science, CAPA, TAS, PDHPE, and Math. 

Student grouping
Epping Boys High School has classes in Year 7 roughly streamed. One class is selected by way of the submission of a portfolio and is intended for students who are gifted and talented across a range of areas. One class is selected based on academic performance only and four classes are generally mixed. One of the mixed classes has a small number of students requiring learning and support and another has students requiring EAL/D support. There are also a small number of Year 7 students in the school’s Autism unit who took part in the program.

The Melbourne Declaration provides guidance on the types of learning to be encouraged, and the skills to be developed in students. It outlines that students should develop the ability to plan activities independently, collaborate in teams, and develop the capacity to work with others (MCEETYA, 2008). For the Sustainability Cross Curriculum Project students were grouped heterogeneously, including students from a range of classes and with a variety of abilities and skills. The intention behind this was to best support the learning and social development of all students (Hayes Jacobs, 2010) and to vary the loose ability groupings to address any “…negative social-emotional impacts…” (p143, Whitten et al, 2009) of the current class structures. Each group contained a student from one of the gifted and talented classes. These students had completed a Cross Curriculum Project of their own choice earlier in the year and had been involved in programs specifically designed to foster critical and creative thinking and problem solving skills. These students acted as group mentors and leaders.
​
The study of sustainability requires students to actively engage in real world problems, is futures focused, and inspires students to find ecologically and socially just solutions. As such it is an inherently positive learning experience, empowering students with the knowledge of how to shape their community.

I recently received a copy of Australian Curriculum Geography - A diverse and connected world. This is a new resources from RIC Publications for teaching the Australian Curriculum for Year 6 students. The resource is designed for students and teachers around Australia, and addresses the Australian Curriculum (not the new NSW syllabus or any other variation). 

The resource is more in the style of an activity book rather than a text book. The front section contains photocopiable black and white masters including a world map, a map of Asia, a map of Australia and South-East Asia and a map specifically of Bali. It also provides scaffolds for researching environmental changes, researching places and an interview recording sheet.

The Geographical skills class record is a great addition to the resource. It is actually for teachers rather than students, and it allows teachers to record student progress in achieving skills. It also includes a grid which maps out how the book addresses skills, inquiry questions, general capabilities and cross curriculum priorities, so that teachers can teach without having to specifically worry about how or whether they have addressed these.

The activities comprehensively cover each of the curriculum dot points and elaborations. It generally uses the specific examples in the curriculum rather than reinterpreting the elaborations. The resource provides comprehensive activities, additional links to websites and videos. It provides a list of relevant vocabulary words for each section as well as a column on some pages specifying how the activities relate to the Australian Curriculum including the elaborations, key inquiry questions, geographical inquiry and skills and geographical concepts. While the book is in black and white most pages are laid out in a way to reduce large chunks of text. Many of the pages contain clear maps, tables, graphs
 and drawings to make the pages look engaging. 

There are multiple choice quiz questions at the back of the book which relate to each the the Australian Curriculum elaborations. Answers to both the multiple choice and the written responses throughout the book are included. 

English Skills Practice Trial Booklets

I also received copies of the English Skills Practice Trial booklets. for Years 1, 3 and 5. Given that Literacy is one of the General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum these type of activity books can be useful for integrating literacy into teaching Geography and other HSIE subjects. They can give teachers a few different approaches for integrating literacy into our teaching. 

​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. 

​Research and review sustainable cities
Research and review cities around the world that are considered as sustainable, or which have begun incorporating sustainable practices on a large scale. What strategies have they used to improve their sustainability? Have these initiatives been effective? Do they need improvement? What lessons could you learn from these cities? What are some aspects of sustainability that haven't yet been addressed?

Brainstorm sustainable city solutions
As a group, write down all of your ideas for creating your sustainable city. Try to be original and innovative. Include all of your ideas, even the ones that might seem silly. Brainstorming allows you to get a whole range of ideas down on paper before narrowing your ideas down to the best and most practical options. Consider the weaknesses of existing sustainable cities and try to come up with original solutions to these problems.

Plan and visually map your city
Once you have developed your idea you can start to plan your city. How will your city be laid out? What materials will you need? Consider how you will integrate information about sustainability and/or your specific topic. Use the city scaffold to help you plan your city.

Write labels and signage
Write the content for your city signage and create labels to tell the public about the sustainability initiatives in your city. Your model should incorporate content related to the subjects you have chosen and the issue of sustainability in general.

Create your city
You may use a range of hands-on techniques related to model making to help you build your city. You should use recyclable materials as much as possible to reduce costs. Your model should be no bigger than 1m X 1m X 1m, and should include at least one moving part to indicate power use. You are free to use batteries in your model equipment, but are not allowed to plug anything in. 

​Resources:
Spayneville paper city models
Model skyscraper city in n-scale

Create an app to teach the community about sustainable practices they can implement in their home.

​Review existing apps about sustainability
Do a quick online search to find available apps about sustainability or more specifically about your topic. If the apps are free you might like to download them and try them out. If the apps costs money you might choose to read reviews about the apps rather than pay for them. Are these apps enjoyable, informative or entertaining?  What are the positive aspects of the apps? Are there some aspects which could be improved? 

Brainstorm app ideas
As a group, write down all of your ideas for creating your own app. Try to be original and innovative. Include all of your ideas, even the ones that might seem silly. Brainstorming allows you to get a whole range of ideas down on paper before narrowing your ideas down to the best and most practical options. 

Use the app scaffold to design your app
Once you have developed your idea you can start to plan how it will unfold on-screen. In the app scaffold, plan the screen displays of your app. Keep the screen simple, rather than including too much text or complex visuals. Remember that you will also need an app icon.

Write the content for your app
Once you have decided on the structure of your app it is time to develop the content (or text). How much detail do you want to include? What is the purpose of the app? Write your content, and then read it several times and edit it. Text in an online format should have short sentences. If you use complex words they should link to a definition on another screen. 

Source or make your images
What images will you need for your app? You might be able to find some copyright free images from Wikicommons or similar sites, but you will still need to give attribution. This means that you will need to say somewhere in your app where you obtained the images from. You may choose to use a graphics software program to create your own images. Programs you could use include Photoshop and Fireworks.

Create an app map
Before you start to build your app it is a good ideas to map out how each of the screen link together. Create a diagram with boxes and arrows to show how the app will work. 

Create your app
If you are short on time or you aren't very technologically proficient, you may choose to display your ideas for an app in PowerPoint or Captivate. If you would like an extra challenge, you may choose to actually build your app. You can use AppsBar, Google App Inventor, iBuildApp or Appsme.

Resources
You may find the following links helpful in helping you to build your app.
Apps in Education: App Building Tools for Teachers and Students
A great tool for students to create their own Android apps
App Maker for iPhone and Android
Coding in the Classroom: 10 tools students can use to design apps and video games

​Create a 5 minute video about sustainability in the Epping community.

​Review short films about sustainability
Do a quick online search to find short videos about sustainability or more specifically about your topic. Are these videos enjoyable, informative or entertaining?  What are the positive aspects of the videos? Are there some aspects which could be improved? 

Brainstorm video ideas
As a group, write down all of your ideas for creating your own video. Try to be original and innovative. Include all of your ideas, even the ones that might seem silly. Brainstorming allows you to get a whole range of ideas down on paper before narrowing your ideas down to the best and most practical options. 

Use the scaffold to plan your video
Once you have developed your idea you can start to plan how it will unfold on-screen. In the video scaffold, plan the scenes of your video. Try not to make each scene too long. You want to make sure that the viewer does not become bored. 

Write your script
Once you have a rough idea of the sequence of your scenes it is time to develop your script. The script should include all of the dialogue for the video, information about the setting, the different characters and basic information about movement and actions.


Create your video
Learn your script or create cue cards. Film each scene several times so that you have some flexibility when you edit your video. Use video editing software to create your video.
Resources

The following resources may help you create your video. You will find tutorials to help you use video making software and articles to help you write your actual script. 

Best free video editing software: 9 top programs you should download
How to create a movie from start to finish with iMovie
How to use Windows Movie Maker: 10 Steps
7 rules for writing short films
How to write a good short film script
The short guide to making an awesome short - Part 1: Scripting

Review games about sustainability
Do an online search to find available games about sustainability or more specifically about your topic. If the games are free you might like to download them and try them out. If the games costs money you might choose to read reviews about the games rather than pay for them. Are these games enjoyable, informative or entertaining?  What are the positive aspects of the games? Are there some aspects which could be improved? 

Brainstorm game ideas
As a group, write down all of your ideas for creating your own game. Try to be original and innovative. Include all of your ideas, even the ones that might seem silly. Brainstorming allows you to get a whole range of ideas down on paper before narrowing your ideas down to the best and most practical options. 

Plan and visually map the game
Once you have developed your idea you can start to plan how it will unfold on-screen. In the game scaffold, plan the levels or scenes of your game. Start to think about the rules and scoring for the game. Consider how you will integrate information about sustainability and/or your specific topic.

Build a prototype
Build a prototype of your game. You might choose to use a program such as Scratch, Monogame, Phaser or Flixel. Ensure that you game has information about sustainability integrated into it.

Play test the game
Ask your friends to play your game and give you feedback. Consider their points and think about what changes might be necessary for the game to make it better. Keep in mind that a game must be enjoyable to play to be successful. 

Refine the game
Make revisions to your game based on the feedback you have received.
Resources

You might like to use the following resources to help you create your game.

Scratch
Game Develop

​Review existing sustainable products or initiatives
Research and review sustainable products and initiatives that already exist. How have the products or strategies improved sustainability? Are these products or initiatives effective? Do they need improvement? What lessons could you learn from these products or initiatives? What are some aspects of sustainability that haven't yet been addressed? 

Brainstorm new products or initiatives
As a group, write down all of your ideas for creating your new sustainable product or initiative. Try to be original and innovative. Include all of your ideas, even the ones that might seem silly. Brainstorming allows you to get a whole range of ideas down on paper before narrowing your ideas down to the best and most practical options. Consider the weaknesses of existing sustainable products and initiatives and try to come up with original solutions to these problems. 

Use the scaffold to plan your product or initiative
Once you have developed your idea you can start to plan your design and how it will be augmented. What will be the purpose and design of your product or initiative? What places will you use is the "context" (keep in mind that the teachers marking your product will need to see your augmented reality working)?
Consider how you will integrate information about sustainability and/or your specific topic. Use the augmented reality scaffold to help you plan your city.

An important part of the Cross Curriculum Project is that you incorporate information from a range of different subjects. You must choose to include information based on at least two subjects. You can get some inspiration from the subjects listed in the drop down menu under Evaluation, or by clicking on the links below:

• TAS
• Geography 
• Science

An evaluation is a judgement about something. When you complete your project, it is important that you don't just list information and write a description. An evaluation means that you need write some basic information about a topic, but then you also need to make a judgement about it. This might involve selecting the most sustainable product or the best solution to a problem.

Choose a general topic from the subjects pages. An example might be resources, water or timber. This topic will provide a focus for your end-product (game, app, video, etc). 

Task: Evaluate how your end-product will make our community more sustainable.

In answering this question consider:
·      How sustainable is your community at present?
·      How will your end-product make your community more sustainable?
·      How well does your end-product incorporate information from a range of subjects?
·      How well do the topics and subjects you’ve chosen relate to the idea of sustainability?

Only one evaluation needs to be submitted per group. You should all contribute to the writing of the evaluation. Attached to this page is a drafting page that you can use to formulate your ideas, but you will need to type up the final copy.

Writing your evaluation
Your evaluation should be set out with an introduction and conclusion and several body paragraphs.

Writing your introduction
Your introduction should:
- be general
- outline the main themes of the report
- use geographical terms, and
- use key terms from the question.

Writing your body paragraphs
Use the TEEL model to help you write each paragraph. Each paragraph should be about one main theme. The Topic sentence should be a general statement that gives the reader an idea of what the paragraph will be about. The Explanation expands on the topic sentence and provides detail about the paragraph theme. Provide an Example that supports the main themes of your paragraph. Lastly, write a sentence that provides a Link to the question. This sentence will use key terms from the question.

Writing your conclusion
The conclusion should:
- refocus the reader on the question
- bring together all of the main points of the evaluation, and 
- provide a brief summary of the report. 

Editing your work
Spend some time editing your work. Check that it conveys the main messages that you want to get across. Consider the following checklist:
My sentences contain a verb and a noun.
I have spelled all words correctly.
I have used capital letters for proper nouns.
I have used capital letters for the beginning of all sentences. 
I have completed all sentences with a full stop.
I have used commas, questions marks, exclamation marks and full stops in appropriate places.

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.
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Articles:
Epping set for transformation as 54ha rezoned for housing and retail

Sydney suburbs earmarked for high-rise blocks