Carbon Footprint Lesson

A busy lesson on carbon footprints that I used with a Year 9 class. As with most things, adaptable up or down in complexity depending on your needs. I designed this for 2 x 50 minute lessons (a double period). 

Objectives:

For students:

• To be able to define and explain ‘carbon footprints’.
• To understand the impact that their individual living choices have on the world (through calculating their own carbon footprints).
•  To be able to identify unsustainable components of their lifestyles.
• To be able to analyse and evaluate their lifestyles to come up with solutions and alternatives that are more sustainable.

Pedagogical Strategies & Thinking Routines:

•  Gardner: L-V, V-S, K, Ier, Ira, L-M, N
• Bloom: Remembering, Understanding, Analysing, Evaluating, Creating (this last one might be considered a little bit of a stretch - but students are coming up with solutions and ideas)
•  Group discussion, input and feedback
•  ICT
• TPS (Think, Pair, Share)
• Human Continuum

Introduction:

1. Show an image of a black footprint. Question students about the image (or images, if preferred). Collect ideas and possible definitions, refine and feedback to students to define the term 'carbon footprint'.

Developmental:

1. Have students complete a carbon footprint quiz on computers. There are a whole host of carbon footprint quizzes available on the internet (I'll post links to a number at the end of this post) but my favourite for use with students is the WWF Carbon Footprint Quiz. It divides consumption into easily identifiable areas, and illustrates the carbon footprint by visually displaying how many planets would be needed to sustain the user's lifestyle (a UK version is also available). 
2. Have students record their overall result as well as their percentage for each of the 4 areas mentioned in the quiz - ideally, do this on a piece of paper in large font. It'll be useful for the next activity. 
3. Time for a human continuum! Have students line up according to their consumption (most to least or vice-versa). Discuss results, concentrating on the students at each end to identify why their carbon footprints were large/small. 
4. Think and Pair: Break up into individuals, and then pairs to discuss solutions for assigned areas (I used travel, school, food and home). Students come up with ways to reduce their carbon footprint for their assigned areas.

Concluding:

1. Now for the 'Share' portion of the TPS: Have the pairs come up and contribute their ideas to the others. These could be collated on the board or on a computer using a program such as Prezi, Inspiration or Webspiration. 
2. A nice way to wind down the lesson is to conduct an 321:RIQ - have students think about things that they learned, what they found interesting (or insights), and any questions that they now have. 

If you're pressed for time, I would remove the human continuum and substitute a few minutes of asking students about their results. 

Resources: Paper, whiteboard, pens, computers, footprints image, and a projector

Other carbon footprint quizzes/calculators:

• Carbon Footprint.com's Calculator
• Carbon Neutral's Calculator
• Carbon Fund's Calculator
• Trees, Water and People's Calculator

If you do happen to use this lesson, please come back and let me know how it went! All suggestions and variations welcome.