EcoVoyageurs Junior Lesson Plans Grades 3-5

Description

The EcoVoyageurs Junior grades 3-5 lesson plans focus on educating students on the concept of their ecological footprint. The resource aims to create empathy and a knowledge base concerning the people, flora, and fauna that inhabit the places where students live and go to school. This knowledge and empathy will lead to positive actions in their personal, family, school and community lives. Each grade unit consists of two parts:

a series of slide presentations and scripts to introduce the main concept of each lesson's theme - Introduction to Ecological Footprints, Water, Transportation, Energy, Food and Garbage.
a series of lesson plans, including student activities and worksheets. Each lesson plan provides background information, learning outcomes and guidelines on how to implement the program in the classroom. The lesson plans expand on the slide presentation themes.

Students will:

participate in outdoor/nature-based activities
play an outdoor game about habitat loss
learn to make choices that can help reduce their ecological footprint
participate in a neighbourhood scavenger hunt about transportation
survey the school to look for energy wasters
discuss how far food has travelled before it gets to their table
examine their leftover lunches to identify the wasted food
experiment with water pollution simulations and carry out purification techniques
conduct a survey about transportation
experience four hours of energy-free living
research local food plants within a 100 km radius
purchase, cook and enjoy a 5N meal
plant garbage and periodically check its decomposition
create an environmental pledge
research ways to conserve water
investigate the environmental impact of using cars
simulate a walk across Canada
write a newspaper article
publish a cookbook of eco-friendly cleaners

The culminating activity challenges students to adopt five to ten actions that will reduce their Ecological Footprint. Students will be able to log on to the Count Yourself In website, www.ecovoyageurs.ca to track their actions.

General Assessment

Question	Response
What skills does this resource explicitly teach?	analyzing one's ecological footprint
What important, related ideas/issues are not addressed in this resource?	The government needs to raise public awareness of the impacts of our current consumption patterns. The responsibility and accountability of government agencies in tackling our ecological footprint and promoting sustainability is not discussed.
What important ideas are implied by the resource, but not taught explicitly?	The human race is steadily depleting many of the natural resources it depends on for survival.
To enhance this resource the following changes would be beneficial:	Modification of materials to accommodate diverse learners. Rubrics and checklists for assessment are needed.

Sustainability Education Principles

Principle	Rating	Explanation
Bias Minimization	Very Good	The self-discovery/investigative approach taken in this resource allows students to draw their own conclusions based on the information they gather in the classroom and outdoors. Students are not influenced to adopt any particular point of view.
Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions	Very Good	The resource addresses the environmental, social and economic dimensions of our ecological footprint.
Respects Complexity	Good
Action Experience	Very Good	The culminating activity challenges students to adopt five to ten actions that will reduce their Ecological Footprint. Students will be able to log on to the Count Yourself In website, www.ecovoyageurs.ca to track their actions.
Action Skills	Mediocre	The resource suggests age-appropriate skills students will need to take effective action but it does not explicitly teach them.
Empathy & Respect for Humans	Poor/Not considered	Not considered in this resource.
Personal Affinity with Earth	Good	This resource encourages teachers to help students learn to appreciate seasonal changes by getting outside year round.
Locally-Focused	Very Good	Students demonstrate an understanding of their relationship to the Ecological Footprint and they get the opportunity to adopt five to ten actions that will reduce their Ecological Footprint. Students learn the range of choices they can make to affect positive change in their own community environment.
Past, Present & Future	Good

Pedagogical Approaches

Principle	Rating	Explanation
Open-Ended Instruction	Very Good	Brainstorming, questioning, discussion, hands-on and reflection activities are included in the lesson plans. Students are encouraged to find as many answers or solutions as possible.
Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Learning	Good	Science Social Studies Art Language Arts
Discovery Learning	Good	Students are provided with many opportunities as well as intriguing questions to discover and build knowledge independently.
Values Clarification	Good	Students are given the opportunity to personally reflect on their actions; how they can make a difference and how it relates to things they care about.
Differentiated Instruction	Good	Lessons provide a good variety of discussion and brainstorming activities, individual and cooperative learning assignments, field trips, and reflection opportunities.
Experiential Learning	Good
Cooperative Learning	Good	Students practice cooperative learning skills while constructing the garden, planning,cooking and sharing a meal, and creating a transportaion survey.
Assessment & Evaluation	Good	The resource provides many assessment suggestions for the grade 4 and 5 students but does not provide any supporting rubrics or checklists.
Peer Teaching	Good	For the older students opportunities are provided to share their findings and present their knowledge to their peers.
Case Studies	Good	The resource provides interesting facts and statistics about Canada and our ecological footprint.
Locus of Control	Good	The resource provides many opportunities to extend the learning such as discussion and research questions, action activities, etc...

Relevant Curriculum Units

The following tool will allow you to explore the relevant curriculum matches for this resource. To start, select a province listed below.

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Alberta
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Ontario
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Quebec
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    - Living Things
  - Visual Art
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Saskatchewan
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Yukon Territory
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    - Environment
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EcoVoyageurs Junior Lesson Plans Grades 3-5

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Description

General Assessment

Sustainability Education Principles

Pedagogical Approaches

Relevant Curriculum Units

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EcoVoyageurs Junior Lesson Plans Grades 3-5

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Print this Resource

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Description

General Assessment

Sustainability Education Principles

Pedagogical Approaches

Relevant Curriculum Units

Brought to you by