Before I started the climate change topic, I had a vague understanding of the concepts. Throughout the lecture, my understanding between climate change and global warming, as I thought they were mostly the same thing. I also thought that the climate and weather were the same, but I now know that the climate is the average weather at a given point and time of year over a long period, whereas we expect the weather to change a lot from day to day.

The misconceptions that I had about climate change included the my thought that global warming meant that we would have warmer temperatures all year round. I now know that global warming means the fluctuation of weather, not just the weather getting warmer. I also know that the seasons are not fixed, that they blur together.

I have learned a lot in this module so far, which I will bring to the classroom. I have learned how our climate has changed, and how they measure the changes of the ice cover. Other interesting facts I have learned through this lecture is the effects of climate change to the world. for example, I now know the effect on agriculture includes the risk of crops being wiped out in low lying areas that suffer from flooring. Significant amounts of agricultural land on the edge of deserts become unusable, through the process of desertification. Sea levels are also effected, as the costal land is at risk and sea defences are under more stress.

After taking the “WWF Measure Your Footprint” quiz, my awareness has been increased of my own carbon footprint. From the results, it is clear that I could do more to reduce my carbon footprint. I have already taken steps to improving this. For example, I take the Bio-Bus when available and reduce the time I spend on public transport, choosing to walk when convenient. I also make sure to recycle whenever possible, and often reuse plastic bags.

 

Key learning:

I have learned what Sustainable Development means, and how it applies to the environment as a whole. I have also learned the definitions of concepts explored in the urban environment, while contemplating my own urban environment. Through this module, I am now more comfortable discussing different environmental issues in the classroom and would be able to lead several activities relating to various topics.

 

Impact on my views/lifestyle:

• Outside Learning- Through this module so far, I have begun to appreciate outdoor learning more as a means to grasp the attention of the pupils and make learning more enjoyable to young children. The benefits of working outdoors for a topic such as Sustainable Development are numerous. Children can experience animals in their natural habitat and see how they interact with the environment, are able to create links between different parts of the environment such as leaves to a tree or food to an animal and are also able to actively learn while benefiting their health. In the future, I will use this technique to enable the children to take a break from the limitations the classroom enforces. This will ensure that the children will become more engaged in learning and will increase the chances of recall later as they may find it more memorable.

• Awareness/knowledge expanded- Before this module started, my knowledge of the environment and sustainable development was limited. Now that I have had a few classes detailing the contents of the course, I now have  better understanding of the environment as a whole and have been able to complete tasks related to the topic thanks to the reading given to us beforehand. I now know more about human relationship with nature and the demand for finite resources, which is now greater than the supply. Thanks to this module, I know feel a bit more confident in teaching this topic in a classroom.

• Highly enjoyable- I have really enjoyed this module so far, and look forward to more classes. I found that I was more engaged and interested when we were being taught outside, and I would like to initiate this type of learning in a school in the future.

 

Areas of interest to explore further/develop:

• Science aspects of the module- Throughout Primary school I was always curious about science. I was particularly interested in the biology side of science, which I continued to study at Secondary school. I hope this module will allow me to study some science and enhance my knowledge of the subject in relation to the environment.
• School learning- I am interested to find out how schools teach this topic to pupils. I would like to know how the pupils of local schools interact with the environment during school times, how they act as a community and how that affects their local environment.

 

• as a community and how that affects their local environment