The purpose of this weeks lecture and tutorials was to explore climate change. In the lecture, we learned that the definition of climate is an average weather given at a point and time of year, over a long period (typically 30 years).  What I didnt know what that we expect the weather to change a lot from day to day but we expect the climate to remain relatively constant. I thought that our every day weather was our climate and could change daily. When our climate does change and doesn’t remain constant – we call this climate change. Within climate change we discussed the debate about whether it is man made or natural. Personally, I am still unsure about my stance on this, but I do know that now, the effects of climate change are greatly due to human activity.

We also learned about how a climate change is detected and some examples of this are weather recordings, ice cores, rocks and fossils and analysis of pollen and trees. We then discussed the effects and impacts of climate change on the world and I realised how distressing these can be to our environment. One example which really shocked me was agriculture. Through climate change, deserts and areas of land can become completely unstable through desertification. In addition to this, costal land becomes at risk, sea defences become under stress and crops are wiped out due to flooding. Because of all of the huge effects climate change has on us as people and the environment, it really relayed to me how important it is to teach the next generations about how they can help these situations.

For our first tutorial, we went back to the science labs with Andrew to learn about biomes. Biomes are a large area of land and vary from grassland, rainforest and tundra.

We were then given a biome – desert- and were asked to fill in a worksheet on how we would survive on a desert if there was a plane crash and we were stranded there. This helped me understand the biome in much more depth and when we were thinking about ways to survive, we had to consider the climate and resources that a desert posses.

After this, we moved round stations to further explore climate change. One of the stations was exploring temperature. There was a large tank of room temperature water. We then filled up two cups with water – one with hot water and one with cold. We identified the temperatures by using red and blue food colourings. When we dropped both cups in the tank, we seen that all of the hot water raised to the top of the tank, whilst the cold water sank to the bottom. This activity – although it has a deeper meaning – allows children to visually and interactively see the hot water rising and cold water sinking,

The second tutorial took a political stance on climate change and discussed the links between them. We were given some government policies, and discussed their effectiveness. We were then given a location and role and as a government, had to discuss the methods to help this individual. My groups situation was a single mother living in Queensland. Upon research we found that due to rising temperatures, there are a lot of forest fires in Queensland, and to stop this, an idea we had was to invest more in our fire prevention and brigade services.

I never thought that learning about climate change would affect me as much as it has. I never knew that our actions could have such an impact on the wider world. As a future educator, I will make sure to educate children on this issue through fun, creative ways like we have experienced in university.

On our first day of sustainable development I really had no idea what to expect. In our lecture we talked about what the purpose of the module was in education, what sustainable development is and how we can teach our children – as future educators – about the impact we are having on our environment. The Scottish Government have defined sustainable development as ‘The goal of sustainable development is to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations’ (Gov.scot, 2017). As our children are the next generation, it is our job to educate and inform them of actions they can take to improve our world.

In our first workshop we went to the science lab with Andrew where mini stations were set up for us to try. These stations were examples of activities we could do with children to teach them about their environment. The stations included dissecting flowers and viewing them through microscopes, analysing snails and discussing misconceptions. We also went outside to the University’s Japanese garden to learn about different types of trees. To do this wee took tree rubbings and leaf rubbings. I think this could be a great way to get children interested as it takes them outside the classroom in a creative and exciting way.

After this, we went outside with Louise and had various tasks to complete. The first task my group opted for was an insect checklist. We went around our university environment and tried to find insects in the grass and in the ‘bug hotel’. We then done the same for lichen, we went around looking for the different typed checking them off on our worksheet. Our last activity was to go a walk around the gardens of the university, being mindful and thinking about all of the things we experienced using our 5 senses. For the first time, I could hear things I couldn’t usually hear such as birds singing and leaves rustling. I think from all of these experiences and tasks, children in classrooms could have many sequences of follow up lessons. The activities could be transferred into maths with data collection, or into Literacy with creative writing.

These tutorials and activities have really made me have a think about outdoor learning in children. I researched this further so I could really explore the benefits that this style of teaching has on children. ‘Outdoor play also supports children’s problem-solving skills and nurtures their creativity, as well as providing rich opportunities for their developing imagination, inventiveness and resourcefulness'(lotc.org.uk, 2017). In the future, I will definitely make sure that my classes are taken outside frequently to allow them to optimise their learning and mindfulness in school.

References –

Gov.scot. (2017). Sustainable Development. [online] Available at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Environment/SustainableDevelopment [Accessed 30 Sep. 2017].

lots.org.uk. (2017). Benefits for Early Years of Learning Outside the Classroom. [online] Available at: http://www.lotc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Benefits-for-Early-Years-LOtC-Final-5AUG09.pdf [Accessed 30 Sep. 2017].

Since I can remember, the words ‘climate change’ have always been a controversial and topical issue. Many individuals have very strong opinions on this topic – which is to be expected – when this issue is the reasoning for extreme natural disasters, a rise in temperature and the endangerment of our animals. A huge debate, and potentially the most prevalent debate, is whether climate change is caused by nature or if it is man made. Recently, we discussed the recent tragedy of hurricane Irma. It travelled through Florida and the Caribbean and was to blame for taking many lives, homes and possessions. This tells us that despite the cause of climate change, it is a real issue that is happening and needs to be prevented.

Carbon Footprint

After using the WWF carbon footprint measure, I had a score of 183%. This was very surprising to me as it is a very high score. I think part of this is because I live at home and have never taken responsibility in energy saving measure in my own home. I also care share to university due to the price of public transport. If the government were to decrease the price of public transport, I would reduce my carbon footprint.

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009

This act is an Act of the Scottish Parliament to set a target for the year 2050. There is an intermediate target for 2020, and a target to also provide annual targets. These targets aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to educate on advice for Scottish Ministers relating to climate change and provides baselines for emissions. The Scottish Ministers must ensure that the net Scottish emissions account for the year 2050 is at least 80% lower than the baseline.  To me, I think its great to see that our country are taking actions to in trying to reduce the effects of climate change. For example, the introduction of the 5p plastic bag charge in October 5th 2015. This scheme predicted that their would be a carbon savings of £13 million Gov.uk. (2017). If I am being completely transparent, I never knew that this scheme would make as much of an impact. To think that such a small charge could potentially aid in saving the planet is an unquestionable change that is rightly implemented. From now on, I will always remember a bag for life and save the use of even more plastic bags.

As a future influencer in education, I will make sure to fully involve and expose my children to the dangers of climate change and help them with tips to aid in this prevention.

References-

Gov.uk. (2017). Carrier bags: why there’s a charge – GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/single-use-plastic-carrier-bags-why-were-introducing-the-charge/carrier-bags-why-theres-a-5p-charge [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].