The environment: Learning Log 1

In class, we looked at multiple things that are all part of the environment. We looked at plants and living things; how things grow, biodiversity and the structures of plants. We looked at planet earth; biodiversity and interdependence, energy sources and sustainability, processes of the plant and space. Lastly, we looked at the sustainability of the world.

Each workshop was extremely beneficial in reinforcing the notion of sustainability and why it should be taught in schools. My favourite part of the day was going on a sensory walk outside completely immersed in nature. For it to work you had to use all your senses (minus taste of course) and experience your surroundings like you’d never done before. It was amazing to see just how much of my environment I had blanked out for the past year. It was then discussed the ways in which you could incorporate this in to a lesson. What stood out to me most was the idea of sound graphs whereby you record a certain area at various times of the year and record whether there has been any change e.g. less bird noises, more traffic etc. This type of lesson could be done with topic work if you were doing something like the seasons as well as if you were learning about the environment.

The directed study task this week was to create a blog post on our own urban environment (can be seen in the previous post. We were encouraged to look at our environment in ways that we had never and really get out there and experience it. We were also to look at ways we could incorporate/develop a lesson on the environment to deliver it to a Primary 5 class.

 Skills that I have developed throughout the topic of the environment are:

  • Evaluation
  • Analysing
  • Researching
  • Observing
  • Reading
  • Listening

How does the environment relate to primary teaching?

The environment relates greatly to primary teaching. Within an educational context, it is important to teach young people about the environment and the damaging effects that certain thing have on it to try and make the world a better place and become more aware of their surrounding environment. Children are the future!

The Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes that relate to this are:

  • I can discuss the environmental impact of human activity and suggest ways in which we can live in a more environmentally responsible way. (SOC 2-08a)
  • I can consider the advantages and disadvantages of a proposed land use development and discuss the impact this may have on the community. (SOC 2-08b)
  • Having explored the ways journeys can be made, I can consider the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of transport, discussing their impact on the environment. (SOC 2-09a)

What has changed in my thinking?

Before starting this module, I had little to no knowledge on the environment, and what I did know was the basics taught from school. After both the lectures and workshops from last week and the directed study task from this week I can successfully say that I would be confident enough to teach a class about the environment and all the areas within it.

The word environment to me used to be synonymous with green places, forests, clean air, landscapes of vast areas etc. whereas now I am more aware that an individual’s environment can be many things, not just the stereotypical idea that comes to mind. The majority of the world’s population lives in cities (54%). That means that most people experience an urban environment in their daily lives. Unfortunately, that also means that cities need more energy to function and in turn will produce more pollution than that of the surrounding areas. A fact that I found to be very interesting was that 80% of gas and fuel emissions, which are the cause for global warming come from cities. That means that 46% of the world only produce 20% emissions. Therefore, to combat global warming, we could look into ways of making cities more sustainable and better places to live, rather than completely focusing on the whole world. To do this, governments would have to get the entire population to engage which may prove a challenge however the results would be extremely effective.

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