Key question
What are the issues around Climate Change?
Outline
These activities are enquiry based following the suggested enquiry process promoted in the Primary School Curriculum (SESE).
Preparation
These activities work best if children are familiar with enquiry approaches from geography, history and science through other activity. Please ensure the enquiry model (resource card no. 24) is on display and familiar to the children.
Deforestation
Deforestation
Courtesy of the EPADeforestation
Courtesy of the EPA
Courtesy of the EPA
Deforestation
Deforestation
Courtesy of the EPALearning outcomes
On completing these activities all children will be able to:
> describe the process of geographical enquiry;
> ask questions, collect data, present findings and write conclusions / evaluations; and
> explain the concepts of climate change, ozone depletion, peak oil and deforestation.
Resources
Enquiry sheets (Resource Cards nos. 24, 26)
Internet
Photographs selected from resource cards
Learning activities
1. Display, or copy and distribute, the Enquiry Planning Sheet (Resource Card no. 26).
2. Give each group a climate change topic to investigate.
3. Children then come up with at least one question each – more is fine. Questions are written onto strips of scrap paper. Children then group their questions together. Children decide on the ‘big’ questions from amongst their questions:
Oil refinery, Scotland
© istockphoto.com - Stephen Wilson
Oil refinery, Scotland
© istockphoto.com - Stephen Wilson
© istockphoto.com - Stephen Wilson
Oil refinery, Scotland
© istockphoto.com - Stephen Wilson
Sample questions:
> What is oil?
> Who owns the oil?
> How much oil is there?
> Where is oil?
> What are the problems with oil?
The key or ‘big’ question is actually the last one. Even though it is informal sounding, it has a number of characteristics of key enquiry questions:
> It encompasses all the other questions.
> It is a question that leads to other questions.
> It is a question that could be the basis of a number of lessons.
4. Ask each group to research the answer to their big question and select images from resource cards, or if possible – search ‘Images’ online to display images relating to their topic. (Note: This step should only be undertaken where the teacher is satisfied that an appropriate web content filter is being used e.g. the content filtering service provided by the National Centre for Technology in Education’s Schools Broadband Programme.)
5. The groups discuss their findings with the class.