Cantell School Case Study

Swampy — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 18:59:00 GMT

Chris Brown – Geography Teacher of Cantell Maths and Computing College commented…

My journey started when I completed an on-line survey to check my own carbon footprint. I was curious to see how the survey worked and whether it would be suitable material for a lesson. I was stunned to learn that if everyone lived as I do, we would need 4 (four) earths. I instantly knew that replacing the light bulbs and composting vegetable peelings would not be enough to make any impact.

My journey continued when my Geography students were no longer interested in the environment as it had become old hat and no longer relevant in their eyes. The resources and traditional approaches were in dire need of reinvention.

The idea came to teach about the environment in a meaningful way in both Geography, Citizenship and in the RSA opening minds curriculum through use of the internet and blogs with Footprint Friends (FPF).

Footprintfriends.com provides the ideal way of engaging secondary age students. Students are media savvy and are able to use technology confidently to find information and to communicate with friends. The FPF web site provides students with a voice where they can discuss climate change with others of the same age and start to take action and make a difference.

We had been teaching the whole of our year 7's about the environment all year and saw that using Footprint Friends would enable them to extend their understanding and widen their network of like minded young people.

We had a non school uniform day and set out one class room with a tarpaulin on the floor, lots of paint and paint brushes.

Then we invited one class of year 7's in at a time and they sat down and painted their feet. Then we gave a photo of each foot to the Footprint Friends team and they are now all in the Cantell School gallery!

Our children are encouraged to debate on the Footprint Friends forum and extend their environmental awareness

School case study

Cantell School Case Study