Topic
Whole School Environmental Education
Platform
Book Creator
Rationale
Environmental education is an important global issue. Research has shown that broadening citizenship and awareness of our world involves environmental education from childhood (Ricoy et al., 2022).
The focus of this resource is the cross-curriculum priority of Sustainability, with the aim of incorporating quality eco-focused learning opportunities on local and world levels (The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), 2010 to present-b). Alongside Sustainability, this resource specifically incorporates the general capability of Ethical Understanding, allowing students to develop their knowledge and skills to build awareness and empathy for our world as well as a sense of values and active citizenship (ACARA, 2010 to present-a). There will be a rich task differentiated for the student cohorts using digital technologies, with a call to action on how we can all take part in reducing our waste and proposing action for the future.
In my school context, environmental education is a priority with responsibility placed with the whole school community. It involves managing our resources and waste in a way that reduces damage to the environment and considers future implications.
This learning resource will be created using the platform, Book Creator. It was chosen as it suits the primary school context and allows for a variety of tools to be embedded to create a multimodal text that enhances student immersion and engagement in the topic. It will be shared within our school, with the purpose to assist in facilitating and supporting our whole school environment program and associated initiatives. Some additional learning and gamification tools I aim to utilise are Flip, Padlet, Scratch. Blooket and Class Dojo.
References
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2010 to present-a). Ethical Understanding (Version 9). Australian Curriculum: F-10 Curriculum https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/ethical-understanding
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2010 to present-b). Sustainability (Version 9). Australian Curriculum: F-10 Curriculum
https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/cross-curriculum-priorities/sustainability
Book Creator (2011 to present). Homepage. https://bookcreator.com/
Ricoy, M. C., & Sánchez-Martínez, C. (2022). Raising ecological awareness and digital literacy in primary school children through gamification. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(3), 1149. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031149
Jennifer I really enjoyed reading your proposal for a BookCreator resource to support lessons on environmental education within the school environment. Your links and references to ACARA dimensions and general capabilities highlighted your understanding of the need for new resources to be relevant to curriculum outcomes. You provided a clear and succinct outline of what your resource would include and how you hope for it to be used throughout the school. Your inclusion of the extra learning and gamification tools I found particularly interesting as it provided a deeper understanding of how your resource will engage users. Flip looks like a fantastic resource for engaging Stage 3 students in a digital resource that is relevant to their everyday life. I also think Scratch has some wonderful opportunities not only for your current project but for many other library lessons.
I have also chosen BookCreator for my proposal and so far, am enjoying exploring and navigating the site. One of the means of feedback for students within the site is two stars and a wish, which I think is a positive way of providing constructive feedback to students. I would also mention that the site has a limit of 40 students being able to submit a piece of work at any one time. If you wish for more to be able to submit, it is necessary to upgrade to a paid subscription. This is something I am considering for my school library as I would like to use BookCreator with all my classes, and I believe once other staff are shown the resource, they will want access to it for their own classroom activities.
Your proposal has truly inspired me for my own project, and I have already started to think about how I can incorporate some of the apps and websites you mentioned into my library lessons.
Hi Katrina,
Thank you for your affirming post. I admit that I am a little concerned over the scope of my project as it is whole school based. I am re-thinking it for the assessment to cover maybe a Stage (for example, 5/6 students) and trialling it with them in the school before adding to the project for the other year levels in the future. I really wanted to do something that is needed in my school context and that has applicable and practical outcomes. I am also hoping the rich task for each composite stage will tick of the digital literature component thoroughly as I keep getting inside my head thinking that my project will be more of a teaching resource rather than digital narrative as such.
All the best with your project.
This sounds like an worthy idea, Jennifer, and your proposal demonstrates a clear purpose for the proposed digital product created. I would have liked to see some more detail about the intended subject area and audience this will be used, with evidence from relevant literature to support your thoughts, and some consideration of the learning needs of students of the students.
I needed to see more detail here about what you are planning to create and how this will demonstrate your understanding of digital storytelling as opposed to “learning resource” (ie: what is the narrative you will be creating?). At the moment, your proposal doesn’t seem to fit the criteria of “digital literature”, and that is a critical part of the task. More clarity needed, and support from the literature that demonstrates your understanding is encouraged.
Some issues with referencing to work on, and I encourage you to utilise the CSU APA 7th referencing materials for support.
I look forward to seeing your work.
Thank you Tehani for the feedback. I realised I was going too big as I was aiming to make a whole school learning resource as it is an identified need at our school. Within this resource I was going to create a digital literature text for each composite class/stage. I think I will need to scale back and just aim for the one stage (e.g. Year 5/6) and one text.
I can see some incorrect capitalisation in my references and I am hoping that the ACARA references are ok as that is how a previous lecturer told me to do them. I will confirm at our meeting this week.
Thanks for sharing your proposal Jennifer. I find sustainability such an important focus for our students – and yet one that many of our students at our school do not seem passionate about.
I am invested in your idea and I think the subject matter and purpose has the potential to be an interesting immersion into the subject. I think you’re wise to initially scale back the size of the project. You have chosen interesting resources to incorporate and I am wondering how long a process you think this project would take? How many pieces of work are you expecting the students to upload?
All the best with your project!
Thank you Karyn for your comment. I love that you can see the purpose for our school needs. I will focus on the creation of one digital literature piece for this assignment and I plan to integrate or app smash some extras in to the narrative for students to be able to engage, be entertained, have interactivity, but also finish with an increase in knowledge. Most of the digital literature content will be focused on our local community level context. I initially propose to complete the CYOA style interactive fiction resource. Eventually though I would like to add more components such as mapping of ‘rubbish hot spots’ or incorporate gamification with questioning using Blooket and having students create a sustainability game on Scratch (I realise now that this was too big to be part of this assignment).
I really enjoyed reading your proposal Jennifer, it is evident that you have carefully considered your topic for this assessment. Sustainability addresses your school education priority and it sounds like it is a curriculum area that you are passionate about.
Sustainability is such an important concept for students to learn. I love that your proposal incorporates eco-focused learning opportunities at both local and world levels. This is so important to enable students to gain a greater global perspective and make connections. The selected demographic of Year 5 and 6 students will allow for engaging discussion and learning to take place.
Complementing the global perspective, have you read or viewed the book Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay by Susan Hood (2016)? It is a powerful true children’s story, there is also a moving 60 Minutes interview.
Your proposed inclusion of multiple technologies will assist you in catering to the varying learning needs of students as well as creating dynamic learning experiences. All the best with this project, I think it sounds very exciting.
Hood, S. (2016). Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
Orquesta de Instrumentos. (2015). 60 Minutes – The recyclers: from trash comes triumph. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxUuKthY1dQ
Thank you Liz for the rich text and video information. What innovation and thoughtfulness form the community! I had seen Ada’s Violin before, but a timely reminder to delve back into it! Making meaningful and purposeful connections for our students is such a important concept now as we hope to support and foster lifelong learners for the future.
You are most very welcome, I am glad it was of interest to you.