1. Act Now to Save Tomorrow
Year Seven Unit

2. Theme: Sustainability
Aim:
Environmental education for sustainability is a concept encompassing a
vision for education that seeks to empower people of all ages to
assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future.
Students will have opportunities to be prepared and empowered to
assume responsibilities for creating and enjoying a sustainable future.
Well in advance of the UN initiative, the 1999 Adelaide Declaration by
Australian Ministers of Education included the goal that: when
students leave school, they should have an understanding of, and
concern for stewardship of the natural environment, and the
knowledge to contribute to ecologically sustainable development.
Students need to understand the complexity of the world in which they
live and to have the knowledge, critical thinking skills, values and
capacity to participate in decision making about environmental and
development issues.
Students will be engaged in integrated programs focusing on
biodiversity, water, waste and climate change.

3. Goals
• Students will understand the complexity of
the global issue of sustainability and will be
given a voice on this critical environmental
matter.
• Students will care and take pride in the
natural world around them.
• Students will develop a repertoire of skills
that they will be able to use in the real world.
• Students will become informed and active
citizens on tomorrow.

4. Objectives
Students will understand and learn about:
• Elements (climate, natural and built features, human activity) that make up significant
local, national and global natural and built environments and the ways in which the
features of these environments are interconnected
• The effects of change (eg climate change, human activity) on local, national and global
natural environments
• The difference between probable futures (i.e. what is likely to happen unless there is some
intervention), preferred futures (i.e. what they would like to see) and possible futures (i.e.
what is possible if some change is made)
Students will learn to:
• Make considered decisions as a consumer to protect precious resources (eg reusing,
packaging, using alternatives to plastic bags) and develop resource saving systems in
their classroom and school
• Take responsibility for nurturing and caring for local places and such as their school
• Students will develop attitudes and values about:
• How the actions of communities and individuals, including their own, contribute to the
sustainability of resources and local environments and shape the future for future
generations
• How building sustainability requires that people, as environmental stewards, work together
as citizens and consumers to participate in appropriate actions to affect positive change

5. KLA’S
• Studies of Society
• English
• Mathematics
• ICT
• Science
• Art
• Health and Physical Ed

6. Essential Learnings
Health and Physical Well Being
• Energy balance can be achieved by selecting a range of foods from the five food
groups, in amounts that reflect personal factors, age and activity levels.
Science
• plan activities and investigations, identifying and using elements of a fair test
• collect and organise data, information and evidence, evaluate information and
evidence to support data gathered from activities and investigations, select and use
tools, technologies and materials suited to the activities and investigations
• Science can help to make natural, social and built environments sustainable and
may influence personal human activities
• Changes to the surface of the earth or the atmosphere have identifiable causes,
including human and natural activity
ICT
• plan, conduct and manage structured searches for data and information
• organise and identify relationships between data and information from a variety of
sources
• evaluate the data and information gathered for usefulness, credibility, relevance and
accuracy

7. M athematics
• Defining features, including edges, angle sizes and
parallel lines, are used to make accurate
• representations of 2D shapes and 3D objects.
• Patterns in space and number, and relationships
between quantities, including equivalence, can be
represented using concrete and pictorial materials,
lists, tables and graphs
The Arts
• create and shape arts works by organising arts
elements to express personal and community
• values, beliefs and observations
• Role and status of relationships can be maintained
using movement, including posture, gesture
• and body position, and expression of voice

8. English
• identify the relationship between audience, purpose and text type
• Readers and viewers use a number of active comprehension
strategies to interpret texts, including activating prior knowledge,
predicting, questioning, identifying main ideas, inferring, monitoring,
summarising and reflecting.
• Identify and demonstrate the relationship between audience, subject
matter, purpose and text type.
• Nonverbal elements, including facial expressions, gestures and body
language, establishing the mood, signal relationships and create
effects are monitored by listeners.
• Readers and viewers use a number of active comprehension
strategies to interpret texts, including activating prior knowledge,
predicting, questioning, identifying main ideas, inferring, monitoring,
summarising and reflecting.
• The purpose of writing and designing includes evoking emotion,
persuasion and informing.
• Figurative Language, including similes, metaphors and personification
develops imagery and humour.
• Non-literary texts evaluate, inform, present arguments and persuade.

9. Studies of Society
• pose and refine questions for investigations
• • plan investigations based on questions and inquiry models
• • collect and organise information and evidence
• • evaluate sources of information and evidence to determine different perspectives, and
distinguish
• facts from opinions
• • draw and justify conclusions based on information and evidence
• • • share opinions, identify possibilities and propose actions to respond to findings
• • apply strategies to influence decisions or behaviours and to contribute to groups
• • reflect on and identify personal actions and those of others to clarify values associated with
social
• justice, the democratic process, sustainability and peace
• • reflect on learning to identify new understandings and future applications.
• Physical features of environments influence the ways in which people live and work in
• communities
• e.g. climate affects housing design and leisure activities; natural resources may determine
employment
• opportunities.
• • Sustainability of local natural, social and built environments can be influenced by positive and
• negative attitudes and behaviours
• e.g. positive responses to water management

10. Inquiry Question
How can you create a more sustainable future?
SEQUENTIAL LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
Each Lesson is 60 minutes.
Activities 1-3
• Biodiversity
Activities 4-7
• Water
Activities 8- 12
• Waste
Activities 13- 15
• Climate change

11. Teaching Strategies
Inquiry Learning

13. Teacher Resources and Equipment
Literary Texts
• Baker, J. (2002). Window. London: Walker.
• French, J. (2010).The Tomorrow Book. Sydney: Harper Collins
Publishers.
• Savvides, I. (2004). A marathon of her own: the diary of Sophia
Krikonis. Melbourne: Scholastic.
• Seaus, D. (Author). Danson, T. (Reader). (2004). The Lorax. (Audio
CD). London: Collins.
• Smith, K. (2008) One hen: how one small loan made a big
difference. Kids Can Press.
• Stanton, A. (2008). Wall- E. (DVD). United States: Disney Pixar.
• Thiele, C. (2002). Storm Boy. Sydney: New Holland.

14. Non Literary Texts
• Discover & learn about Australian wetlands and waterways / text, Pat Slater ;
photographs, Steve Parish.
• Discover & learn about Australian forests and woodlands / text, Pat Slater ;
photographs, Steve Parish. Non Literary Texts
• Bio Engineering Group. (2010). Rethink | Sustainability. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9I3Q6-ZSTI&feature=related
• Gore, A. (2007). An inconvenient truth: the crisis of global warming. London:
Bloomsbury.
• Guggenheim, D. (2006) An Inconvenient Truth. (DVD). United States: Paramount
Pictures.
• Kuzniar, J. (2008). Four reasons to switch to switch to solar power today. Article
retrieved from
http://www.articlesbase.com/nature-articles/4-reasons-to-switch-to-solar-power-today-37
• Australian Government. (2009). Take Action: Save Energy, Save Water, Reduce Waste
and Travel Smarter. Retrieved from http://www.livinggreener.gov.au/take-action
• World Design Interactive. (2010). Ollie saves the world, Interactive Website: Articles on
Reuse, Reduce, Air, Wate, Water, Biodiversity, Energy, Recycle and Sustainability.
Retrieved from http://www.olliesworld.com/planet/aus/info/index.htm
• Oracle Education Foundation. (2002). What is global warming? Article retrieved from
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/global_warming.htm
• Planet Kids. (2006). How to build your own worm farm. Article retrieved from
http://www.planetkids.biz/documents/How_to_Build_Your_Own_Worm_Farm.pdf

15. Equipment
• Magazine, brochures
• Glue
• Paint
• Pens
• Pencils
• Cardboard (variety of colours)
• Gloves
• Manure
• Worms
• Compost
• Computers
• Dictionaries
• Buckets
• Shovel
• Projector
• Television
• DVD Player

16. Activity One
KLA: English
Assessment Item: Comic Strip
• The teacher will begin the lesson by introducing the The Tomorrow Book to the students, and explaining
that the book contains a large quantity of fantastic ideas about working towards a more sustainable
future.
• The teacher will then hand out The Tomorrow Book to each child, and allow the students to
independently read and enjoy the story.
• After the students have finished reading, the teacher will facilitate a class discussion about what is a
‘main idea’. The teacher will then explicitly teach the students reading strategies they can use to help
them identify ‘main idea/s’ in a text.
• The students will then reread The Tomorrow Book, and focus on identifying the ‘main ideas’ about living
in a more sustainable world.
• The teacher will then bring the class back together and facilitate a discussion about the main ideas that
were recognized. (What the future might be like, Water, Sustainability, Conservation – animals and the
environment, food, transport, power and its sources, pollution, houses, global warming, change and how
it affects us, space, hope, and awareness and action.) The teacher will write their ideas on the
interactive whiteboard, and distribute the document to students at a later date.
• The students will then choose one main idea from The Tomorrow Book, and create a five-frame comic
strip. Each of the five frames will illustrate a significant action that the students can do in relation to their
chosen ‘idea’

17. Activity Two
KLA: Studies of Society
• Working in pairs students are provided with a letter from the word ’Biodiversity’. At this
stage don’t tell them what the word actually is. Students create a biodiversity collage by
covering each letter with pictures of native plants, animals and the places they live.
Pictures can be obtained from newspapers, magazines, travel brochures and calendars.
• Once complete ask the students to rearrange the letters from the collage to make a word.
What words can they create? Will they be able to make the word ‘biodiversity’?
• If the students are having difficulty you may need to provide clues like starts with a ‘b’
ends with a ‘y’ and so on. In small groups students use a dictionary to discover the
meaning of the word 'biodiversity'. The word may need to be separated into individual
parts eg bio + diversity.
• Decide on a class definition for biodiversity. For example biodiversity could be described
as ‘the different kinds of plants and animals and the places they live’. Refer back to the
‘Biodiversity’ collage to illustrate the components of biodiversity that are described in the
definition.

18. Activity Four
KLA: Studies of Society/ Drama
Students will research on the computers in pair and answer the
following questions:
• What are some ways to protect native animals from cats and
dogs?
• What animals and birds are native to your area? What do they
like to eat?
• Can you plant anything to provide them with more food?
Improvise in drama: students will take on the role of an Australian
animal you have researched and imagine that you are to go to a
zoo in another country. The animal must tell the zookeepers what
sort of habitat and food it requires in order to stay healthy.

19. Activity Three
KLA: Studies of Society, Numeracy and ICT
Assessment Item: Students new design of a local area.
Students will:
• observe the local area and communicate what they see
using maps and drawings
• explore different urban environments and discuss
similarities and differences
• consider different ways of drawing and representing, to
communicate different information about built
environments (e.g. 2D, 3D, ‘birds eye view’, perspective,
top, side views, photographs)
• discuss ways people use their environment
• identify and redesign one aspect of the local area using
the computer programme “SimSocieties”.

20. Activity Five
KLA: Science
Assessment Item: Water Animation
• Discuss the water cycle and how it works, using a
big
• book such as Waterways or The Magic School Bus
at the Waterworks to promote discussion.
Introduce and explain the terms, “water cycle”,
“evaporation”, “condensation” and
“precipitation”.
• Students then use the animation program to
create the water cycle in pairs.

21. Activity Six
KLA: Science and Art
Assessment Item: Poster
Create a poster showing the ways to save, recycle and
re-use the water that flows down the drain either at
home and school. It could be drinking water,
rainwater, and storm water or water that ends up at
the sewerage treatment plants — how can we recycle
and reuse it? Posters could show ideas to minimize
water loss and water capture ideas.

22. Activity Seven
KLA: Science
Assessment Item: Chart
• Each student will conduct a water saving audit at
their home the night before the lesson.
• Students will then bring in their data and draw
conclusions and inferences about their personal
water usage.
• Students will then design and create a chart that
shows bathroom water saving tips.

23. Activity Eight
KLA: Studies of Society
Focus Question: How do we ensure a continuous supply of clean, safe water?
Present scenarios like the following to the class:
• You go to a tap. The water is brown. How do you know it is safe to drink?
• You are camping in the bush by a river. You need water to drink. You are
not sure that the water is suitable for
• drinking. What do you do?
• There is lots of silt and impurities in the river. What can you and other
people do to improve the situation?
• The local community is concerned about the quality of their water. What
could they do about this?
Students discuss these scenarios and present their solutions to the class.
Record suggested solutions. Consider if alternatives exist. Discuss how practical
these solutions might be as well as people’s rights and responsibilities in
these situations.
Ask students:
• Does it matter if the solution is very expensive?
• Would you pay more to have a permanent and clean, safe water supply?

24. Activity Nine
KLA: English
Assessment Item: English Booklet
• The teacher will then discuss the importance of being able to identify the
relationship between the audience, subject matter, purpose and text type/
genres. Therefore students will be familiar with and appreciate the diversity
of texts available to them and improve their comprehension skills.
• The students will then brainstorm different text types that they know and the
characteristics of those texts. The teacher will write their answers on the
interactive whiteboard.
• The teacher will put a ‘Narrative’ text on the board and will deconstruct the
text with students. The teacher will then facilitate a class discussion on how
a reader can identify the different cues (syntactic and semantic) that he/she
can use that will indicate the audience, subject matter, purpose and the text
type/ genre.
• The teacher will then split the class into groups of four and hand out six
different text types (report, recount, procedure, explanation, and exposition)
for the students to deconstruct.
• The students will work together as a group to identify the audience, subject
matter, purpose and text type/ genres. The students will write their answers
down under each text type, in their English booklet.

25. Activity Ten
KLA: ICT and English
Assessment Item: Letter
• Students will research and identify ways in the
community which we can reduce, recycle and
reuse. The students will then write a letter to
the mayor addressing this issue.

26. Activity Eleven
KLA: Health and Physical Education
• Students will create a ‘Green Zone” in their
school.
• Students will research sustainable feature that
they can complement at the school. (Vegetable
Garden, Native Plants, Compost Bins, Rain water
tanks)
• Students will organize a 'healthy food' day. They
will invite the principal parents and carers to
taste some school-grown vegetables.

27. Activity Twelve
KLA: Studies of Society and Art
• Students will research information about
‘Clean up Australia Day’.
• Students will then individually design posters
that promote ‘Clean Up Australia Day’ which
they will display around the school.

28. Activity Thirteen
KLA: Numeracy
Assessment Item: Newsletter Report
• Students to do a school grounds clean up, sort
and classify any litter and graph the main
types of litter found. They then report their
results in a school newsletter.

29. Activity Fourteen
KLA: English
Assessment Item: Journal Entry
• The teacher will explain to students that today, they will critically
analyse how a non-literary text presents arguments. The students will
participate in a class discussion, on what is classified as a non-literary
text. Students will work to create a definition and create a list of
examples of non-literary texts, which will be useful when researching
their rich task. The teacher will then focus the students’ attention on the
fact that a documentary, which they just watched is considered a non
literary text: it presents arguments in a logical format. The students will
then have a discussion about, “What makes a good argument?”
• The students will then watch a twenty minute segment of An
Inconvenient Truth, paying particular attention to the argument/s
presented. The teacher will also distribute the young person’s guide of,
An Inconvenient Truth to the each student.
• The teacher will ask the students; whether they think humans have
enhanced Global Warming, as stated in the documentary. The students
will respond, by writing a journal entry stating their opinion on the topic
and providing three reasons to support their opinion. Students should
use information presented in the documentary/or background
knowledge on the topic.

30. Activity Fifteen
KLA: Art
Assessment Item: Students Contribution to
Mural
• Using collage materials, make a class mural
that reflects all the things the class would
like to see in the world of the future.

31. Student Profile
This unit plan addresses the interests and needs of all
students because it offers learning through engaging and
exciting real-life activities. There are opportunities for
practical hands on work and creativity is encouraged and
promoted throughout the unit. In the instance that three
new ESL students arrived in my class I would tailor the
programme so they were still able to achieve the goal
and objectives. This would include making the language
on worksheets more simple and easier to understand. I
would also model every activity so that all students
understood what was happening and expected. I would
also give each ESL student a buddy who could help
them work through the activities together.

32. Resources
• http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/7444.html
• http://www.environment.gov.au/education/
• http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/education/index.
• http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/education/
• http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/for_teache
•