Part Two: Activities

The activities in each lesson are designed to help students deepen their base of knowledge and test their understanding of the main concepts mandated in the curriculum. You can decide which (and how many) activities you’d like students to complete. There is one recommended activity per chapter that helps link the lessons forward, giving students the opportunity to build towards their final project, which is revealed in Chapter Six.

Defining Your Community:

Summary: This activity will help students better understand their own context.

Objective: By reflecting on the issues and values that are important to them, students will work to define their communities, articulating their interests, influences and support networks.

Skills:

• Critical thinking
• Self-reflection
• Research and analysis

Instructions:

1. Introduce the concept of community and why it matters. You can use the description provided.
2. Ask students to reflect on the communities they are a part of. Encourage them to think beyond their immediate family and friends and consider any groups or organizations they belong to.
3. Give students a list of questions to guide their reflection, starting with the questions provided in the activity.
4. Have students create a list of all the communities they are involved in, indicating if the community is local, provincial, national, or international.
5. Ask students to identify which communities are solely online and which ones are in-person. Have them reflect on the benefits and drawbacks of each type of community. Ask them to reflect on why they aren’t part of certain communities.
6. Encourage students to draw a simple map to connect their communities and reflect on how these communities relate or overlap with each other.
7. Have students compare their communities with those of their peers, identifying overlap and shared interests.
8. Facilitate a class discussion on the value of community and its importance in promoting social cohesion, cooperation and civic engagement.

Assessment:

• Observe students as they work through this activity and take note of their participation and engagement. This will give you a sense of their ability to self-reflect, and how well they are working individually and as a group.
• Engage students in a group discussion to help them expand on the thoughts, ideas and insights they generated during this activity. The discussion will help you assess their understanding of the activity’s goal and their ability to articulate ideas.
• Ask students to write a reflection on their learning, highlighting what they found most valuable, what surprised them the most and what they still have questions about. This will help you further assess student self-reflection skills, while also testing their ability to articulate thoughts in writing.

Mapping Biodiversity Hotspots:

Summary: Students will work to better understand their local, natural context.

Objectives: The purpose of this activity is to help students link what they’re learning in this class to the community where they live. By exploring and mapping the biodiversity in their neighbourhood, students will develop a deeper understanding of their natural context.

Skills:

• Research skills
• Digital map-making
• Analytical skills
• Communication
• Environmental awareness and stewardship
• Critical thinking

Instructions:

1. Begin by reflecting on the importance of context in policy-making and why understanding our natural context matters.
2. Have students follow the instructions outlined in the activity to create a map using Google Earth or Google My Maps, highlighting the green spaces and natural areas in their community. Encourage students to add labels to the map, including details on the natural context they’ve highlighted.
3. Students should research neighbourhood green spaces, and reach out to local experts (naturalists, scientists, Indigenous elders) where possible, in order to gain a better understanding of their community’s biodiversity. Encourage students to add any new information, images or locations to their map based on their research.
4. Encourage students to visit the natural areas in their community with their families, having them add their own experiences and observations to the map.
5. Once the maps are complete, have students present their work to the class and discuss what they learned about their natural context, using the questions provided at the end of the activity.

Assessment:

Assess students based on the quality of their maps, the accuracy and depth of their research, and the level of engagement and participation in the activity.

Understanding Your Views:

Summary: Students will learn their local context and better understand why different people hold different views.

Objective: In this activity, students will explore the perspectives of their community and country, comparing and contrasting why different histories have helped shape different contexts and biases. The objective is to help students become more familiar with their own local or regional context, and find empathy for those in different parts of the country with very different contexts.

Skills:

• Critical thinking
• Empathy
• Research and analysis
• Communication
• Self-reflection

Instructions:

1. Begin by explaining why we all have different contexts, and why it’s important to respect different histories and realities. Inform students that this activity is about good research, honest self-reflection and fostering empathy for those they might not know or agree with.
2. Have students follow the prompts in the activity and answer the questions associated with understanding different contexts.
3. Have students share their research and reflections in groups, discussing their findings. Without judgement, encourage every student to reflect on how their community has influenced their views and perspectives.

Assessment:

1. Participation: Determine how thoroughly students researched the questions assigned and if they actively contributed to group conversations.
2. Reflection: Evaluate if students practiced sincere self-reflection in order to determine comprehension of the activity and their ability to think critically and empathize with different perspectives.

Determine Your Position:

• This activity is meant for student self-reflection and answers can be kept private.

Summary: Students will explore the political spectrum and determine their ideological leanings.

Objective: The objective of this activity is to help students reflect on their own political views, while testing their understanding of both political ideology and the political spectrum. By taking a political typology quiz, and reflecting on their own values and beliefs, students will understand the pros and cons of every political party, the importance of keeping an open mind politically and why empathy for different political perspectives matters.

Skills:

• Critical thinking
• Communication
• Analysis
• Empathy
• Problem solving
• Collaboration

Instructions:

1. Begin by reviewing the ideology slideshow presentation provided, or assign students to review the core concepts on their own.
2. Ask students to answer the first two questions provided in the activity. Have students research and determine their political ideology and likely political party affiliation, considering their personal values, beliefs and interests, as well as how their upbringing may have influenced their views.
3. Direct students to take the political typology quiz, which will help them understand where they fall on the political spectrum.
4. After completing the quiz, have students compare their results with their initial answer from question #1. Ask students to reflect on any similarities or differences, using question #4 as a prompt.
5. Have students reflect and answer the remaining activities in the activity, observing and answering questions as required.
6. Optionally, lead a discussion to highlight activity learnings without forcing students to reveal their personal ideology that they may not feel comfortable sharing.

Assessment: Assess students based on their participation and engagement in class discussions and the activity as a whole, judging the seriousness with which they undertake the work and the thoughtfulness of their self-reflections. We do think this is both an important activity and potentially tricky to stickhandle in the classroom. It’s important that personal ideologies aren’t used as an excuse for judgement, stigmatism or bullying.

Extensions:

1. Assign a creative project that asks students to explore the relationship between politics and nature in a visual or artistic way. This could include creating a political cartoon or a short film that explores the impact of political decisions on the environment. You could assess their creativity, critical thinking skills, and ability to communicate ideas effectively.
2. Consider assigning a written reflection or essay to encourage students to synthesize their learning and express their personal views on politics and nature.

Student Parties:

Summary: Students will form their own political parties and work to build support for them, testing how our political system works in the process.

Objective: The objective of this activity is to encourage critical thinking and research skills by allowing students to form their own political parties and create a party platform based on contemporary Canadian issues. This activity is designed to be fun and allow students to work collaboratively, helping them better understand the complexities of Canada’s political system.

Skills:

• Research
• Critical thinking
• Collaboration
• Leadership
• Civic engagement
• Creativity

Instructions:

1. Ask students to gather into groups and form their fictional political parties. Some groups will have more members than others – that’s fine; that’s life. Inform students there can only be five groups/parties total and if initial clustering creates more than five groups, some groups will have to merge with other parties.
2. Instruct students to pick a name, design a slogan that represents the fictional party’s ideology or philosophy and create a party platform. Each party is required to come up with five policies that address five top issues in Canada (eg. economic growth/jobs, environment, health care, education, Indigenous rights, housing, etc). It’s unlikely students will be able to agree on the five policy solutions they want to showcase and this is where they will have to negotiate until they reach an agreement. It’s possible some students won’t like the compromises made and will ‘cross the floor’ to another party.
3. Once students have completed the above task, have each group or party vote for a leader, and also instruct them to create both a poster and a pitch that highlights the party platform.
4. Have a campaign! Allow each leader from each party to pitch the class, and then allow the students to circulate in order to check out the different posters and engage in one-on-one, arm-twisting conversations.
5. Election time! Have everyone cast their ballot, tally the results and see which party forms government and which leader becomes prime minister. No majority? No problem! Have students negotiate with other parties until a majority can be cobbled together.
6. After you’ve completed the activity, lead a class discussion on what was learned. (What surprised students? What part of the political process was difficult? Do students have more empathy for the real politicians? Were the fictional class political parties similar to the real political parties? How were they different?)

Assessment: Students can be assessed based on their participation in the group discussion, the quality of their research and policies, their campaign posters and their election speeches. Encourage the students to reflect on their learning and their role in the election process.

What’s Your Context: *Recommended*

Summary: In this activity, students will brainstorm ideas and issues that feel relevant and interesting to them, a first step towards identifying their eventual final project’s focus.

Objective: The objective of this activity is to get students thinking about their community and their world, and the real-world application of the lessons learned in this course. By brainstorming ideas and issues of interest, students will begin to uncover what matters to them, an important first step as they work towards finding a focus for their final project’s policy proposal.

Skills:

• Creativity
• Brainstorming
• Critical thinking
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Research skills
• Problem-solving

Instructions:

1. Remind students why nature is being used to focus conversations in this class and then ask them to think about how they would balance the needs of people and nature. Encourage students to think about what issues and ideas feel relevant and interesting to them, and how policy-making can help explore or address these themes. Have students reflect on the lessons learned in this class, the activities they’ve completed so far and the issues raised in their Inquiry Media, as well as in articles they’ve found in the Curated Library.
2. Ask students to follow the activity’s instructions, brainstorm their ideas and record the questions they think need to be explored further. Students can use Post-it notes, Pinterest, paper or electronic devices to help with their brainstorming.
3. If students are struggling to come up with ideas, encourage peer-to-peer mentorship and also direct them to the Curated Library for further exploration.
4. Encourage students to reflect on their ideas and questions before the next lesson, when they will be tasked with pursuing their lines of inquiry.

Assessment: This activity is mainly formative in nature and can be assessed through observation and class discussion, as well as through the quality of ideas and questions generated. Additionally, you are encouraged to provide feedback to the students, to help ensure they are on the right track, as they build towards the final project.

The Curated Library:

Summary: Students will explore the Curated Library and better understand how to use this tool.

Objective: This activity will introduce students to the Curated Library, a resource containing thousands of hand-selected, analyzed articles and resources that relate to this course and its real-world application. In becoming familiar with the Curated Library, students will also be able to practice their research skills and better understand how to evaluate resources.

Skills:

• Research skills
• Critical thinking
• Communication
• Understanding/comprehension

Instructions:

1. Begin the lesson by introducing the Curated Library and its relevance to the course. Encourage students to take their time as they explore the resources available to them.
2. Part One helps students find articles that relate to this class, deepening their pool of learning resources.
3. Part Two encourages students to compare and contrast the articles they find with those selected by a peer, further widening their course toolkit.
4. Part Three encourages students to develop their research and technology literacy skills, while having a bit of fun at the same time, competing in a virtual scavenger hunt. Provide students with the list of items to find and record, being sure to set a time limit for the scavenger hunt.
5. Once the scavenger hunt is complete, allow students time to share their findings with each other. Encourage discussion and reflection on the resources uncovered.

Assessment:

• • Students should be assessed based on their participation in and completion of all three parts of this activity.
  • Students should also be assessed based on their ability to find relevant resources in the Curated Library, demonstrating their research and technology literacy skills.
  • Encourage students to share any reliable resources they find outside of the Curated Library with Nature Labs. This can be used as an opportunity for extra credit or bonus points.