Dear Parents/Guardians
The learning focus this term will be ‘Education for sustainability
linking to both Geography and Civics and Citizenship’. This is an
important area of study for students as Brett (2017), outlines how integrated
learning of civics and citizenship, sustainability and geography can empower student’s
inquiry, advocacy and action as students are scaffolded in political literacy,
civic values and given opportunity to interact with their community to exercise
their views and understand various issues on a local, national and global
context.
To explore this topic, we will be going on an excursion to a local
conservation area: the Tamar Island Wetlands on June 6th. Excursions
are an important part of authentic learning as they are provide students the opportunity
to develop skills of observation
and exploration (Krakowka, 2012).
Students will be taken on a tour of the Wetlands by a representative of Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, which
is government body responsible for managing protected areas of Tasmania. Whilst
there students will learn about the unique types of flora and fauna
within the wetlands, the conservation methods in place to ensure the environment
is sustained, along with ways in which the community can help to ensure the
wetlands is managed effectively and the human impact is limited. Students will
also take part in a clean-up of Tamar island involving themselves in an element
of conservation as they clear rubbish.
This topic aligns strongly with three Australian Curriculum areas [ACARA]
(2019), firstly the civics and citizenship link
in the content descriptor “How people with
shared beliefs and values work together to achieve a civic goal (ACHASSK118)” as students work together to clean up Tamar
Island. Geography content descriptor “The environmental and human influences on the location
and characteristics of a place and
the management of spaces within them (ACHASSK113)”. Students will
learn how the wetlands have changed over time and how the environment is currently
managed. And overall ties into the cross-curriculum priority of sustainability
as students learn about methods currently used to ensure the island is
sustained and how they can help in conserving the Wetlands, this is important as
Wilson (2012), states education
for sustainability allows students to identify and understand connections
between environmental, economic, and social systems, which is an important
skill for the future.
As with all excursions parent help is very appreciated, so if you
are available to come along please let me know!
If you cannot make the excursion you can still support your child’s
learning at home through taking this Ecological footprint quiz: (http://www.footprintcalculator.org/).
This five-minute quiz asks questions surrounding food, housing and
transportation and calculates based on your answers how many earths would be
needed if everyone in the world lived like you! Knowing your ecological
footprint is important as everyone has one, and as the world’s population
increases so does the amount of resources needed to sustain it, so by
identifying and if needed reducing your ecological footprint you both support and
assist the conservation of earth (Chambers & Wackernagel, 2014).
References:
Australian Curriculum,
Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2019). Retrieved from the Australian
Curriculum website: http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au
Brett,
P. (2017). Making Connections Between Civics and Citizenship and Education for
Sustainability. Civics and Citizenship Education in Australia:
Challenges, Practices and International Perspectives, 65-185. Retrieved from: https://mylo.utas.edu.au/content/enforced/296741-AW_EAS_19S1_19935_0_0_0_1_1/EfS%20and%20Citizenship%209781474248198_CH_10_txt_prf.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=tBzAaH0bgaMLBvntSGLfuvgWl&ou=296741
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