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Hands-On Activities for Young Thinkers

4 What happens if environments change?

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4 What happens if environments change?

Environment

Task 1: Who lives where?

  1. Discuss how different animals build their homes. Do they change the environment? Think about animals like ants, beavers, birds, termites. Together, you can look at pictures of their dwellings online or in books.
  2. How do humans change their environment? On Google Earth, compare and contrast different locations registering what changes with the presence of human life, and what changes with presence of other animals and plants.

Making it Inclusive

To reinforce how everyone is responsible for making sure every child participates independently of their ability to move or speak, ensuring that cognitive variability or language challenges do not prevent children from participating, ask them about things that can go unnoticed when we think of the environment (do people refer less to some insects because they are not as nice as others; do we always forget some animals because we know they are always there, or because they live in the sky or beneath the soil). Do not make an explicit analogy and merely mirror the need to be inclusive in the way we look at things.

Discussion Plan: Can living beings change the way they change their environment?

  1. Do all living beings change their environment?
  2. Can trees change the environment that humans build?
  3. In what ways can animals change their environment?
  4. Do animals in a zoo also change their environment?
  5. Are some changes that living beings do (trees, insects, wild animals, pets, farm animals, humans) better than others?
  6. Can animals decide together to change the way they change the environment?
  7. Can humans decide together to change the way they change the environment?
  8. Can a person alone decide to make a difference?
  9. Can only a few people decide and make a difference?
  10. What would happen if everyone in the world joined together and stopped using cars?

Task 2: City of stones

Can we build a city with stones? Children build their dream city in the backyard with stones, sticks and other objects. They can also use paint if needed. Take many photographs of the city of stone, and one with everyone with the city of stone.

Discussion Plan: Building a city together

  1. Are the world’s environments similar to the ones we invent?
  2. Does an ant have the same experience of the environment as us?
  3. What colours are there in the world from above and in our city of stones?
  4. What is missing in a city of stones?
  5. What is missing in our city?
  6. Is it possible to build a city alone?
  7. Can we improve our city of stone? How about our own city?
  8. Can animals live in our city of stones? Which ones?
  9. Do all humans have to live in a city?
  10. Why do cities exist?

Variations

  • Make a city of Recycled materials Children build their dream city in the classroom.
  • Divide to Collaborate Assign different parts of the city to small groups. Once each group has completed its section, bring the pieces together to create a shared city and reflect on individual contributions from a larger whole.

Task 3

  1. Look at Google Earth Timelapse and observe how humans have changed their environments in the last 40 years. You can find timelapses of direct human action such as urban growth, deforestation, irrigation of the desert and indirect causes such as the retreat of the glaciers or the retreat of the Aral Sea.
  2. Explain that also the melting of the glaciers is caused by human action, although humans are not living there. Due to human activity like deforestation, burning fossil fuels (for example for planes and cars) and agriculture the temperature on earth is rising. Because it is becoming warmer, the snow is melting and it is becoming hotter in many regions around the world. This is called climate change.
  3. Explore several ways in which humans change the environment (buildings, agriculture, transportation, deforestation, etc …). You can also watch this video about urbanisation in timelapse together.

Discussion Plan: Can one person change the environment?

  1. How can people change the environment for the better?
  2. Can one person make a difference in their own home for the better?
  3. Can one person make a difference in their school for the better?
  4. Can a country make a difference in the world for the better?
  5. Can imagining the future help a person to change their behaviour for the better?
  6. Can having friends help a person make a difference in the world for the better?
  7. Can parents make a difference in the world for the better?
  8. Can the government make a difference in the world for the better?
  9. Can one person make a difference even if no one sees they are making a difference?
  10. Is making a difference in the environment contagious (like laughing or yawning is)?

Thinking Exercise: Actions that make a difference or not to improve the environment

Action Makes a Difference Does not make a difference
Close water tap while brushing teeth
Recycling at home
Use public transport
Use a bicycle
Use less electricity
Eat more vegetables
Not use plastic bags
Recycling Toys
Get second-hand clothes