Dyfi Biosphere Reserve Activity Pack

This activity is written by FACE for Key Stage 3. The activity can be delivered by us with your class, or you can use the plan independently. Following an introduction to the Dyfi Biosphere Reserve, the activitysuggests how learners might interview local residents about changes in food and farming over the past 50 years, in order to see how our present specialized and globalized food system is a recent phenomenon, and that the cultural heritage of the Dyfi Biosphere Reserve has much to teach us about our choices for the future. This could lead to further work on food choices and citizenship.

This activity will help your learners to -
Learn ABOUT the Dyfi Valley Biosphere Reserve, enablingthem to.... / Learn IN the Dyfi Valley Biosphere Reserve enablingthem to... / Learn FOR the Dyfi Valley Biosphere Reserve, enablingthem to...

Understand what Biosphere Reserves are, and why they are important
Appreciate whythere is a Biosphere Reserve in the Dyfi Valley and its surrounding area

Understand how the Biosphere relates to local and global challenges

Understand the concept of change and how people can play a part in shaping the Biosphere to provide a sustainable, high quality environment into the future /

Undertake meaningful enquiries that explore the concept of sustainability

Investigate how they can play part in contributing to a sustainable future, as creative and innovative members of their local and global community
Develop skills that they can use to help shape that future

And support your school-based learning -
National Curriculum subjects
and the Local Agreed Syllabus for RE /  Cymraeg  English Mathematics  Science
 Geography  History Religious Education
 Music  Art Design and Technology
 Physical Education  ICT Modern Foreign Languages
Learning Across the Curriculum /  Cwricwlwm Cymreig  Personal and Social Education
Careers and the World of Work
ESDGC themes /  Wealth and Poverty  Consumption and Waste Health
Natural Environment  Heritage and Culture Climate change
 Choices and Decisions
Skills Across the Curriculum / Thinking  Communication Number ICT

ACTIVITY PLANNING SHEET:

Can the Dyfi Biosphere Reserve feed itself?
/ Jane Powell
Wales FACE Coordinator
IBERS, Aberystwyth University, SY23 3EB
01970 622248

Target age group: KS3 / Target language: English or Welsh / Time: 2.5 hours
Stimulus:
Could the Dyfi Biosphere feed itself in the past?How has farming in the area changed since World War II?
Before this activity we hope that most of your pupils will be able to....

Describe the main farming activities in the Biosphere now (beef and sheep)
Describe some of the ways in which farming has changed over the past century
Talk about what makes a good interview

The teacher will need to:

Print out and assemble the resources

We are learning to:

Compare the past with the present and consider the reasons for change
Pose questions which will help us gather information.
Look to the past for information that will help us plan for the future

Teaching and learning resources:
These are either available on the pack CD or simple objects to obtain by you if not already in the classroom.
Introduction:
On the CD:Dyfi Biosphere aerial photo jigsaw – pdf of images to print double sided(pictures on both sides, aerial photo on front and Dyfi Biosphere images on the back) OR large aerial photo floor tiles(available on loan for free from The DBEG) and Dyfi Biosphere images; International Biosphere Reserve images – pdf images to print
You provide:World map or globe ( ); A map of the UK
Developing the lesson and plenary:
On the CD:‘harvesting oats at llanbrynmair 1935’ image plusteachers notes (JPEG and Word doc); ‘The maps that helped to defeat Hitler’ (PDF); BBC guide to oral history (PDF);
You provide: sound recorders or learners mobile phones to record interview
Time / Introduction:What is a Biosphere Reserve and why is there one where we live?
Learning: What will the learners do? / Teaching: What will the teacher do?
10 mins
5 mins
10 mins / Offer ideas on what a Biosphere might be....“a Biosphere might be an area where...” “I think a Biosphere is....”
Locate UK on the globe, and Wales on UK map and locate International Biosphere Reserve images.
Group fits together like a puzzle
Turn over the jigsaw pieces to reveal Dyfi Biosphere images on reverse (OR pass Dyfi Biosphere images round seperately if using the floor map tiles).
Create four sets with the imagesaccording to any similarities they feel there are between them.
Pairs from each group to explain the choices of sets that they have made.
/ Open with a general discussion about what learners think a Biosphere is
Intro the concept that there are 580 Biosphere Reserves in the world with globe, 2 in the UK and only one in Wales using the UK map.
Provide international Biosphere Reserve images for learners to find on the globe/UK map.
Intro Dyfi Biosphere aerial photo jigsaw OR floor tiles. Split group into 3’s or 4’s with a piece each.
When assembled ask – what do you recognise? Where is your school?
Intro the concept that this area that they live in is a ‘Biosphere Reserve’
Ask the question ‘What is a Biosphere Reserve?’
Explain these images of the Dyfi Biosphere offer clues what a Biosphere Reserve is. They tell us the four main reasons why where they live has become a Biosphere Reserve.
Split group into four, giving each to one a reason or category. Support learners in putting them into sets.
The four categories are: 1. Natural landscape and wildlife, 2. Strong cultural traditions, 3. Vision for the future, 4. Economic activities linked closely to the environment
Pose questions to the learners such as:

Why did you put those cards together?
What ‘title/heading’ can you give to each group of cards?
Have other groups chosen similar titles/headings?
Were there cards which were difficult to place?
Did you disagree over any card? How did you make your final decision?
What do the cards tell us about this area of Wales?

Wrap the session by saying today we are doing an activity that focuses on one part of the Dyfi Biosphere, food production, pulling the food image to emphasize the theme for the day’s activity.
Developing the lesson:How much food did the Dyfi Biosphere produce in the past?
Learning: What will the learners do? / Teaching: What will the teacher do?
15 mins
15 mins
15 mins
30 mins
15 mins / Look at a photo of oats being harvested at Llanbrynmair in 1935 and discuss it (or find other pictures suitable for your local area).
Use a ‘layers of inference’ template in order to interpret the photograph.
List some ways in which farming and diet have changed since World War II.
Think about the advantages of producing more food locally and the disadvantages. Consider food security, environmental impact, employment, diet, cultural aspects.
List some questions you could ask a local resident to find out more about how food and farming have changed over the past 30-50 years.
Prepare interview questions on stickies to put to people who remember the local area from 30-50 years ago. Think of different sorts of questions, and group them by theme. Choose a sequence of five questions to put to an interviewee.
Record an interview with a local resident, using a sound recorder or mobile phone. / Distribute harvesting oats at llanbrynmair 1935 image
Question the learners:

What is going on in this picture?
When do you think it was taken?
What does it tell us about the period? place? People?
How is it different from farming today?
What are oats? Why were they grown in 1935? Do we eat them today?
Why do you think farming has changed since then?

Question the learners

Do you think food and farming have changed for the better, or worse?
Can we can learn anything from the past?
How can we find out more about how things have changed?

Introduce the activity: interviewing local residents about the past.
Question the learners

What sorts of things do you want to know about how food and farming have changed?
Which people will you choose to interview?
What questions would you ask to find out about people’s personal experiences, how society has changed,how diets and lifestyles have changed?
What questions will you ask to find out their opinions of the changes that have taken place?
What will you ask them about the present and future?
How will you know if their recollections are accurate? Which other historical sources could you use in order to verify the evidence?

Plenary
Learning: What will the learners do? / Teaching: What will the teacher do?
Listen to your own interview and two others. What are the similarities and differences?
Make a radio programme about the history of food and farming in the area. / Question the learners:

What have been the main changes in the recent past?
What have been the reasons for those changes?

Did the interviewees regard these changes as positive or negative? Do you?
What lessons are there here for our future?

Suggested follow up activities

Discuss what can we do to change how much food is produced in the Dyfi Biosphere. See ‘Who decides’ sheet, see resources on CD.
How do we choose what foods to buy? ‘Choosing foods’ diamond ranking exercise, see resources on CD.
Investigate other periods, such as 1800, 1500, the time of Owain Glyndwr.
Visit a local farm, farmers market or food business, contact FACE for further information.