This Overview Is Adapted from Work by ACT for the Global Learning Programme

Key Stage 3 Geography/citizenship Case Study 3:
Linking global learning and local sustainability actions

Activity summary / Global learning opportunities / Curriculum links: geography
Pupils investigated how the local authority planned for sustainable development and consulted the community, including young people. Although originally planned for citizenship, many of the activities involve geographical enquiry. Pupils:
●created mind-maps of what they already knew about local sustainability plans
●investigated the relationship between local plans and Agenda 21, inviting a city council member to discuss it with them
●decided to focus on food for further enquiry, considering what foods are produced locally and elsewhere; food miles and transportation; points of sale of local food, etc
●plotted information on maps and charts, including location of markets, recycling centres, food composting opportunities, highlighting challenges and problems that policy could address
●devised campaigns to draw attention to their findings
●decided actions that the school and community could take
●helped develop a longer-term relationship between the school and local authority. / GLP-E themes and outcomes
Globalisation
Sustainability
Enquiry and critical thinking / Human and physical geography
Understand, through the use of place-based exemplars at a variety of scales, the key processes in human geography relating to economic activity.
Understand how human and physical processes interact to influence and change landscapes. / Skills
Pupils:
●build on their knowledge of maps and atlases, and apply and develop this knowledge
●interpret OS maps, topographical and other thematic mapping, and aerial and satellite photographs
●use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to view, analyse and interpret places and data
●use fieldwork to collect, analyse and draw conclusions from geographical data, using multiple sources of increasingly complex information.
Development
You could:
●develop this case study through work in citizenship: the activity is described more fully here
●link with further work in geography or science on climate change
●link to a whole-school programme such as Eco Schools (Keep Wales Tidy)
●develop pupils’ understanding of sustainable development using resources on the Global Dimensions site.
English opportunities
Reading
●research and enquire about global issues, read critically referring to evidence in the text.
Writing
●write for a purpose, summarising and organising material, and supporting ideas and arguments with factual detail.
Spoken English
●participate in structured discussions, summarising and/or building on what has been said. / Critical Thinking opportunities
●ask and respond to a range of questions
●explain and reason, think about evidence and make judgements
●express a point of view, understand that people have different points of view, and engage with these, e.g. through discussion
●consider different voices and points of view on global issues
●be able to change one’s point of view.

Acknowledgements:

This overview is adapted from work by ACT for the Global Learning Programme.