Activity 4

Dieppe - Debate

Grade level: 6th grade

School subjects:English, natural science

EE Objectives:

  • awareness,
  • knowledge,
  • state of mind,
  • skills.

Objectives:

  • Find a problem with the help of observations and collected data.
  • Express your opinion in a debate by giving concrete examples.
  • Compare the city of Dieppe with other cities.

Teaching strategies:debate, socioconstructivist approach

Duration: 50 minutes

Required material:city map of Dieppe, Annex A, B (Power Point presentation), paper, markers, stickers (3 for each student).

Information for the teacher:Health is not only an absence of illness. It’s a state of well-being and physical, psychological, moral and spiritual equilibrium. The health of people in a city is not only based on the effectiveness of medical care but also on the physical and natural environment. The following aspects can improve people’s health:

  • a clean and safe physical environment
  • peace, equity and social justice
  • sufficient access to food, water, shelter, income, security, job and leisure activities for all citizens
  • sufficient access to health services
  • learning and professional development opportunities
  • solid interpersonal relationships and networks that are mutually reinforcing
  • places of work that encourage the individual’s well being as well as the family’s
  • citizen participation to local decision making
  • a local spiritual and cultural heritage
  • a varied and essential economy
  • protection of the natural environment
  • responsible use of resources in order to ensure long term ecological viability
  • sports grounds: tennis, basketball, pool
  • health-food restaurants
  • access to a variety of experiences and people.

Procedure:

Preparation

  • Observe with the students the city map that was made during the last activity. Ask students: By looking at the elements of the city on the map, do you think Dieppe is really sustainable?Revise the definition of a sustainable city.
  • Organise and do a short debate on the preceding question. See Annex A.
  • After the debate, explain to students that before being really sustainable citizens of a city must solve certain urban problems. Show them a Power Point presentation on environmental problems in cities(Annex B).
  • Ask students to compare the city of Dieppe with those in the presentation. Question students: Does the city of Dieppe have similar problems? Which ones?

Realization

  • Explain what health is and discuss about the elements that favour students’ health in the city.
  • Divide them into teams and invite them to choose and discuss on the elements or areas that could impact their health in Dieppe.
  • Distribute 5 pagesto each team. Ask students to write one element that could affect his or her health on each page. Put up the pages on the wall. Group together the health problems that are similar.
  • Question students on their choices. Why did you choose these problems? Are there health problems that affect you personally?Which ones?
  • After this discussion, explain to the class that they must choose only ONE problem that affects people’s health in Dieppe. A problem that they will eventually try to solve. Give each student 3 stickers and ask them to think about the 3 problems that they think are the most important to be solved. Then, ask each students to place his or her stickers next to the 3 problems that are most important.
  • Identify,with the class, the problem that has the most stickers.Ask students: Why do you think this problem is the most important to solve?Do you think it’s possible to solve this problem?Help them choose a problem that could be improved.

Integration

  • In their reflexive journal, ask students to describe the problem that they chose together and that they want to try to solve. They can use diagrams, drawings, words or numbers to do this. They should also write down their opinion on the subject.

Annex A

Informal debate on Dieppe’s sustainability

Question to be debated:Looking at the city of Dieppe’s elements on the map, do you think that Dieppe is really a sustainable city?

  1. Before the debate, divide the class in 2 groups: one in favour of the statement, the other against it. Turn the student’s desks so the 2 teams are face to face.
  2. In order to keep track of the main ideas, place a tape recorder in the class.
  3. Eplain to students, that the objective of a debate is to think and organise your ideas rapidly.
  4. Show students the talking stick (for example: a microphone) and explain that they must have this stick to express their ideas. Students must raise their hands to get the talking stick.
  5. Explain to students that they must answer the debate’s question by giving examples.
  6. Tell participants that they have one to two minutes to make their point.
  7. When all arguments have been presented, discuss the main points that were mentioned by each team. If there is time, listen to the recorded debate.
  8. Ask students: What are the best arguments? Can we arrive to a conclusion?
  9. End with a sentence or two that is written on the blackboard.

Annex B

Cities’ environmental problems

(Power Point Presentation)

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