Discussions

In the Sustainable Living project students select a relevant and meaningful topic relating to sustainable living, conduct research, record findings in a daily journal, write a script containing reasons with evidence,  create a mathematical example that demonstrates some aspect of measurement connected with their chosen topical area, and produce a documentary video that combines a narration of their script with original illustrations and music.  The videos will contain subtitles in Japanese, Spanish, Swedish, or other languages and be shared globally.  This project will include at least eight fifth grade classrooms from Oak Park, Lake Elmo, Lily Lake, and Rutherford elementary schools in the Stillwater School District, and classrooms from Columbia Heights and Watertown-Mayer. Classrooms of students in Spain, Japan, Sweden, or other countries are also invited to participate, but are not limited to grade 5.  Students of any age in other countries may participate.

Each of the documentary videos produced by students will be 2 - 3 minutes in length. Videos created by students will include narrated scripts that include an explanation of the chosen topic, perspectives on the topic, reasons why some people have these perspectives, and evidence for these reasons.  Scripts will also include an explanation of a sample mathematics problem using fractions, decimals, or percent.  

The process for this unit begins with three consecutive “Mystery Experts” webinar games.  Students try to identify the relevance of the work of the mystery expert to sustainable living.  These Mystery Experts include:

Day One: An energy expert and business owner specializing in energy conservation building materials;

Day Two: A scientist from FSC working with global communities to promote sustainable forestry practices;

Day Three: A conservation and wildlife biologist with experience in preserving endangered species in prospective hydrofracturing fields.

After this introduction, students select a topic for research.  The topic can either be one suggested by the teacher or one of their own choosing. When conducting research, students summarize their learning in daily journal entries.  At the end of the research period, students write their scripts. Creation of the documentary video includes a narration of the script accompanied by original illustrations, original photos, or properly cited Creative Commons images.  Original music created by students and coached by a music teacher is optional.  Videos created by students from the United States will include subtitles in another language such as Japanese, Swedish or Spanish.  Videos created by students from other countries will include English subtitles where possible. Links to videos will be compiled and shared in a public archive.

 The Sustainability Lesson Plan contains more details about this project, including the relevant academic standards.

Why is this project important?

Sustainability is a term used increasingly in this century. The interrelationship of our global resources creates great implications for their use in local communities and global communities. Quality of life within a local community that does not take into account sustainable practices is short sighted and potentially destructive. Quality of life within the global community assumes some measure of responsibility for stewarding the Earth’s resources. This is often complex and involves many different dimensions such as food, energy, plants, animals, soil, and energy. The more we learn to understand the implications of sustainable living, the greater our chances for maintaining a quality of life in our global community.

The “sustainable living” project-based learning experience involves multiple classrooms in different schools and school districts. Inevitably, students who view the parallel creative activities of their peers will strengthen their connections with their peers in different locations whether or not those creative activities produce similar or different outcomes. 

Sustainable living is important for human survival. Living practices that are not sustainable inevitably can create collapses of systems. In this sense, sustainable living is an enormous problem with no easy solutions. Nevertheless, students in fifth grade are growing up in the world where this problem, as difficult as it is, is worthy of continuous attention.  Minnesota academic science standards address this purpose directly.

    The lasting impact for students who both create the documentary videos and view the videos of others can be profound. The videos produced in the United States and in other countries can be archived and shared with the larger community.   If the lesson of sustainable living makes a deep and long-lasting impact on the students who bring this project into existence, community improvement will be a product of these students well beyond the time when they are in fifth grade. The inspiration of sustainable living through the eyes of young people can have a long-lasting impact on adults as well.