Higher:
Report on one environmental disaster caused by humans
Middle:
Explain what impact human activity is having on wildlife
Lower:
Describe what water and air pollution are
Lesson Recap Starter: Think back to your last lesson. What is an ecosystem?
Lesson Starter: Show children the starter slide. Ask them what type of impact is being shown on the environment?
Ask them how many of them use plastic drinking bottles? 20 years ago children at school used aluminium cans that could be recycled and water fountains.
Presentation - Starter Slide
Explore the story / presentation on our environment and human impact on the environment. Ask children questions as suggested.
Talk Partners - 30 Second Discussion: Discuss with your talk what you can do to reduce the amount of plastic waste you produce.
Talk Partners - Think scientifically. How can you reuse these items?
Key Concept:
During this unit, each lesson contains a key concept question housed in the '30 Second Challenge' slide. To help children master this content so the knowledge moves from their short term memory to their long term memory, at the beginning of the follow on lesson the question from the previous lesson is revisited.
The questions covered during this unit include:
1. Write a sentence that defines the term balance of nature.
2. What is an ecosystem?
3. Write a sentence that defines the word pollution.
4. Air pollution is an issue that is harming our world. What can we do to prevent damage to our planet in the future?
5. What can you do to reduce water pollution?
6. Has Alex been wasting or conserving water?
Presentation
Careers Film: Iggy Pont Lezica works as a Risk and Optimisation Coordinator for Thames Water.
Expert Film: Iggy Pont Lezica from Thames Water talks about human impact on the environment.
Expert Film: Stephen Lowe an Arboriculturist for Network Rail talks about why it's important to carefully manage human impact on the environment.
How we deliver the Gatsby Benchmarks:
2 - Learning from career and labour market information: Pop along to Developing Experts career’s zone to find out about jobs in your area.
4 - Linking curriculum learning to careers: This unit showcases careers at Thames Water. Access our 360° virtual work tours.
7 - Encounters with Further and Higher Education: Pop along to Developing Experts career’s zone to find out about training providers in your area.
Presentation - Expert Film
Man-Made Disaster Exploration
Using secondary sources of information research a man-made disaster which seriously harmed the environment. Children should then write a report for a TV news broardcast or a newspaper to present their findings. The report should include some facts and details about a major disaster, how it happened, the impact humans had on the disaster and the impact it had on the natural environment.
Library books / the internet
Handout
Quiz
With their talk partners, the children are to go through the quiz at the end of the presentation and answer the questions.
Quiz in presentation
Ask children what impact humans have had on the environment? (locally/worldwide?)
Can children think of positive and negative impacts on the environment?
Can children describe ways to help our environment?
Can children recognise the negative impact humans' pollution, habitat loss, decreased biodiversity, the consequence of traffic, the lack of green open spaces has on the environment?
Can they recognise the positive ways humans can impact their environment, habitat creation, planting to increase biodiversity, eco-friendly buildings, development of derelict sites, houses with gardens designed to increase biodiversity?
Can they distinguish with the difference between the impact on people, other animals and plants?
Quizzes available in pupil zone.
Unit knowlwdge organisers and tests available in unit / lesson documents.
Humans impact on the environment has included...
To conserve our environment, we should...
The Science Behind the Science
Humans are damaging the planet in multiple ways. The major way which this is happening is by burning fossil fuels, causing climate change. This is particularly bad because climate change will have nock-on effects to more than just the temperature. For example, in some areas of the world it will cause droughts, which will then create the conditions needed for forest fires, which need to be put out by water, which worsens the drought and will lead on to food and water shortages in the area.
Other ways humans damage the environment is through the introduction of invasive species. Invasive species cause imbalances to ecosystems. For example, on the Galapagos Islands, goats were introduced to the island to use as a small food reserve, in case the fishermen did not catch enough fish, but their numbers multiplied rapidly, and they destroyed a lot of the vegetation on the islands by eating it. They outcompeted the existing animals on the island for food and caused a decline in the number of existing species.
Destroying forests for timber has obvious negative environmental impacts and has caused the extinction and near extinction of many species. Forests are also destroyed to create land for farming crops such as soya beans, which are used in animal feed.
Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things and explore examples of human impact (both positive and negative) on environments.
Materials - Chemical changes - I can monitor the environment by collecting and analysing samples. I can interpret the results to inform others about levels of pollution and express a considered opinion on how science can help to protect our environment. SCN 4-18a
The study of the characteristics, systems and behaviours of humans and other animals, and of plants; the interactions and relationships between and among them, and with their environment.
Exploration
Recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar, charts and tables
Grade 5 - Our Environment.
Grade 3 - Life Science - Ecosystems - Changes to Ecosystems - Living things and their environments - How do people change their environments? (pollution, cleaning land, creating competition)
Understanding human life and production may cause damage to the environment