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The Holy Cross School Global Warming Project
The school’s approach to learning
The Holy Cross School has a long history of being at the leading edge
of ICT curriculum development, and has been active in MirandaNet for over 15
years. Ideas generated at the school, especially those involving cross-curricular,
and international work, have been presented at CPD conferences across the
world, and are well documented on MirandaNet (see ICT
for World Peace).
The Global Warming Project
Much has been made in the press
about the dangers of global warming. At Holy Cross, we believe that, while
we must do all we can to suppress greenhouse
gases, avoid pollution, and to reduce waste, this will not in any way solve
the problem. Global warming is a much bigger, natural phenomenon, which humans
are making worse. If we believe that by recycling the odd tin can we will
actually reduce the temperature of the planet, we are fooling ourselves,
and future generations will not thank us. It’s a much bigger problem.
Accordingly, we set out to study global warming in as many subjects as possible across the KS3 timetable, to explore it, and to raise awareness about this important issue. As with all good projects, the pupils were involved in the planning stages.
We aimed to use the project to develop:
- CPD of science staff at Holy Cross
- VLE resources of the school
- Whole school teaching approaches to learning
- Students’ understanding of complex scientific issues
- Our links with Dr Dan Sporea, and schools in Romania
We aimed to create a series of varied learning outcomes across years 7, 8 and 9, in English lessons (stories, poems, drama scripts, film scripts, debating), in Music (songs and raps), in Art (ice sculptures), in Dance (based on “Earth Song”, by Michael Jackson), in Geography (Movie Maker files about climate change), in ICT (animated presentations) and in Science (energy and fuels).
The project was a powerful success (and received a welcome endorsement from the Professor of Energy and Environment Policy Department of Geography King's College London), with students creating a wonderful range of learning outcomes. Most of these are too big to post on the web, but a few sample files here try to show some of the range of work, and the students’ creativity:
- Hannah's Global Animation Presentation (1.9MB PowerPoint)
- Joanna's Global Warming Presentation (1.8MB PowerPoint)
- Ellie,
Bryony, Lucretzia and Eleanor's Video Project (13.9MB WMV file) (Mac
users - see note below)
(if your browser is set to run this kind of file, the video should stream for
you without the need to download it)
Please note that the pupils' work may contain material which is the copyright of third parties. MirandaNet acknowledges this and the editor will remove any item where the original copyright owner would prefer that we do not display this delightful work.
Mac users: WMV files do not work on the Mac unless you have installed some additional software, such as the Windows Media Player for Mac which is available for download, but not supported, or the Flip4mac add-on which will allow these files to be played using QuickTime.
Global Warming Project endorsed by Professor Paul Ekins
Congratulations to Holy Cross and its students for taking climate change seriously, and being so creative about it.
Climate change is already changing the world in which we live, and it is vital to understand what is happening, and why, in order to do something about it.
May many other schools follow your example!
Paul
Professor Paul Ekins
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/sspp/geography/people/acad/ekins/
Professor
of Energy and Environment Policy Department of Geography King's College
London The Strand
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