Bringing sustainability into the classroom: Mini-projects & Tasks for Primary Learners

How do you feel about doing projects with your primary learners?  Projects can be great vehicles for integrating new language and also for differentiated learning, based around what a learner can do. All of your learners can bring something to a project, and learn lots from it, too. Sometimes it might feel a little daunting, or that there are too many topics to choose from, but don’t let that stop you from giving it a go. There are many benefits to using projects in the classroom, and they can be empowering experiences for students in their learning and development, as well as helping them to think critically about their lives and the world around them. They can also be extremely enjoyable for both learners and teachers.

Benefits of mini-projects: There are many benefits to using mini-projects and tasks in the classroom:

• Projects and tasks are motivating: With their concrete beginnings and ends, there is a sense of achievement for learners (and teachers) in completing a project. More than simply completing a unit, projects are personal experiences, and students learn through doing.
• Projects are learner-centred: No two projects are the same. Each student or group are working on something different. Learners can take pride in their work when presenting a final product or taking it home to show their families.
• Projects are flexible: A project can run over one lesson, or a few, or even a whole term. “Project time” could last for the duration of a lesson or for a set slot within a lesson. The whole atmosphere of a classroom often changes as students become more independent and industrious during those 10-20 minutes set aside for project work.                                                                      
• Projects integrate skills: Learners naturally use all four language skills when working on a project, and motivation for reading and listening can be high when there is a real need for taking in and understanding information.
• Projects are embedded with 21^st century skills: The four Cs, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, and Critical Thinking skills, are the bedrock of projects. A focus on these will build learners’ skills for future learning and achievements.
• Projects allow for autonomous learning: Within a project, you can give learners leeway to decide what to focus on rather than telling them. Once a project is set up, learners are able to work more independently, with our role as teachers being to monitor and help with language as needed.
• Projects allow for natural assessment: They can be evaluated in terms of using new language, or a presentation, their design work, or the effort that learners have put in. You can also bring in the four Cs mentioned above. Teachers often report that projects give them a chance to interact with all of their students and evaluate them in a low-pressure situation.
• Projects are authentic: Learners are using their English skills to do something real. When choosing the topic of a project, it’s important to consider your learners. What are they interested in? What are they studying in other subjects, and what is affecting their world right now?

Sustainability

Sustainability is an engaging area, where students can feel empowered through projects to learn about, speak about, and even act on global issues. Katherine Bilsborough discusses the benefits of using task-based learning to bring sustainability into the classroom, with useful tips in this blog article. But where to start?

The UN Sustainable Development Goals are ideal vehicles for classroom tasks and projects. The United Nations established 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 with the aim of achieving these goals by 2030. The goals focus on ending poverty, addressing climate change, and ending inequality. SDGs are being used more and more within education and curricula across the globe.

We can raise awareness of many of these issues in the classroom and get our students engaged with how to make a better world for themselves and others. Check out Harry Water’s blog article for more information about the SDGs and how to make the most of them in your classroom.

Mini-projects using the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

It’s possible to focus on each SDG in the primary classroom through mini-projects and tasks. There are 17 project-based worksheets in Richmond ELT’s free Teaching Resource Hub called Go Beyond ELT. This is a great place to start and I’ve outlined some of these projects below.

However, even without these resources, the project ideas below are good starting points for exploring different projects with your learners.

Each worksheet focuses on one of the 17 SDGs. They’ve been written in such a way that the projects don’t need to be followed in any particular order.  You can look through and pick and choose the projects which you think will appeal most to your learners. You could motivate them even further by looking though them together as a class and asking learners to choose the project. There is also a worksheet to introduce the SDGs as a whole to your class.

The worksheets include models and step by instructions to help you support your learners. You’ll also find ideas on how to integrate language into each project. Here’s a sample of the projects you can use with your primary learners in the teaching hub.

• GOAL 2, Zero Hunger: Learners design a small farm with a focus on having a variety of crops and protecting local ecosystems. The language focus is on: “too much” and “not enough”.
• GOAL 6, Clean Water & Sanitation: Learners make their own water filters, learning about where water comes from and how we use it.
• GOAL 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities: Learners plan and then create a sustainable city with plasticine and other arts and crafts materials.
• GOAL 13, Climate Action: Learners conduct ice experiments to learn about the difference between sea ice and land ice as well as learning language connected to climate change and the poles.                                                                                                                                                                 
• GOAL 15, Life On Land:

Learners research an endangered animal and then present their findings to the rest of the class.

Whether you are experienced in running projects in the classroom or getting ready to start exploring this rewarding area, I hope these examples help you to enjoy doing projects based around sustainability as much as your learners will.

Resources:

https://gobeyondelt.richmondelt.es/creating-global-citizens/

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/student-resources/

https://worldslargestlesson.globalgoals.org/