Explaining Impacts of Environmental Change

Engage

30 minutes

Ask students to share their responses to this question:
“Why is it important that people become informed about the potential impacts of environmental change to the Bering Sea ecosystem, the Arctic, or our community?”

After the discussion, tell students that their assignment is to create a digital story or documentary about the potential impacts to the Bering Sea, the Arctic, or their community if environmental change continues at an accelerating rate. (If technology in your school is lacking, students may write a newspaper article instead.)

Show a few of the following videos, or choose your own. These videos were chosen to illustrate several different methods for creating a story. The content is not always an environmental change. The idea is to help students begin to generate some creative ways they might approach the task of creating a digital story.

Use Google Slides still photos and words.

Canva Whiteboard YouTube project

The following were created by students:

Text, images and student narration.

Give students time to review their science notebooks, reflecting on the things that they found interesting or important throughout the unit on Our Changing World. They may also use some of their interview from the The Old Days if it is appropriate.

Students can use video cameras to create their digital story if they are available, or they can create a digital story using photos, drawings, text, sounds, and/or illustrations. They may create their own illustrations, or find them on the Web. iMovie is an easy application to use to create the story. 

Explore

150+ minutes 

Discuss the basic requirements and expectations for their finished product. Distribute the Digital Story rubric or one you have adapted or created, and discuss it with students. You may choose to have students help you adapt the rubric to fit your situation.

1. Students should spend some time thinking about their story before they begin.
2. The purpose of the story is to help others learn about the potential effects of environmental change in the Bering Sea, in the Arctic, or in their community.
3. Creating a storyboard will allow them to organize their ideas and give you the opportunity to help guide their thinking. Stories should be no more than 2 minutes in length, so students will need to get their message across in a short amount of time. There are several ways to create storyboards. Using 3 x 3 inch sticky notes allows students to rearrange and regroup easily. Using a storyboard template is also effective.
4. The first part of the storyboard is the narrative or script. What is the message they want to convey? What are some important facts or concepts they want to share?
5. When the narrative is complete, images can be created or collected to fit the story.
6. If time and technology allow, music can be added

Explain

60-90 minutes

Plan a potluck dinner or another event and invite the community to learn about the students’ research throughout the unit. Share the finished stories with the class, school, and community. Divide up the tasks and assign to small groups of students. One or more groups might share aspects of the interviews, another group(s) might prepare to share results of the outdoor field investigations, and another group might be the “logistics coordinators” who take care of the overall coordination of the program, the invitations, and the setup.

Elaborate

Plan and begin a long-term project to monitor one or more potential impacts of climate change in your local ecosystem.

Post presentations and interviews on the Alaska Seas and Watersheds forum to share with students across the state.

Evaluate

Use the Digital Story rubric to evaluate the student stories and assess their understanding.