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Future Citizens in the Forest |
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Written by CDEC
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Wednesday, 18 June 2008 |
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Future Citizens in the Forest
Whinlatter Forest is in the north of the Lake District National Park, and this short film features Year 6 students from Great Broughton Primary School, Cockermouth, exploring the concepts of Needs & Wants on a day visit to the forest. The footage gives a flavour of the activities that the students were involved in. These included:
Making Wise Choices – Teams prioritised Needs & Wants cards, promoting lively debate about which items were most important for surviving in the forest.... Matches? Water purifying tablets? Toothbrush? Pots & Pans? Or perhaps a hot water bottle?
Apple Hunt – In this activity, children searched for ‘apples’ with statements on them such as ‘This apple has travelled 11,000 miles and is from New Zealand. Transporting 1 tonne of apples 11,000 miles produces 21 tonnes of carbon dioxide’. The apples that had the longest journeys were hidden furthest from the group. This prompted discussions on air miles, the impact of trade between countries and the concept of Fair Trade.
‘Before you finished breakfast this morning you’ll have relied on half the world’ Martin Luther King’
Access to Water – The children were given the challenge to carry water from A to B. The task was made much more difficult as some of the containers had holes! The activity was then related to the ‘real’ world and the stark fact that over 1 billion people do not have access to clean water.
Forest Shelters – The children had identified one of their needs as Shelter and were able to purchase items for their own shelter using tokens they had earned as a team for making wise choices earlier. In this activity children really began to appreciate the relationship between themselves and their environment, and to realise what they might need to survive, rather than being absorbed in consumer desires(...second thoughts about the hot water bottle!)
Needs & WantsFood, Water, Shelter – The Whinlatter sessions provided children with a memorable, practical and enjoyable learning experience focussed on sustainable development issues. The activities were part of a scheme of work, which included lead-in & follow-up lessons. The ideas can easily be adapted for any outdoor space, including school grounds. Further information about the scheme of work, and how it fits into the global citizenship curriculum, plus supporting lesson plans, photos and websites can be found in the CDEC publication, ‘A Survival Pack for Future Citizens’ £20 e mail
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. Further information about Forest Parks can be found at the Forestry Commission website www.forestry.gov.uk
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 16 September 2008 )
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Case Studies 
