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Dirty Air and Bright Lights

Ethics Lesson for the Air Module

Secondary

Description

Students are presented with the relationship of bright lights, holiday lights and other intense uses of electricity in terms of the effects on air quality, and the subsequent effect on human health. If dirty air makes people sick, what can be done to reduce air pollution from electricity production and use? Students are asked to consider this question and develop recommendations for personal, policy, and advocacy actions.

Students assume roles representing competing perspectives with respect to energy use, examine the values inherent in these perspectives, explore the ethical implications of each and develop and promote a policy on energy use in keeping with their moral compass.

 

General Assessment

What skills does this resource explicitly teach?

  • Decision making skills
  • Values clarification skills
  • Persuasive presentation/advocacy skills

Strengths

  • Part of the appeal of the resource is that it exploits a rather mundane issue - holiday lights - to explore a rather sophisticated question. To what extend do our choices affect others and the planet and what criteria might be used in determining the efficacy of our choices?
  • The resource further provides a framework for investigating the question raised and a process that encourages cooperative learning and allows the student to construct their own position on the question raised.

Weaknesses

Investigation of some of the side issues such as the relative merits of various means of energy production or the impact of air pollution on peoples in the developed and developing world would require additional research by either the students or teachers.

Relevant Curriculum Units

The following tool will allow you to explore the relevant curriculum matches for this resource. To start, select a province listed below.

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  • British Columbia
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    • Grade 11
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        • Science for Citizens 11:Scientific processes and knowledge inform our decisions and impact our daily lives
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        • Environmental Science 12: Living sustainably supports the well-being of self, community, and Earth.
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        • Geographic Issues of the 21st Century: Natural Resources
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        • Current Topics in the Sciences 30S: Science, Technology, Society & the Environment
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        • Learning and Living Sustainably (STSE)
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        • Advanced Environmental Science 120: Earth Systems
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        • Environmental Science 3205: The Atmosphere and the Environment
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        • Geography 10: Atmospheric Environment
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        • Environmental Science: Atmospheric Pollution
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        • Science 24:Disease Defence and Human Health
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        • Environmental Studies 35: Northern Environmental Issues
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        • Civics and Citizenship (Open): Civic Awareness
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        • Environmental Science 621A: Environmental Challenges and Successes
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        • Environmental Science & Technology: The Living World
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        • Contemporary World: Environment
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        • Social Studiees 20:World Issues - Environment
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        • Environmental Science 11:Humans can play a role in stewardship and restoration of ecosystems
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    • Grade 12
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      • Environmental Science
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        • Environmental Science 12: Living sustainably supports the well-being of self, community, and Earth.

Themes Addressed

Air, Atmosphere & Climate (1)

  • Air Pollution

Citizenship (1)

  • General Guide to Taking Action

Energy (3)

  • Alternative Energy
  • Energy Generation
  • Energy Use

Governance (1)

  • Government Regulations

Human Health & Environment (1)

  • Environmental Contaminants & Health Hazards

Human Rights (1)

  • Environmental Racism/Justice

Sustainability Education Principles

Principle Rating Explanation
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives Good

Invites students to consider competing perspectives on the issue of holiday lights. Students are assigned roles reflecting variety of perspectives and encouraged to examine other perspectives through a jigsaw approach.

Consideration of Alternative Perspectives:
  • Satisfactory: absence of bias towards any one point of view
  • Good: students consider different points of view regarding issues, problems discussed
  • Very good: based on the consideration of different views, students form opinions and  take an informed position
Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions Good

Students are encouraged to consider the environmental consequences of energy use (air pollution); the social implications (individual and community health); the economic considerations (means of energy production)

Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions:

Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.

  • Satisfactory: resource supports the examination of  these dimensions
  • Good:  resource explicitly examines the interplay of these dimensions
  • Very Good:  a systems-thinking approach is encouraged to examine these three dimensions
Respects Complexity Very Good

Students are required to explore different perspectives to ethical decision making and in doing so to clarify their own values on the issues raised

Respects Complexity:

The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected.

Acting on Learning Satisfactory

Students are asked to develop a policy on the issue addressed in accordance with their preferred ethical approach; to test the merits of policy by inviting peer response; to revise the policy (if required) based on that response. 

Acting on Learning:

Learning moves from understanding  issues  to working towards positive change — in personal lifestyle, in school, in the community,  or for the planet

  • Satisfactory: action opportunities are included as extensions 
  • Good: action opportunities are core components of the resource
  • Very Good: action opportunities for students are well supported and intended to result in observable, positive change
Values Education Very Good

In constructing their position on the issue raised, students are required to examine and to articulate their values inherent in the ethical approach they choose to adopt. 

Values Education:

Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values.

Empathy & Respect for Humans Good

Students are required to consider the impact their decisions have on others and to act in a socially conscious manner.

Empathy & Respect for Humans: Empathy and respect are fostered for diverse groups of humans (including different genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences, etc.).
Personal Affinity with Earth Satisfactory

While the focus of the effects of energy use is on human health, opportunities are presented to consider ecosystem impacts.

Personal Affinity with Earth:

Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.  

  • Satisfactory: connection is made to the natural world
  • Good: fosters appreciation/concern for the natural world
  • Very Good: fosters stewardship though practical and respectful experiences out-of-doors 
Locally-Focused Learning Very Good

The case study presented in the activity focuses on the impact individual actions have on the larger community - the environmental/health consequences  of holiday lighting. The action component  of the activity suggests that students consider a strategy that would have a positive impact on the community with respect to the concerns raised.  

Locally-Focused Learning:

Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community. 

  • Satisfactory: learning is made relevant to the lives of the learners
  • Good: learning is made relevant and has a local focus
  • Very Good: learning is made relevant, local and takes place ‘outside’ , in the community 
Past, Present & Future Satisfactory

Attention is on a current practice, the health implications of that practice, and possible actions that may reduce the health risks to today's and future populations. 

Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future.

Pedagogical Approaches

Principle Rating Explanation
Open-Ended Instruction Good

Students construct their own perspective on the issue of the responsibility attached to energy use through a framework that identifies multiple perspectives, ethical reasoning, and structured student exchange.

Open-Ended Instruction :

Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer.

Integrated Learning Good

Issues addressed in the resource have relevance for science (energy production, air pollution), health (air quality), civics (citizen responsibility), ethics (values clarification), and language arts ( persuasive reasoning) curricula.

Integrated Learning:

Learning brings together content and skills  from more than one  subject area

  • Satisfactory: content from a number of different  subject areas is readily identifiable
  • Good:  resource is appropriate for use in more than one subject area
  • Very Good:  the lines between subjects are blurred 
Inquiry Learning Good

Students are presented with a question - To what extent do all electricity users have a duty to reduce consumption as much as possible?. A case study introduces the question and students arrive at their own position after a process that requires examining a variety of perspectives and clarifying their values through a process of ethical reasoning. 

Inquiry Learning:

Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.   

  • Satisfactory: Students are provided with questions/problems to solve and some direction on how to arrive at solutions.
  • Good: students, assisted by the teacher clarify the question(s) to ask and the process to follow to arrive at solutions.  Sometimes referred to as Guided Inquiry
  • Very Good:  students generate the questions and assume much of the responsibility for how to solve them.  . Sometimes referred to as self-directed learning.

 

Differentiated Instruction Good

The pedagogy adopted by the resource includes role playing, cooperative learning within a jigsaw approach and student policy development and implementation.

Differentiated Instruction:

Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.

  • Satisfactory:  includes a variety of instructional approaches
  • Good: addresses  the needs of visual, auditory &  kinesthetic learners
  • Very Good: also includes strategies for learners with difficulties
Experiential Learning Satisfactory

A case study(holiday lighting) introduces a simulation in which students role play possible responses to the issue of responsible energy use. Concluding activities ask students to develop a persuasive piece that may convince others in the community of the student's position on the issues raised.

Experiential Learning:

Authentic learning experiences are provided

  • Satisfactory: learning takes place through ‘hands-on’ experience or simulation
  • Good: learning involves direct experience in a ‘real world context’
  • Very good: learning involves ‘real world experiences’ taking place’ beyond the school walls.
Cooperative Learning Good

Group interaction within a jigsaw approach and requires students to articulate their position on the issues and to listen to an incorporate the perspective of others in deciding on a strategy or policy with respect to responsible energy use.

Cooperative Learning:

Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.

  • Satisfactory:  students work in groups
  • Good: cooperative learning skills are explicitly taught and practiced
  • Very Good: cooperative learning skills are explicitly taught, practiced and assessed
Assessment & Evaluation Good

Students review each other’s persuasive pieces and develop criteria for how well they address the essential question; develop criteria to rate their own and each other’s presentations; use magazines, newspapers and the Internet to identify analogous cases.

Assessment & Evaluation: Tools are provided that help students and teachers to capture formative and summative information about students' learning and performance. These tools may include reflection questions, checklists, rubrics, etc.
Peer Teaching Good

Role playing and jigsaw components require that students listen and respond to the perspective presented by other students and to articulate their position so as to persuade others.

Peer Teaching:

Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.

  • Satisfactory: incidental teaching that arises from cooperative learning, presentations, etc.
  • Good or Very Good: an opportunity is intentionally created to empower students to teach other students/community members. The audience is somehow reliant on the students' teaching (students are not simply ‘presenting')
Case Studies Good

The issue of holiday lighting provides the case study to introduce questions related to the production and use of energy, the health implications of our choices, and the issue of responsible energy use.

Case Studies:

Relevant case studies are included.  Case studies are thorough descriptions of real events from real situations that students use to explore  concepts in an authentic context.

Locus of Control Good

The resource represents a structured investigation of a pre-determined question but students may, as part of the extension activities, identify other areas of personal behavior that have larger environmental health implications; investigate the actual contribution of individual behavior change around energy use to air quality;or compare corporate contributions to air pollution and the effect of regulation

Locus of Control: Meaningful opportunities are provided for students to choose elements of program content, the medium in which they wish to work, and/or to go deeper into a chosen issue.