Young Learners

Lessons on sustainable are nearly all for use with both adults and young learners. More than 50 per cent of my teaching has been with young learners, and most of these lessons were first used with young learner classes.

Young learners are particularly motivated by this topic.

They are fascinated by the natural world. Remember how you could play for hours by a rock pool or river as a child? This is the way they are.

They are also the one’s who will suffer most from ecological degradation, climate change and species loss, and have more of a motivation to put things right.

Points to bear in mind dealing with this topic with young learners:

• Most important, nurture their fascination with the natural world. Make your lessons lead  them to the wonders of the natural world. The text in this lesson plan talks about this in great detail. Why not read it first? Reading Skills: Rewild the Child
• As kinaesthetic learners they love to touch the real thing. Use a small solar panel to set up a classroom experiment, or take them to the local park to do a plant survey. They will love it. They love making things too, so why not do this lesson and make Zero Waste Cold and Flu Medicine?
• They will love lessons involving music and song like this lesson for Earth Hour.
• As visual learners they will love photographic pictures of nature, or wildlife documentaries and of course drawing their own interpretations of the natural world as well as video and animation, like in this lesson: October: Black History Month: I will be a hummingbird, by Wangari Maathai
• Focus less on the vast problems we face as it can make them feel despondent and powerless and lose interest. Instead focus on what can be done. A class in Russia had great ideas about building cycle paths in their town after doing this lesson: February 8th: Winter Bike to School and Work Day
• Empower young learners. Help them feel they can make a change. See the lesson School Environment Audit, where they judge how eco-friendly their school is, and they make recommendations for improving it.

Are you a teacher of young learners? What do you think? Make my day and post a comment. I will respond!