Hosted by OSOS , contributed by eilish.mcloughlin on 6 February 2018
“Greener Greens? - Are the food choices we make sustainable?” is a collection of student inquiry-based research projects that are designed to question ethical and sustainability issues surrounding global food production and consumption, and possible resulting impacts on climate change and biodiversity. It challenges students' assumptions that the all-year-round availability of non-seasonal fruits and vegetables is necessary, or moral, through critical analyses of data, and personal case studies. Beyond this, the question of whether political or economic agreements between countries to supply and receive goods that can be sourced locally to each other, is questioned. The role of science in society on a global and personal scale is used to evaluate commercial and media-based arguments on sustainability. Tasks are designed and undertaken by first year students, (13 years of age). The results are expected to be an increased awareness of their role and impact within the biosphere.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
The student:
- has a developing awareness of the origins and impacts of social, economic, and environmental aspects of the world around her/him
- develops the awareness, knowledge, skills, values and motivation to live sustainably
- values what it means to be an active citizen, with responsibilities in local and wider contexts
- understands the importance of food and diet in making healthy lifestyle choices
- recognizes the potential uses of mathematics and ICT in all areas of learning
- values the role and contribution of science and technology to society, and their personal, social and global importance
- explores options and alternatives by engaging in scientific enquiry where she/he generates and seeks answers to their own questions and evaluates the process to determine the optimum outcome
- conducts research relevant to a scientific issue, evaluates different sources of information including secondary data, understanding that a source may lack detail or show bias
- organizes and communicates her/his research findings in a way fit for purpose and audience, using relevant scientific terminology and representations
- evaluates media-based arguments concerning science and technology
- understands how humans influence the Earth’s climate, evaluate the effects of climate change and initiatives that attempt to address those effects
- evaluates how humans can successfully conserve ecological biodiversity and contribute to global food production while appreciating the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems
- adopts a systems-thinking approach to understand complex processes
RRI principles
One of the key aspects of OSOS is the inclusion of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)principles (more information at RRI-Tools.eu). This is how this Accelerator fits into the RRI model:
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Governance |
It is important that this project involves different agents of society (such as families and neighbors), since they are the ones who can benefit most from the conclusions of the activity. Therefore, it is important that students know their feedback, so that they can improve the results of the project.
I.e.: students will have to share responsibility in carrying out this project with different stakeholders, such as families and neighbors, interviewing them to know their point of view and share the different intermediate results obtained during the activity. |
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Public engagement |
Students will be able to make decisions collaboratively, with the participation of stakeholders involved in the project with whom they can create an association with the aim of improving the results and conclusions obtained, sharing them with stakeholders.
I.e.: students will have the feedback of the stakeholders involved, who will contribute their point of view and experience in the problem proposed by this Accelerator. Students will be able to make decisions in a collaborative way, sharing the results with the stakeholders that have participated and with the objective of involving society. |
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Gender equality |
Students will make decisions based on a gender equality approach, which are aimed at both men and women. The working groups of the project will be formed by an equal number of men and women, in order to provide a neutral view of the problems related to food.
I.e.: students will arrange interviews with stakeholders in order to obtain a neutral vision in terms of gender equality. In addition, the work done in this Accelerator can provide a neutral point of view that can be used to solve problems for both men and women. |
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Science Education |
Students will be able to develop the project based on a series of social, economic and ethical principles around food and its consequences in society. During the activity, students will be able to contribute a scientific vision that provides value when it comes to managing and working with the challenges found.
I.e.: once the context in which this activity is developed is understood, students will be able to use scientific tools and concepts to solve the problems raised through the scientific method. In addition, students will also be able to disseminate what they learned during the project with the aim of training citizens to make decisions through science. |
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Ethics |
Students will share the results of the activity with all stakeholders involved, making them participants in a scientific project that can impact on the society. Students can also reflect on current issues about food and society during the different phases of the project.
I.e.: Students must take into account ethical aspects of science when developing the activity, sharing responsibility for the results obtained with the stakeholders involved in the project. |
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Open Access |
Students will share their progress in a public and open access, studying the different types of licenses that exist to create and share content on the Internet. The aimof these materials will be to disseminate the problems that exist about the feeding choices that exists.
I.e.: students can use online channels (websites, social networks) to disseminate information about their achievements. For example, with an infographic on the seasonal fruits and vegetables or with dissemination materials around the topic. |
Addressed challenge: we all eat, but is what we eat healthy? Do our students know what seasonal fruits and vegetables are? In the 21st century it is usual to find everything, at any time; however, this is not the most 'natural' thing. This FEEL phase will introduce our students to the temporality of food and which options are healthier and more balanced, as well as more friendly to nature.
AVAILABLE PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES:
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Families |
Family choices about food consumption drive local economics. By first discussing how the availability of food types has changed over the years with older relatives and friends of the family a context for the project is set. Comparisons of town and country living, and experiences from other countries, provides a rich basis for discussion and brings learning out of the classroom. It is hoped that an appreciation of the carbon footprint of fruit and vegetables by students will impact the purchasing behaviour of their parents by encouraging the support of locally sourced produce. |
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Supermarkets |
Student discussions with supermarket managers, or purchasers, are encouraged to drive retail of locally sourced produce |
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University |
Dublin City University |
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Education centres |
Sonairte is a local ecological education centre that promotes sustainable organic farming and provides outreach activities. Causey Farm is another venue that also provides students with a number of opportunities to integrate subject domains literally in the field. |
RESOURCES NEEDED:
Very little... it relies on food packaging that show the countries of origin which are collected from the students' recycle bins and interviews with relatives and friends. In addition, internet access provides the opportunities for students to search for, and evaluate, information about global food production, sustainable living, increased dependence on monoculture, reductions in biodiversity and the effects of greenhouse gasses on climate change.
OTHER/NOTES:
This activity was triggered by the introduction of seasonal fruit in the school canteen (bananas and pineapples) and a realization that students had no idea about seasonality
URL TO FIND MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.confeyscience.com/greener_greens.html
website:
e-mail:
Feel
Addressed challenge: we all eat, but is what we eat healthy? Do our students know what seasonal fruits and vegetables are? In the 21st century it is usual to find everything, at any time; however, this is not the most 'natural' thing. This FEEL phase will introduce our students to the temporality of food and which options are healthier and more balanced, as well as more friendly to nature.
[1] Consider
(40 Minutes)
- Teacher asks students about their favourite fruits or vegetables
- Teacher asks whether they are in season or not, and if not, where they might have come from
- Students identify possible countries of origin on an atlas and features of that location in terms of climate or season that might support their choice.
- Teacher generates a discussion about how availability of different foods might have changed over the years
- Students establish a method for collecting data about changes, (by interviewing older relatives or friends of the family- there is the possibility for a community link with local old people’s homes), and countries of origin (by collecting food labels off wrappings).
Resources: Computers with Internet, Atlases
[2] Inquire
(40 Minutes):
- Students conduct a class discussion based on the findings of their interviews (they are frequently shocked by the differences that are relayed and fascinated by variations from town and country life-styles and those of individuals from other countries)
- Teacher initiates an inquiry activity where students search for information about what is ‘in season’ at different times of the year for their country
- Food labels are collected from students.
Resources: Computers with Internet.
Imagine
[1] Discover
(80 minutes):
- Students watch a short documentary on Quinoa produced by Channel 4 news and are then prompted to find more information about the topics raised (this raises issues of bias and reliability of data as many of the claims made in the documentary cannot be substantiated)
- Teacher asks the students to discover whether the same is true for palm oil production (this leads to discussions about monoculture and loss of biodiversity
- Students present their initial findings to the class and then suggest possible research projects that they will undertake in groups
- Food labels are collected from students
Resources: Computers with Internet, Data projector, Poster paper
Create
[1] Investigate
(80 Minutes):
- Students conduct their research and prepare a presentation of their findings in a variety of formats.
- Food labels are collected from students
[2] Share
(40 Minutes):
- Students present their findings to their peers
[3] Identify
(40 Minutes):
- Students map produce to country of origin on personal or wall atlases (this usually raises issues of produce that could be sourced locally having been imported from other countries)
- If not identified by students the teacher raises the issue of foreign imports of items that can be locally grown and questions whether it makes any difference where the food comes from (this always raises the carbon emissions from transportation)
- Students decide what information they need to collect that will inform them of the carbon footprint of transportation (i.e. name, mass, country of origin) and how they will present their results.
Resources: Computers with Internet, Food labels
[4] Take Action
(80 Minutes):
- Students continue to collate data and calculate distance travelled by taking the capital city of the country of origin and their location and the website https://www.freemaptools.com/how-far-is-it-between.htm
- Teacher provides a simple spreadsheet that allows students to calculate the volume and mass of CO2 produced by inputting distance travelled and mass
- Students use milk cartons to visualize 1litre and extrapolate the dimensions to model the carbon dioxide emissions for a variety of items
Resources: Computers with Internet, Food labels
[5 ] Present
(80 Minutes):
- Students finish their display on atlases to include additional data and prepare short presentations to be given to school colleagues and local supermarket managers/purchasers.
Resources: Presentation Materials