Abstracts - Posters
Teaching About Change in School: Presentation of a Teacher's Kit
Caroline Chartrand1, Michelle Garneau and Christiane Hudon
1Université du Québec à Montréal
chartrand.caroline@uqam.ca
Climate change is defined by a modification of average meteorological conditions. Increased concentrations of greenhouse gases, both natural and man-made, are one of the reasons for this phenomenon. Several effects are foreseen for Quebec, such as lower average water levels in the St. Lawrence River (Bergeron et at., 1997), longer growing seasons and more frequency climate extremes. Despite media reports of climate change problems, recent studies have shown that young people are not very aware of the phenomenon (Chartrand et al., 2003; Chartrand, 2004; Pruneau et al., 2001). Consequently, according to a study conducted by Pruneau et al. (2001) in the Montréal area, 82% of young people think that climate change does not affect them, 75% believe that climate change will have no impact on their lives, and 60% see no link between the greenhouse effect and climate change. These findings prompted an interest in developing a teacher's kit. Designed for secondary school teachers, the tool has three main objectives: 1) the awareness and education of young people (between 12 and 15 years old) of the problem of climate change, 2) the adaptive capacity of young people in their environment and 3) meeting the instructional objectives of the Ministère de l'Éducation du Québec (MEQ) for... The teacher's kit has been created for students in Grades 9 and 10, and is divided into three parts: a multimedia presentation, an educational poster and a teacher's guide. In addition, the kit uses a concrete example: the climate change impacts on the ecosystem of the St. Lawrence River. Developed using an interdisciplinary and ecosystem approach, the tool fits well into the Ministère's "Programme de formation de l'école québécoise" (2004), which targets the understanding of contemporary problems that have impacts on young people's environments, and it fits into all disciplinary programs. The kit also satisfies the curriculum's objective of encouraging adolescents to become aware of the world around them (MEQ, 2004).
2005-04-06 |
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