Global issue - individual responsibility
There are two activities here that help to see that whilst the issue is global in nature, each person has a responsibility to do their part to help solve the problems of climate change.
The first activity is a classification activity where pupils have to decide which activities to solve global warming they can do and which ones governments can do in addition to other classification criteria.
The second activity helps pupils to write a persuasive piece of writing that aims to explain why it is important for each person to act on climate change. It provides a number of sentence starters which the pupils can use to help them start their writing.
Water pollution worksheet
This activity first reminds/looks at the water cycle and pupils then have to explain the different stages of the water cycle by labelling the diagram.
The pupils then go on to look at five ways in which people affect the water cycle. The pupils have to write a description of how each activity affects the water cycle.
For an extension activity, the pupils could look at other ways in which water pollution are caused.
Desertification worksheets
In this activity, the pupils look at the important topic of desertification. They understand that the desert environment is a fragile one and the causes behind the increase in desertification.
This activity also then goes on to develop some geography skills by asking the pupils to locate on to the blank map of the world the location of the world's major deserts by looking at a satellite image of the world.
Deforestation worksheet
In this activity, the pupils learn about the important topic of deforestation. using infographics, the pupils have to define what deforestation is and interpret what the main causes of deforestation are. In answering questions, the pupils then go on to think of ways in which the problems of deforestation can be alleviated.
Alternative sources of energy - Wind power
This activity looks at alternative energy use. It asks you to classify different forms of energy according to whether they are renewable or not. It goes on to focus on wind power in more detail. It comes complete with answer key.
Climate change in history worksheet
In this activity, we go on to look at how climate change is not a new phenomenon. We look at how the climate has changed in the past and what the consequences of those changes were. By looking at the changes that occured historically, we can start to see some of the changes that might take place in the future as the climate continues to change.
Note: This worksheet is A3 in size.
Discussion activity - What are the top ten
issues affecting the environment today?
This is a brainstorming activity that could be best undertaken at the start of learning about the environment to give a good idea of what knowledge is known already. For those that struggle to come up with ten issues, there is a comprehensive list at our environmental issues webpage. This is a good collaborative activity with pupils working in pairs or small groups to select and prioritise the issues and rank them in order of severity.
