Not on our Soil - A Climate Justice Reality Free Curriculum
A first of its kind immersive climate change learning experience from a uniquely South African perspective. This beautifully curated 5-part docuseries highlights climate change through a range of lenses critical in the functioning of South African society.
Free Documentary Curriculum Modules
Access free 4-lesson curriculum modules for each documentary episode of the Not on our Soil – A Climate Justice Reality documentary series. These modules have been developed to engage learners in an action orientated deep dive into unique South African stories around climate change. Not only will learners understand the deep connections between environmental, social and economic factors relating to climate change, they will have the opportunity to take action through activities and projects relevant to their communities and spheres of influence.
Documentary Episode
Module Overview
Lesson 1 kicks off by introducing the concept of externalities which are central to the overall module. Following on from this, learners engage in an empathy map to attempt to understand key perspectives involved. They finish off the lesson by researching one human and one environmental right contained in the South African constitution.
Lesson 2 brings the concepts of Democracy and Civil Society into the fold as the learners begin veering into the activity in which they need to identify a relevant and local issue / externality. This is a vital component of the module and should be carefully conducted and facilitated as it sets the platform for the rest of the module.
Following on from the identification of a relevant issue, the learners deepen their understanding of this issue by researching the intricacies and details of it in lesson 3. They use the worksheet, Breaking down the issue, to unpack the key details and impacts. Once they have completed this activity, the learners are set to start compiling an appeal letter targeted at a specific government official or civil society organisation.
Lesson 4 showcases civil society organisations in South Africa to illustrate to the learners the various platforms of civic action they can engage in. Following on from this, the learners spend valuable time compiling their appeal letters using the supporting resources in the learner workbook.
Documentary Episode
Module Overview
Lesson 1 kicks off with an empathy map activity which encourages the learners to engage in feelings and thoughts of empathy in order to better understand the perspectives and case study clearer. Following on from that, the concepts of Climate Change and Climate Change impacts are relayed to the learners. In addition to this, learners are also exposed to the Sustainable Development Goals and the concept of sustainable development to broaden their understanding of the interaction between social, economic and environmental elements. The learners complete lesson 1 by drawing and defining the term community in their own words and depictions.
Lesson 2 follows on from the ending of lesson 1 as the learners share their definitions and drawings of their community. Following on from this, the learners engage in the case study of the Cape Town drought in 2017/18 to evidently see the social, economic and environmental impacts and contributors. This activity aims to elaborate on the links between social, economic and environmental factors in sustainable development. And lastly, using their drawing or definition of the learners’ community, the learners undergo an identification process of their communities’ social or environmental needs and issues. This sets the platform for their final task in lesson 3.
Lesson 3 combines everything that the learners have been exposed to in order to develop an informative poster that raises awareness around one particular community need or issue, identified in activity 4. Here, the learners use their understanding of their community and of the concepts taught thus far to empower themselves and their community to act upon or spread awareness on the particular issue. This lesson also spends some time showcasing what community development looks like in a South african context, to which there are supporting resources included in the learner workbook.
Lesson 4 affords the learners some time to work on their activity submissions and to finalise their informative poster tasks.
Documentary Episode
Module Overview
Lesson 1 contains a fair amount of conceptual work which is vital for the learners to understand in order to further progress in this module. The lesson kicks off with an empathy map to best understand the perspectives surrounding this sensitive topic. Following on from that, learners are exposed to the rife inequality in terms of gender that persists in SA. The learner workbook will contain more content that speaks to this lesson which the learners are encouraged to verse themselves on. It is also highly encouraged that you, the teacher or facilitator, read and verse yourself on the content included in this lesson and module as it is of vital importance in the South African context.
Lesson 2 digs deeper and unpacks what exactly creates and contributes to one’s vulnerability to climate change in society, especially the vulnerability of marginalised groups. You will facilitate a session unpacking what contributes to one’s vulnerability. This is an exceptionally important component of the module as it sets the platform for the activity that the learners need to complete. Following on from the content, learners engage in pair work to unpack some of the gender differentiated impacts of climate change within certain dimensions of society. All comprehensive notes and activity information is included in the teacher’s notes and learner workbook.
Lesson 3 and 4 provide the learners the opportunity to translate what they’ve learnt in this module into an informative awareness poster to raise awareness around the gender differentiated impacts of climate change within a specific dimension of society. These posters can also provide your school or educational institution an opportunity to implement a ‘gender-awareness week’ in which the posters could form an integral component. There are a variety of supportive resources in the learner book and teacher’s notes which guide both the learner and the teacher in the poster creation process.
Documentary Episode
Module Overview
Lesson 1 kicks off by introducing the core concepts in the module relating to news and journalism. Understanding these is vital to progress further in the module. The focus then veers to a more personal perspective as the learners map out the various types and forms of news they engage with. This will give the learners an opportunity to critically think about what news they interact with and rely on.
Lesson 2 builds on the conceptual understanding of news and journalism created in lesson 1 by engaging the learners in a news comparison activity to showcase how the same story can be told differently. The concept of climate journalism is brought to the learners’ attention as they prepare for the first part of activity 3 in which they need to identify an environmentally-themed story worth telling, in preparation for the interview they will conduct.
Lesson 3 introduces the roles and structures of interviews in journalism as the learners prepare to conduct an interview in preparation for their piece of climate journalism they are to construct or record. Facilitating this activity is important as it will define what types of stories the learners end up telling in their piece of climate journalism.
Lesson 4 offers a platform for the learners to synthesise their interview findings into either a written article or recorded podcast to share an environmentally-themed story they deem worth telling.
Documentary Episode
Module Overview
Lesson 1 kicks the module off by contextualising the learners with the concepts of activism and campaigns which are central to this module. The learners then engage in an empathy map activity to best understand the perspective of the youth in SA as a collective. Further content on environmental awareness campaigns and eco-activism is taught to the learners to deepen their understanding of how and where these can be seen in the fight against climate change.
Lesson 2 starts off on a personal note as the learners map out some of their eco-anxieties, which they are contextualised on. The eco-anxieties that exist come about from personal experiences with climate change or from a bombardment of climate-related news. Affording the learners time to map out some of their eco-anxieties sets a platform for action which the learners will dive into later on in the module. To round up the lesson, learners are exposed to the forms and functions of awareness campaigns and they receive their project brief on the awareness campaign they are to create. This process can be facilitated slowly as it is important that the learners understand exactly what is required from them in creating an environmental awareness campaign.
Lesson 3 sees the learners being exposed to a few local environmental awareness campaigns in order to unpack a few details around the target audience, type of campaign materials used and the reasons for both. This is a valuable activity as it will allow the learners to see first-hand how campaigns are structured and how important it is to consider who the campaign is directed at in the first place. Following this, learners get a chance to dive into their campaign planning and implementation. There are step-by-step resources and activities in the learner workbook which facilitate and guide the learners through this process.
Lesson 4 is an optional one to run in-class as it only sees the learners completing their awareness campaigns and finalising any of their campaign materials. If you opt to not run this session in-class, the learners will have their campaigns complete for submission at another stage.
Grade 9-11
Learners from grades 9-11 can be exposed to and engaged in these curriculum modules.
Life Orientation
Life Orientation is the obvious subject to teach these modules. However, there are numerous cross curricula opportunities for teachers willing to go the extra mile.
Project-based Learning
Each module has a strong project-based learning focus with multiple activities building towards an overarching action orientated project.
Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Intelligence curricula enable you to teach material and build knowledge, skills and values toward achieving the following the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Partners
Without these partners and funders this documentary series and curriculum modules would not exist and wouldn’t be freely available. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to create immersive learning experiences that engage and drive youth action and participation in climate change and sustainable development action.
