Retrieved from https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/lifestyle/a/19504562/kids-urged-to-walk-to-school/
School travel has changed so much over the last thirty years, as the idea of sustainability and global warming has become more prevalent it would be common to think that the rate of students walking and riding bikes and scooters to school would have increased. However this is not the case, in the last three decades more than more than double the number of children are choosing to travel by car (Baslington, 2008).
It is important for students to have the
opportunity to feel like global citizens, and for this to happen they need to
have opportunities to conduct and adopt more sustainable habits (recycling,
walking to school, etc) (Bradbury, 2013).
The following learning activity is based
upon the former Australian wide walking bus project (Travelsmart, 2007;
Vichealth, 2015). There are multiple reasons that parents and students choose
not to walk or ride to school, some of these include: lack of opportunity,
parental fear, and major reliance on car travel (Cook, Whitzman, and Tranter,
2015). However parents should not let these deffer them from allowing their
children to have freedom to move and exercise outdoors.
This initiative is student centred, and
would see students given the opportunity to meet at one of three designated
meeting areas and walk to school as a group.
This lesson is based upon the curriculum
outcomes: ACHCS033 and ACHCS034 (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and
Reporting Authoirity, 2015).
Students will be shown the following video
to introduce the concept:
After this students will be asked the
following focus questions:
How can you increase your mobility in your
journey to school?
What are the issues that surround students
independent mobility?
How can we increase students walking or
riding to school?
Following this discussion students will be
given the opportunity to implement their own walking bus within their school
community, where students are given the opportunity to either walk or ride to
and from school. However to meet the requirements of civics and citizenship
education students need to engage in identifying and agreeing upon roles,
devising groups and planning routes, as well as creating a presentation to
present to the principal and students’ families. For this initiative to succeed
there needs to be a strong focus upon the cross-curriculum priority of
sustainability as students consider the concepts of cultural, environmental,
and social sustainability (ACARA, 2015b).
To encourage, and enable students thinking
regarding sustainable futures students will also be given the opportunity to take
part in a program that focusses on bike safety. This will inform them how to be
safe and informed when riding to and from school.
To try to endorse this as a whole school
initiative students will invite family, local government bodies, and local
press to launch their initiative. This also allows student to get involved with
their schools community, as well as their wider local community.
References:
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2015, May 15). Humanities and Social Sciences: Civics and Citizenship curriculum, v. 7.5. Retrieved from http://v7-5.australiancurriculum.edu.au/humanities-and-social-sciences/civics-and-citizenship/curriculum/f-10?layout=1
Baslington, H. (2008). School travel plans. Transport Reviews, 28(2), 239-258. doi: 10.1080/01441640701630863
Bradbery, D. (2013). Bridges to global citizenship: Ecologically sustainable futures utilising children’s literature in teacher education. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 29(2), 221-237. doi: 10.1017/aee.2014.7
Cook, A., Whitzman, C., & Tranter, P. (2015). Is ‘Citizen Kid’ an independent kid? The relationship between children’s independent mobility and active citizenship. Journal of Urban Design, 20(4), 526-544. DOI: 10.1080/13574809.2015.1044505
TravelSmart (2007, September 4). Walking school bus – a guide for parents and teachers. Retrieved from http://www.travelsmart.gov.au/schools/schools2.html
