What are we doing to the environment?

YEAR 7: SUMMER 1

About the unit

In this unit pupils study the approaches of different religions to issues of conservation and stewardship. Pupils use a variety of written and visual sources to explore the teachings of religions on the environment and how these beliefs affect the lives of believers. Pupils develop their understanding of how religious beliefs are expressed in practical ways. They compare, contrast and evaluate the views of each religion and reflect on the relevance to their own lives of what they have learnt.

This unit is expected to take approximately 7 hours.

Where the unit fits in

This unit builds on work completed on belief and its impact on practice throughout the key stage 2 scheme of work. At key stage 3, pupils should be given opportunities to explore in greater detail how faith affects personal actions as well as those of society. This unit should build on earlier thinking about the nature of God (where appropriate) and how different religions believe the world should be treated as well as raising ultimate questions about the purpose of human life.

The unit prepares for evaluative work in GCSE RE/RS.

Expectations

At the end of this unit

most pupils will: know about the beliefs of one religion which have been taught in this unit and explain them clearly; explain how these beliefs and teachings affect the lives of believers; state an opinion about an environmental issue and give a clear reason for that opinion; reflect on ultimate questions about the environment and about the purpose of human existence

some pupils will not have made so much progress and will: know some of the beliefs of one religion which have been taught in this unit and explain them in a simple way; explain that these beliefs and teachings have an impact on the lives of believers, perhaps giving a limited example; state an opinion about an environmental issue; reflect on ultimate questions about the environment

some pupils will have progressed further and will: know in detail the beliefs of one religion which have been taught in this unit and explain them clearly; explain how these beliefs and teachings affect the lives of believers, making reference to texts studied or the work of particular organisations; state an opinion about an environmental issue and give a clear reason for that opinion while recognising that others may hold a different view; reflect on ultimate questions about the environment and about the purpose of the world; formulate their own personal response to ultimate questions

Prior learning

It is helpful if pupils have:

• studied the key beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism
• learnt to make connections between key beliefs and practice
• learnt to use religious texts and pictures as sources
• had an opportunity to develop skills of interpretation, evaluation and reflection

Language for learning

Through the activities in this unit pupils will be able to understand, use and spell correctly words relating to:

• the beliefs of religion, eg God, theist, polytheist, creation
• the application of those beliefs to the environment, eg stewardship, (inter)dependence
• conservation, eg recycling, pollution

Speaking and listening – through the activities pupils could:

• identify the main points of a talk, TV programme, etc

Reading – through the activities pupils could:

• follow the sequence of actions, processes or ideas being described
• spot links between information presented in different forms

Writing – through the activities pupils could:

• make notes, summaries, etc to clarify ideas and thinking which can be used later
  

Resources

As well as a range of textbooks and published resources, this unit will be enhanced by the use of original ancient and modern materials from Buddhist sources, including:

• publicity material from conservation groups
• pictures/posters to illustrate environmental damage
• books for teachers which deal with religion and the environment
• a range of reference books on religion and the environment
• extracts from sacred texts
• books which include stories from religions about the environment
• free magazines from charities, eg Christian Aid’s ‘Global gang’
• websites: eg www.reep.org; www.envirolink.org/; www.re-xs.ucsm.ac.uk
  

Out of school learning

Pupils could:

• visit members from faith groups to talk about their faith and the environment
• visit a designated website that relates religious faith to environmental concerns,
  eg www.cofe.anglican.org

Future learning

Pupils could go on to:

• investigate in greater detail the teachings of particular religions about environmental issues
• discover more about contrasting views within a religion on environmental issues
• do a research project on the topic