Pledging for Change High school students modify one personal action to help the environment By Heidi Paul
realistically, how can one person make a difference? With over 7 billion people on the planet, won’t one change in one person’s lifestyle, be just a drop in the bucket? Inspiring students to recognize the interconnection
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between their actions and effects on the rest of the world and society can be a monumental task as it requires indi- vidual sacrifice. The Student Pledge of Sustainable Change (SPSC) lesson plan is a way to stimulate students to make a pledge changing one action to something more sustain- able. Ask high school students to choose a personal habit related to sustainability in which they think they would be able to make a small change. Then ask them to research how implementing this change over time will collectively make a marked difference in the world. High school learners are more engaged when the learn-
ing is experiential and integral to their own lives. By select- ing a sustainable action which they have control over and
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OW OFTEN HAVE WE HEARD that one person can change the world? Mahatma Gandhi said to “Be the change that you wish to see in the world,” but
would like to change, students will be more likely to follow through with the change in behavior. Motivating a student to change an action that they have control over will encourage them to apply lessons in sustainability and will ultimately benefit themselves and society. Effective project-based lessons should include behav-
ioral, emotional and cognitive strategies.1 The behavioral aspect applies to this project as the students actively partici- pate in personally chosen positive behaviors. The emotional aspect comes into play as the students demonstrate motiva- tion to change their activity or lifestyle choice and positively benefit society as a whole. The cognitive aspect arises as they calculate the costs and benefits associated with that change of action, exhibiting awareness and responsibility for their newly proposed change in behavior. Having students choose and implement their own proj-
ects allows for them to be active rather than passive learn- ers, and recognize their personal responsibility in their community. When students make a pledge toward sustain- ability they hold a magnifying glass up to their choices and self-evaluate areas that can be improved. They become per- sonally aware of their consumption and how acts of conve- nience affect resources.
GREEN TEACHER 113
Photographs: Heidi Paul
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