Topic: Sustainability, Community
Activity Type: Discussion, Thought Starter, Critical Thinking, Math
Grades: 4-7
Duration: 20-40 minutes. Duration may depend on how detailed children want to be.
Overview
Students learn about how public transit is a sustainable solution for growing communities and how transit connects us all. Students are presented with information on how transit impacts communities and to use that information to calculate how transit reduces our carbon footprint. Critical thinking plays a key role as students are asked to think of ways in which public transit positively impacts communities and the environment.
What you’ll need
- Downloadable “Connecting Communities Worksheet” activity, one per student.
- Downloadable “Connecting Communities Reference Map” activity, one per group.
- Colouring pencils, markers or crayons.
Instructions
Start by asking students what they know about public transit and its benefits. List their ideas on the board.
Review the “Public Transit Fact Sheet” below, highlighting key points about sustainability and community benefits.
Source: Canadian Public Health Association Public Transit Fact Sheet
Public Transit Fact Sheet for Kids
- Get Moving: Riding the bus can make you healthier because you walk more. Each trip starts and ends with walking to and from your bus stop.
- Stay Healthy: More exercise is good for you! Daily walks to and from your bus stop add up and lead to a healthier body and mind.
- Accessibility for Everyone: Cars aren’t an option for everyone. Some people may not drive for health reasons or find cars too costly. Others prefer not to drive at all.
Plus, kids like you aren’t old enough to drive yet. A community is at its best when everyone can get around easily, no matter their age, health or how much money they have. - Riding Together Helps the Environment: When more people ride the bus, there are fewer cars on the road. This means less traffic, which is great for the air we breathe and makes it safer for people walking or biking around town. Riding the bus is a key action we can all take to help look after our environment.
- Transit Connects Us All: Buses are like big, friendly connectors on wheels! They link us to places we need to go—like school, work, parks and shops. Without buses, it would be much harder for many of us to reach these important places that are part of our everyday lives. They make sure everyone can join in on all the things our community offers.
Next, show students the BusReady: Sustainability video which discusses all the ways riding the bus helps our communities and has a more positive impact on our environment.
Discussion
If you are unable to share the video with the class, you can review the following facts outlined in the video:
- Did you know that most cars and trucks use gas or diesel which, when burned, releases greenhouse gases into the air?
- Did you know these gases get trapped under our ozone layer and contribute to warming our planet, causing climate change?
- Did you know that climate change is responsible for causing extreme weather like heat waves, floods and powerful wind storms?
- Did you know that a full city bus can take about 40 cars off the road, helping to save the environment from a lot of fuel consumption?
- Did you know that every city bus saves about 65 bath tubs full of fuel each year?
- Did you know that BC Transit is working to replace all gas-fueled buses with electric ones to make public transit even more environmentally friendly?
Printables
After reviewing the Public Transit Fact Sheet for Kids and the BusReady Program Sustainability Video, handout the following downloadable sheets:
- Connecting Communities Worksheet – Direct students to read each scenario, and to solve the mathematical challenge to see how using transit impacts the community and environment. Encourage students to discuss connections between making communities accessible for all and which also have a positive environmental impact.
- Connecting Communities Reference Map – The students will need this map to solve the questions on the Connecting Communities worksheet.
Students may work in pairs, groups or individually.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the positive impacts public transit has on our environment.
- Foster empathy for diverse community needs.
- Critical thinking skills are applied to understand how transit serves a community.
Core Competencies
Communication and Collaboration
Acquiring knowledge from a variety of sources like listening and interpretation. Exploring, inquiry and discussion all contribute to help understand diverse perspectives.
Critical and Reflective Thinking
Students may generate and reflect on learning new facts and participating indiscussion. Learn to engage in inquiry to investigate through questioning or extensive thought.
Extensions & Modifications
Extensions
For more in-depth discussions, consider data from the Canadian Public Health Association, Public Transit Fact sheet.
Modifications
For learners who would like to explore this topic further, consider a role-play exercise where kids act as the passengers. Have students act out scenarios based on their needs and explain how public transit provides for those needs. Students should gain an understanding of diverse needs in the community ranging from age, mobility and more.
- Consider extending the Transit Activist activity into class projects. I.e. consider tracking how many times students take the bus in one month, then calculate how many cars their actions have taken off the road as a STEAM/data collection and analysis exercise.
Assessment
- Assess students’ ability to identify cause and effect relationships between public transit, the environment and community impact.
- Assess how students can empathize with others in the community.
- Assess how students use their critical thinking skills when discussing how to take climate action through using public transit.
