For students to be a part of sustainability work, it is important that they see themselves as active participants in making change. The end goal of this inquiry is for students to co-create and execute a sustainability project involving food systems. Rather than directly telling students sustainability issues in our food systems, they will learn of them through their guided inquiries.
This lesson is designed with a community model middle school in mind. It allows for students to work collaboratively in multi-grade groupings so that older students who have gone through the inquiry process can mentor younger ones, and all students can see a semi-scaffolded inquiry booklet with websites to use provided, and examples of how wonders can lead to more learning. Students will then individually build expertise for their group in a grade level content goal. After the inquiry research, instead of creating an artifact typical of inquiry learning, the students will collaboratively design a project to address sustainability in an area the class community is passionate about related to food systems.
Co-contributors: Kevin Robinson, Emma Leger, Rob Millar, Ashley Folk, Ann-Katrine Hall, Davis Proch, Angela Caron, Paige Miller, Matthew Olson, Jeryd Baines.