The Students' Task

Some of the words and phrases used in the original have been changed to preserve anonymity. This is a copy of the original task as it was presented to the students. The original formatting has been removed.

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

 

1.

Gain an understanding of the ecological footprint concept. Go to the Ecological Footprint web site and complete the survey to estimate your ecological footprint. Explore the website to see how and where you can reduce your footprint.

2.

Identify one ‘footprint factor’ that is of interest to you on which to focus your inquiry (i.e. one factor that influences the size of your ecological footprint) and some ‘sustainability strategies’ (i.e. strategies that you, your family or local community could implement to reduce your ecological footprint).

3.

Construct a set of geographical questions to guide your inquiry and identify the research and primary data collection strategies you will use. Use this to construct a research proposal to show your teacher.

4.

Carry out research using your geographical questions to guide you. Ensure your research involves the use of both primary and secondary sources of evidence. As well as researching the ‘footprint factor’ you must identify a strategy that could be implemented (either by you and your family or more widely in the community) to reduce that ‘footprint factor’. As you carry out your research you must submit draft sections.

5.

Analyse and evaluate your results. Decide on how to present the data you have collected and decide on the strategy/solution you will present. Construct your annotated visual display (AVD) and exhibition materials for the presentation evening.

STEP ONE –GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONCEPT OF AN ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AND COMPLETE THE SURVEY AT WWW.MYFOOTPRINT.ORG

This will involve working in class with your teacher who will lead you through a number of lessons introducing relevant ideas and concepts.

Some basic questions to consider.

1. What is meant by the term ecological footprint?

2. Read the FAQ section of the web site. What is meant by the following?

a) Carbon footprint

b) food footprint

c) housing footprint

d) goods and services footprint

3. How big is your footprint? How does it compare to the national and international average?

4. Compare and contrast your results with someone else in the class.

5.  What are some ways you could reduce your footprint?

STEP TWO –IDENTIFY AN AREA OF INTEREST THAT WILL BE THE FOCUS FOR YOUR INQUIRY

What does this involve?

You are required to select and focus your research on a particular ‘footprint factor’ relevant to you or your community.

How do I do this?

Consider the questions in the quiz. The ‘FAQ’ section of the myfootprint.org website has a useful explanation of the kinds of factors that influence your ecological footprint. See http://www.myfootprint.org/en/about_the_quiz/faq/

Select one ‘footprint factor’ for further investigation. Do some basic research about this ‘footprint factor’ to gain a basic understanding of how this factor impacts on a person’s ecological footprint and identify some strategies that are, or could be, used to reduce this ‘footprint factor’.

Here are some examples:

Example 1.

Mary notices in the ecological footprint survey that transport is a significant source of greenhouse emissions and that car use is one of the major contributors to this. She notices that the Ecological Footprints web site says that one way to reduce her transport footprint is to, "Walk, bike, or take public transport whenever possible." She does some research, including some ‘at home’ data collection on her family’s car use and finds out how many kilometres her family travels and how much petrol they are consuming. She then discovers that in some cities around the world (such as Seattle) the use of bicycles to travel to and from work occurs at a much higher rate than in Australia. She wonders what Australia is doing to encourage people to use bikes for commuting to and from work?

Example 2

Phoebe notices from the survey that where you obtain your food influences your ecological footprint. She does some research and discovers that most of her food is sourced outside Brisbane: some of it even comes from other countries. She sees that one of the solutions suggested on the Ecological Footprint web site is "Shop at your local farmer's market or natural foods store. Look for local, in-season foods that haven't travelled long distances to reach you." She is aware that farmers’ markets are held regularly in a nearby suburb and wonders whether these are successful and if more could be held in the city.

STEP THREE –REFINE THE AREA OF INTEREST FOR YOUR INQUIRY BY DEVELOPING A SET OF GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTIONS TO FOCUS YOUR GEOGRAPHICAL INQUIRY.

What does this involve?

To provide an initial direction for your inquiry (and to enable your teacher to evaluate your proposal) you must construct a set of “geographical” questions about the ‘footprint factor’ you have identified as your research focus. Your inquiry will focus on answering these questions.

How do I refine my research?

Time will be devoted in class to this process, stressing the importance of developing suitable open-ended as well as closed questions.

You refine your inquiry by developing a set of “geographical inquiry questions” about the ‘footprint factor’ you have identified as your focus. Geographers structure their inquiry around a particular set of questions that we refer to as “geographical questions”.

These “geographical questions” are:

What is it?(i.e. defining the issue/problem of study)

Where is it?(i.e. analysing where the issue/problem occurs)

Why is it like that? (i.e. analysing how and why the issue or problem occurs and why the particular patterns of occurrence exist)

What impact?(i.e. analysing the relationships between the problem or issue being studied and people and the environment –how they impact on each other)

How should it be managed?(i.e. what is the best way to solve the issue or reduce/control the problem?)

To refine your inquiry proposal apply these questions to your topic. As you work through the research process new questions will occur to you.

Here are some examples.

Example 1

After doing some very basic research Mary develops the following set of “geographical” questions to focus her research -What is a carbon footprint? What are greenhouse or carbon emissions and what are the main ways that transport creates emissions? Where in Australia are most transport-related greenhouse emissions created? How much petrol is consumed by driving me around? Can bikes reduce greenhouse emissions and my ecological footprint? What is the level of bike use in Brisbane/Australia and how does it compare to other cities/countries? Would my family use bikes more often? Why are bikes used less in Brisbane/Australia than in some other places? What are some ways to encourage bike use? What are other places/countries doing to encourage the use of bikes? What recommendations would I make to decision-makers such as the City Council or the State Government?

Example 2

Phoebe develops the following geographical questions to focus her research-

How does food get to the table? What types of emissions and in what quantities does food production create? What are’ food miles’? How many food miles would I be responsible for? What alternative strategies can be implemented to reduce the ‘travel time and distance’ and ‘eat local’? How could we encourage more ‘farmers’ markets’?

STEP THREE (CONTINUED) –IDENTIFY SUITABLE RESEARCH STRATEGIES YOU WILL USE TO GATHER RELEVANT INFORMATION ABOUT EACH SECTION OF YOUR INQUIRY.

What does this involve?

You need to indicate in your proposal how you will find the information you require to answer your inquiry questions. You must include primary data collection strategies as well as secondary research. There are number of primary research strategies you could use in this assessment task to gather primary data such as:



taking and using photographs



collecting and analysing statistics



conducting interviews



constructing and conducting a questionnaire or survey or an audit



direct observation

A ‘geographer’s toolkit’ is available in Masterfile.

STEP FOUR –CONDUCT YOUR INQUIRY GATHERING RELEVANT PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES OF INFORMATION. MAINTAIN A RECORD OF RESEARCH. DRAFT EACH SECTION OF YOUR INQUIRY.

What does this involve?

This involves working toward answering your inquiry questions using the research strategies you identified in Step 3 above.

As you work your way through your inquiry you are required to keep a record of your research. The Record of Research should include:

a)

all information gathered during your inquiry,

b)

completed organisers,

c)

drafts of each section of the final product as submitted to your teacher,

d)

reflection pro formas and

e)

a bibliography of the secondary sources you used.

These items help determine how effectively you have planned, organised, conducted and reflected on your inquiry.

It is also expected that as you proceed with your research and you will develop and/or refine your research focus by developing new inquiry questions and research strategies.

STEP FIVE –ANALYSE THE RESULTS OF YOUR INQUIRY. DECIDE ON THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAYS TO PRESENT THE DATA AND INFORMATION YOU HAVE COLLECTED AND CREATE YOUR AVD. PRESENT YOUR AVD AS PART OF A DISPLAY AT THE PRESENTATION EVENING.

What does this involve?

The task requires you to analyse the results of your research, communicate the results of your inquiry using a genre called an Annotated Visual Display. On this document will be relevant information and data about your ‘footprint factor’ and ‘sustainability strategy’ organised using the key questions of your geographical inquiry.

How do I make the Annotated Visual Display?

The AVD is created in Microsoft Word. It will contain a mixture of text and graphical materials (such as maps, graphs, photographs, diagrams.) arranged on two A3 pages in landscape format. Data presented will be accompanied by analysis written into a text box. Referencing and geographic conventions (BOLTSS) must be applied where appropriate.

The AVD is produced and submitted electronically. However you must print a copy to display on the presentation evening. Examples of AVDs will be shown to you by your teacher.

How do I present the primary data collected?

You need to table or graph statistics you have gathered. Questionnaire results would need to be tallied and presented in a table or graphs. Microsoft Excel and Word 2010 can be used here. Photographs need to be resized and annotated. The Social Science Research Organiser, Word 2010 and Huelab’s Fun with Mindbook can be used to present ideas in mindmaps and other graphic organisers.

Exhibition Extras

As well as your AVD you are required to construct a number of additional items that will be part of your display/exhibition. The two items listed here are compulsory. You may include other items in your exhibition.

Curiosity Box

The Curiosity Box is a container with 10 interesting, open-ended questions about your research for which you have prepared an answer. As guests view your AVD you talk to them about your ‘footprint factor’. Because the guests may know little about your topic, the Curiosity Box provides them with a question to ask you. Hopefully this will start a conversation!

Use your creativity to construct an interesting way to present your Curiosity Box.

Tokens

Tokens are small offerings you can distribute to guests on the night. It allows you to share your understanding of the sustainable strategy in an unusual way. It should be something that relates to your sustainable strategy/recommended action. Use your creativity so that you can pleasantly reward guests who spend some time at your stand.