Climate change was a significant topic that received a lot of coverage in the past year in high schools and universities around the world. St Leonards, an IB World School in St Andrews, Scotland, hosted a TED talk-style event on climate as a Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) project.
'The Third Generation Project', a National Geographic-funded project, founded by the school of International Relations at the University of St Andrews, Scotland aims to bring story production into the classroom to humanize the human costs of climate change.
One of the schools that participated in this project was St Leonards. Four IB Diploma Programme students planned and organized a free event called the 'Climate Change: The Burning Question' to address the impact of climate change on people living in the Horn of Africa.
What started as a CAS project has continued to have a lasting impact. After the event, the 'Third Generation Project' team visited the school to deliver a Theory of Knowledge (TOK) lesson to DP 1 students on how to perceive migrants and the causes of migration.
“Since then, we have been working with Ali, Bennett and the team to deliver a six-week series of workshops to our IBDP students, bringing together journalists, human rights activists, academics and pupils to talk about the human costs of climate changes,” explains Ben Seymour, IB Diploma Coordinator at St Leonards School.
Every week, students welcomed guest speakers from different industries, and they investigated ways to tell a story through digital media. The project aligned perfectly with the IB approach to learning. It was a success as it encouraged students to develop international mindedness and a shared guardianship of the planet.