Subject: STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)
Lesson Length: 45 mins - 1 hour
Topic: Environment, Pollution, Society, Energy, Food Supply
Brief Description: Students will create a comic in which they address a global challenge and illustrate a solution for societal needs.
Know Before You Start: Students should have a basic understanding of the challenges facing global society, including energy, food, and pollution.
Hook:
- Ask students:
- “What are some of the challenges facing global society?”
- “Why is it important to discuss issues like the environment, energy, and food supply?”
- “How can we explore solutions to global challenges?”
Activity:
- Have students discuss major global challenges such as responsible energy production, reliable food supply, pollution, etc. and discuss current solutions to some problems currently facing global society.
- Students may also discuss the pros and cons of technology in addressing global challenges.
- Have students create a comic which illustrates a global challenge and some potential solutions.
Closure:
- Have students share their comics with the class or in small groups.
- Have students explain why they chose the challenge represented in their comic.
- Have students discuss why it’s important to explore a variety of solutions to challenges facing society.
- Remind students that some current solutions to global challenges came from unlikely sources such as students, interns, or serendipitous discoveries while conducting other research.
- Emphasize that creative problem-solving is an important skill for everything from everyday decisions to major global challenges.
Differentiation:
- Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
- Allow students to work in pairs or groups as needed.
- Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.
- Provide students a list of global challenges from which to choose.
Resources:
- Comic to print or display: Comic.
- Draw/Plan Then Write
- Concept Map
- UN Development Programme Sustainable Development Goals
Suggested Content Packs:
Make a comic about the Rainforest
Make a comic about the Farm
Viruses
The Laboratory
Hospital
Cyberspace
