XVIII Human Rights Meeting: Right to peace for a sustainable planet
Educational course for Secondary Schools.
The following teaching plan is aimed at Secondary School teachersand educators and will help them to carry out an educational course, made up of a series of educational activities, to explore this year’s Human Right in focus: The Right to peace for a sustainable planet.
Objectives:
- Promote human rights generally and the right to peace in a sustainable planet more specifically;
- Assist teachers/educators to explore themes, concepts, laws and legislation around the right to peace in a sustainable planet;
- Use active and participatory teaching and learning methods to increase the impact of learning;
- Bring together youth and their teachers/educators in Italy, Croatia and France via an online platform in which they can exchange their ideas and knowledge, share and deepen their learning and collectively promote human rights actively.
Themes:
The themes covered in the project are: peace, sustainable development (with a special focus on food), environment and climate threats.(n.b. To bear in mind in Italy the link with Expo 2015 which is based around the concept: “feeding the planet, energy for life” and the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will be held in Paris in 2015)
Targets:
The teaching resources are aimed at Secondary School students between the ages of 14 and 19. Due to the age gap, some activities have been diversified according to age, whereas others remain the same for all ages.
Time:
The teaching resources below have been structured as a course and we strongly recommend teachers/educators to follow the order of the activities, which gradually introduce students to the right to peace in a sustainable planet and allow them to explore these rights further. The entire course lasts approx four hours and can be carried out either in two 2 hour sessions or as individual activities. The time allocated to each activity is indicated. If teachers/educators feel that they don’t have sufficient time to carry out all the activities in the four hours, we suggest they allocate further sessions in order to do so. Leaving out activities risks creating learning gaps.
If the course is carried out in two 2 hours sessions this is part one. Part I is programmed to last for 120 minutes in total
- General presentation of the 2014 Human Rights Meeting:
Info will be added here regards: the European Do the Right(s) Thing project; the timeframe to carry out the educational course-different for all three countries; the Human Rights Meeting-dates in each country and possibility for a small group of students to take part in another country’s Meeting; the online platform, the Dossier and Future Workshops. Teachers are asked to share this info with their students when introducing them to the Do the Right(s) Thing project. (See Annex 1)
(10min)
- Activity for all students –brainstorming to introduce this year’s theme: focus on the fragile connection between environmental problems/unsustainable development and peace.
In an initial brainstorming, students design a concept map regards important environmental issues which affect the planet. These can be divided into global, national, regional issues. They can also be divided in other ways, eg. directly affecting people, directly affecting biodiversity, directly affecting the seas, etc. They do not necessarily have to be problems (negative affects).
If possible, this activity can also be done as a web forming activity using a ball of string/wool & cards/paper and pens. In this case students write their issues on individual cards/paper. Once each student has written their concepts, students sit in a circle and show their words. If many words/concepts are written several times, the students are encouraged to add different ones, trying to come up with as many different concepts as possible. Once this is done, the teacher/educator starts to pass around the ball of string, each student holds their card/paper with one hand, attaching the string to the card when it is passed to them. The objective of the activity is for the students to explain why they have written their word/concept (why it is particularly important to them) and subsequently they are asked to connect their concept to another one they see in the circle. Once having described this connection, the student passes the ball of string to the student holding the word/concept chosen. A web will gradually be formed and students will be able to see how interconnected all their ideas/concepts are. The teacher/educator then shows a card with “peace” written on it and asks the students to decide where they would put it in the mapping. Students should gradually understand that in order to have peace, all the issues mentioned need to be safeguarded.
N.b: example of issues to add on cards if they don’t arise during this activity: renewable andnon renewable resources, energy, climate change, biodiversity, production, transport, waste management, personal – state – cooperate – global responsibilities, migration.
All the cards can be stuck up on a wall of the classroom and students can add to them during the course if there is a group consensus.
The class is asked to document their mapping on the online platform, either by taking a photo and downloading it or by writing it up in a creative way.
(20min)
Example of the web forming activity
- Activity for all students – understanding better the roots of today’s local and global problems (historical/geographical/economical contexts, etc) –why is the world the way it is today? Why are some countries poorer than others, why do they not have peace?
This activity will be based on pair work. Each pair will be given a card which they have to match up with another pair, see Annex 2 There are two types of cards, one will be “country profile cards”. Each one of these cards will be focused on one country where it will be possible to read the key characteristics of the country, eg. population, literacy rates, etc. On the second set of cards, “country description”, there will be a description of the main historical/geographical/political processes which have influenced the development of those countries, leading them to the situation in which they find themselves in today.This second card will be anonymous (the name of the country will not be written) and the task for all student pairs is for them to find their corresponding card. Each pair will be asked to read out their cards, first the country profile card, followed by its corresponding “country description” card. Once all the cards are double checked, the class teacher/educator will try to debrief this activity by exploring e the current state of the worlds’ countries, demonstrating thattheir current contexts depend on many different historical/geographical/economical factors. It is often these factors which cause some countries to be poorer than others and not to have peace.More references are available at and
(25 min)
- Activity for all students –introduction regards the historical background regard this year’s right: what are the International, National and Regional Declarations, Conventions, Laws, etc which protect the Right to peace in a sustainable planet.(Annex 3)
According to the profiles and needs of students, the teacher/educator selects 5 extracts from Annex 3 and provide copies for each student who will have few minutes to read them and get a general idea.
Then, the teacher/educator can ask his/her class the following questions to open a debate on issues regarding peace and sustainability:
In how many of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights UDHR is the environment mentioned?
Would the students give priority to environmental problems if they were to update the UDHR? Why/why not?
Which environmental problems are causing the greatest damage to people in the planet? .
(5 min)
- How was peace and sustainability established throughout history?Activity for Upper Secondary Classes
The class is divided into small groups and each of them receive a note with an important law or moment in history, see Annex 4. They have to read the note, discuss its content and then choose a way to present how people use to live / or live according to that law in plenary. Presentations can be performed by creating an image with their bodies through image theatre, by performing a song or drawing something representative.
(15 min)
The teacher/educator then gives a summary sentence of all of the notes and the rest of the class has to guess what each group is representing keeping in mind the connection between peace and sustainability of cultures, environment and countries across history. If the students don’t manage to find the correct answer, the group presentinggives and explanation of their historical context.
(3 min each group 15 min in total)
Class debriefing
Possible questions the teacher/educator can use for the debriefing:
Are the presentations realistic according to your perspective?
What is the connection between the historical laws and today’s reality?
How does colonialism affect power relationships, peace and sustainability of countries?
What’s the connection between developing countries, climate change and migration from an historical perspective?
(15 min)
5 b. What is globalization?Activity for Lower Secondary Classes
The aim of the activity is to open a reflection on the meaning and the consequences of globalization at global and local level.
Each student is invited to write on a post-it or paper 5 adjectives describing globalization according to their personal understanding on an individual level.
(5 min)
In groups of 5 students they share what they wrote on the papers and discuss the reasons behind their choices in order to write a joint definition of globalisation.
(15 min)
In plenary a representative of each group presents the definition, while teachers take note on the blackboard of the main features which are repeated among different presentations.
(15 min)
Plenary debriefing:
- How was the process of defining common features to write the joint definition?
- Which is the connection between globalization and what happen in our every day life at local level?
- How globalization does affect peace and sustainability among countries of the world?
- What is our role as consumers in the globalized world?
(15 min)
Wikipedia definition:
The term globalization has been increasingly used since the mid-1980s and especially since the mid-1990s. In 2000, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified four basic aspects of globalization: trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and movement of people, and the dissemination of knowledge. Further, environmental challenges such as climate change, cross-boundary water and air pollution, and over-fishing of the ocean are linked with globalization. Globalizing processes affect and are affected by business and work organization, economics, socio-cultural resources, and the natural environment.
- Challenge:
Although classes are only half way through their course, in prospect of having a better idea of what will be expected from the classes in the run up to the Meeting, the teacher/educator explains that all participating classes have been asked to produce a 30 second video in which they promote the right to peace in a sustainable planet. These videos will be shared on the online platform and will be voted by all the classes. The top 5 voted videos will appear during the Human Rights Meeting and will be translated (if necessary) into English so that the other countries participating can understand them. This video can be prepared either within class time or outside of class time by the students themselves.
(5 min)
In order to prepare and inspire students in creating their own short video, teachers/educators can share some or all of the following clips with their class. Teachers/educators as well as students are also invited to add and share any interesting video clips on the online platform.
I will make the change motivation video
NYA Top tips to make your own video
The future we want - UNDP development campaign example
Global conversation on the Post 2015 development agenda
Imagine 2020 – UNDP
Happy Voting Campaign – League of Young Voters
120 minutes in total for part 1
If the course is carried out in two 2 hour sessions this is part two
Brief recap of what’s been done so far and what will be covered in the remaining activities;
(5 min)
- Activity for all students:Where do I stand?deepening understanding through facts and challenging false conceptions/myths regards climate change.
This activity will be done through a true/false activity, see Annex 5in which the teacher/educator will read out a number of sentences and the students (who are standing in a line the middle of a room) move to one side of the room or another (where there are two cards hang up, one with “true” written on it and the other with “false”) depending on whether they believe the sentence is true or false. After each “movement”, when students have decided what they think and have moved accordingly, the teacher asks a few students from each side to explain why they believe the sentence is true or false, which should create a class discussion.There are 10 questions regarding climate change in general but also connections between climate and food as well as climate and migration.
(20 min)
Class discussion and debriefing.
Possible questions:
-How was the group dynamic during the activity? Do you think you always managed to express your opinion? How influenced were you by your classmates’ opinions?
-What did you learn concerning the relationship between how we live andenvironmental sustainability? Between how we live and food? Between sustainability and migration? Between sustainability and peace?
-Is it possible to have peace in a country where people are hungry?
-Is it possible to have peace in a country which doesn’t have environmental sustainability?
(10 min)
- Activity for all students:Silent Floor. Deepening understanding concerning sustainable development with a special focus on food.
The teacher/educator writes 7/8 questions on separate pieces of large (ideally flip chart paper). The questions are provided in Annex 6 and focus on issues of sustainable development/lifestyles in general and specifically on food. The questions are laid out in different parts of the room and the students are invited (in small groups) to move freely from one question to the other. The activity should be done in silence, but the teacher could play some music if she/he wishes. The aim is for each student in each group to individually comment/respond to the question written on that paper. Students can write their comments also connected to what students before them have written, if they agree or disagree for example or if they have new ideas. It’s best for the teacher/educator to give the groups approx 2 minutes per question and then to ask them to move to a new question.
(20 min)
Feedback in plenary-the teacher/educator asks a group to present one of the questions, together with all the comments which have been made. This should be the basis of a class discussion to deepen further issues of sustainable development in general and the sustainable consumption of food in general. (15 min)
To find out more about Fairtrade please refer to:
Activity for all students: personal action plan. Exploring alternatives and active citizenship concerning food and sustainability.
Each student gets a personal action plan, see Annex 7 which aims at encouraging students to think about what (small everyday) actions they could do in order to live more sustainably, with a special focus on food. In order to help students in this activity, the teacher/educator can share/brainstorm different possible consumption alternatives and ideas by examining Oxfam’s GROW method.
Students then fill in their action plan according to his/her feeling and commitment towards food and sustainable living which have been explored throughout the sessions.
Teachers/educator give the students 10 minutes to reflect upon their ideas and write down their concrete proposals. Once they have written their own commitments they can also think about their classmates, family, community and country. How can each student influence these other people?
(20 min)
Feedback in plenary, class discussion based around the questions:
What could you do at school, at home, in your local community, on the web to raise awareness about the right to peace for a sustainable planet and to improve the right to peace for a sustainable planet for all? (Some possible ideas are to launch a campaign, come up with a rap, critical/responsible consumerism actions, promote responsible tourism, volunteer, etc).