The real life situations of train crash in lac Mégantic with petroleum burning, the storm in Toronto that flooded highways, the subway and my basement, and cut power to Toronto and area, begs to ask a question.  Is this normal? Do we have problems with our aging infrastructures?  Are our governments making the right decisions, or going in the right direction? The magnitude of the problems begs to ask fundamental question.  Is our society going in the right direction?  Are there other environmentally more friendly ways of doing things?  Where do we find inspiration for solutions?  Am I the only one to see problems?  Are there other people we can linked with?  Can we inspire our students to find solutions as they will be the ones working in that area in the future? These questions have been in the mind of many people around the world and many started sharing their success.

Students can do project work to simulate the work real scientists and engineers do.  For example, in grade 6, my students have been studying biodiversity.  One project they did was to look at the growth of algae in order to produce “green energy”.  I first learned about it here:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/earthrise/2012/07/2012776331815944.html

Since I teach French Immersion, I have been looking for French resources to support my students as well.  Amazing French Science programs are available as well.  The program “Découverte” from Radio-Canada has also been an excellent inspiration.

http://www.tou.tv/decouverte/S2012E32

Here is one lesson my students have done with this inspiration.

https://www.smore.com/azfw-la-classe-invers-e

The first and second season of EarthRise is available here:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/earthrise/

The third season is starting and will sure provide entirely new ideas for projects that will lead the students to build a more sustainable environment.