6. Transport – Beyond Recycling

Steps

WATCH – Cue up the video below and watch it with the class
DESIGN TIME – Give students time to reflect and design in their planning booklet
SHARE – Have students share their ideas with the class or work in their groups
GO DEEPER – Add an activity from the extension buffet below (optional)

Extension Buffet

DISCUSS – Download these overviews about different transportation options like walking, buses, car shares, and cycling. Explore the transportation solutions that could work in your community
WATCH – Explore different transportation fuels and technologies in this video (4:31).
MAP IT – Make a biking/walking map of your community. Include places you can walk, bike, and drive (places too far to walk or bike). Check if any of the places you normally drive are close enough to bike or walk. Add in the distances and colour code the map.
WATCH- Learn how transportation systems in communities work together to get people to where they need to go. How to get around video (2:43) from Halifax, Canada.
ACCESSIBLE TRANSPORTATION – There are many ways that transportation can be made more accessible. Learn more about Wheelchair Travelling, Blind and Low Vision Accessibility, and Transportation Solutions
FUTURE DAY IN THE LIFE – Discuss how their FutureMaker citizens get around. Will modes of travel change from season to season? Have students journal about what travel would be used in a day in their FutureMaker community.
WATCH – Learn about the history of transportation (2:33)
ECOCHALLENGE – Can your class bike, skateboard, or walk everywhere for an entire week? Keep track of how far you go by skateboard, by bike, and walking for the week you choose. For extra motivation, challenge others too!
WATCH- Learn about the design of streets that help make it easier, safer, and more convenient for people to get around. (2:20)
DEBATE IT- Each transportation type has pros and cons. From the fuels, batteries, raw materials, and infrastructure, they all have different opportunities and challenges. Host a debate between electric cars, hydrogen fuel cell cars, and biodiesel cars. Prepare by learning more about different types of renewable energy and fuel technologies.
MOVIE – Watch professional athlete Electric Greg from Revelstoke who tries to make transport to his adventures more sustainable (19:14) Note: there is swearing in this video at 8:34, 9:58 & 12:12.
DISCUSS – Learn about Canada’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train. Discuss new transportation technologies or options in your community like new bike sharing, electric vehicle charging stations, or new bus routes.
WATCH – This greener transportation video showcases teens who have made a difference in Seattle (5:53)

3 responses to “6. Transport”

This evoked some very good conversation! We live in a small community. This means within our community we do not have the same set of transportation issues or options We do have a public bus, we do have car share programs. We do not have a subway, C train or sky train, we don’t even have Uber here. We do have taxis but not too many. In truth many people tend to walk or bike to get around our community. When I asked my kids how many of them have ever biked from our school to another location most hands went up, and that other location was across the town. Then I asked if any of my students walked from here to our downtown, I think all hands went up for that and that is halfway across town. It was definitely harder for them to consider what I call large transportation problems. I myself, was certainly able to share what large cities have as both of my children are either living or have lived in large city centres. Some of my students were also able to rely on previous experience from when they have gone out of town, but I cannot say that is the majority of my class. Having said this though, it made it very easy for them to really consider smaller communities for their communities of the future, and greener options. I had a couple students say only two cars would be allowed in town, and many students said they would walk, bike or even only have golf carts allowed. I did encourage them to consider beyond their communities though. We had some really good conversations about exports and imports, the need for airplanes, boats, trains and transport trucks. My students are really hopeful and optimistic for the future for those kinds of transports to be able to rely on green energy solutions. So although we really had to approach this from a different angle, it certainly has encouraged them to think beyond what they already know. The class has already started to plan out what their communities would look like, so we’re getting ready to build them very soon!

This was a great module for us! We also live in a small community and do not have the same transportation options as a bigger centre. So this was fun to learn and talk about. Even though they had a harder time making connections to some of the other modes of transportation, they were still able to come up with great ideas for their communities.

Again, the content is rich and thought provoking. Students had lots to talk about and we had long discussions about electric vehicles and the pros and cons of this mode of transportation. Our discussions almost became debates with strong opinions around electric/non-electric vehicles. We have a new electric school bus in our community and students recognize that this is the way forward for our environment. We watched different transportation fuels and technologies and we all found this very informative. The overviews about different transportation options are a great resource and it is nice to have follow up questions embedded in here.

Connie Haworth says:
May 28, 2024 at 4:07 pm
This evoked some very good conversation! We live in a small community. This means within our community we do not have the same set of transportation issues or options We do have a public bus, we do have car share programs. We do not have a subway, C train or sky train, we don’t even have Uber here. We do have taxis but not too many. In truth many people tend to walk or bike to get around our community. When I asked my kids how many of them have ever biked from our school to another location most hands went up, and that other location was across the town. Then I asked if any of my students walked from here to our downtown, I think all hands went up for that and that is halfway across town. It was definitely harder for them to consider what I call large transportation problems. I myself, was certainly able to share what large cities have as both of my children are either living or have lived in large city centres. Some of my students were also able to rely on previous experience from when they have gone out of town, but I cannot say that is the majority of my class. Having said this though, it made it very easy for them to really consider smaller communities for their communities of the future, and greener options. I had a couple students say only two cars would be allowed in town, and many students said they would walk, bike or even only have golf carts allowed. I did encourage them to consider beyond their communities though. We had some really good conversations about exports and imports, the need for airplanes, boats, trains and transport trucks. My students are really hopeful and optimistic for the future for those kinds of transports to be able to rely on green energy solutions. So although we really had to approach this from a different angle, it certainly has encouraged them to think beyond what they already know. The class has already started to plan out what their communities would look like, so we’re getting ready to build them very soon!
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llepine says:
May 30, 2024 at 2:36 pm
This was a great module for us! We also live in a small community and do not have the same transportation options as a bigger centre. So this was fun to learn and talk about. Even though they had a harder time making connections to some of the other modes of transportation, they were still able to come up with great ideas for their communities.
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Anita Sinclair says:
June 22, 2024 at 2:53 pm
Again, the content is rich and thought provoking. Students had lots to talk about and we had long discussions about electric vehicles and the pros and cons of this mode of transportation. Our discussions almost became debates with strong opinions around electric/non-electric vehicles. We have a new electric school bus in our community and students recognize that this is the way forward for our environment. We watched different transportation fuels and technologies and we all found this very informative. The overviews about different transportation options are a great resource and it is nice to have follow up questions embedded in here.
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