Resource+1

Resource 1 Nicole Barahona



Description of Resource
The Planet Ark website is an internet accessible resource which provides information about environmental sustainability, waste management and addresses serious environmental issues, such as the harmful effects of waste on the natural environment. The website contains current facts, statistics, images/pictures relating to the Planet Ark Plastic Bag Reduction Campaign and information on how communities internationally and across Australia are dealing with the waste problem of plastic bags. The site also incorporates links to relevant Australian websites which could be useful for students when finding external information. This resource would be particularly useful in the unit, as it engages students to explore and gather information and facts on the environmental issues of plastic bags, whilst gaining background information relating to the topic and developing research and reading skills.


 * Relevance to the unit outcome **

The Planet Ark website is relevant to the chosen HSIE environment outcome ENS2.6 which states that stage 2 students should be able to “Describes people’s interaction with the environment and identifies responsible ways of interacting with the environment” (Board of Studies, 2007, p. 33). As the focus of the unit of work is on waste management specifically plastic bags and its effects on the natural environment, the Planet Ark website provides students the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of this chosen HSIE outcome. This resource is relevant to student’s achievement of the focus outcome in that students are given the opportunity to explore and gain background information in regards to waste and (plastic bags) its impact to the natural environment. This resource can be used as a starting point for developing and building students’ content knowledge in preparation for the latter lesson when they are creating their finial multimodal task. The relevant information, facts and statistics would be useful for students completing their individual or group research in the area. Thus this resource could be used throughout the unit of work to provide contextual information and support students’ understanding of multimodal texts.


 * Aspect of Literacy explored in the unit **

Learning to read multimodal texts such as internet websites, is an essential foundation in building literacy skills and developing understandings of multiliteracies. New forms of literacy call upon students to know how to read and write not only in print world but in the digital world, as these kinds of texts often require “non-linear and stimulating processing” in order to understand and gain meaning from the text (Walsh, 2006, p. 43). According to Groundwater-Smith, Ewing and Le Cornu (2007, p. 143) multimodal texts, such as internet sites, provide valuable opportunities for students to develop a range of reading and researching skills. The Planet Ark website allows students to explore current information, thereby enhancing their knowledge of multimodal text and explicitly looking how different features work in collaboration to create meaning. Specifically, the Planet Ark website allows students to engage in the four roles of the reader as they navigate the site to find and locate relevant information. When exploring the website readers must be able to evaluate all the features of the webpage and quickly decide which one will likely be the most helpful in accessing information (Walsh, 2006, p. 2).

Moreover, this resource also provides students the opportunity to work towards stage 2 reading outcomes RS2.5 “Reads independently a wide range of texts on increasingly challenging topics and justifies own interpretation of ideas, information and events” and RS2.6 Uses efficiently an integrated range of skills and strategies when reading and interpreting written texts (Board of Studies NSW, 2007, p. 29-32). In this sense, students will use the website to gain contextual information and also to develop skills in locating appropriate information from the site, skimming text for overall meaning and taking notes on the topic.

References

Board of Studies. (2007). HSIE K-6 Syllabus. Sydney: Author Board of Studies. (1998). English K‐6 Syllabus. Sydney: Author Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & Le Cornu, R. (2007). Teaching: Challenges and Dilemmas. 3rd edition. South Melbourne: Thomsom Walsh, M. (2006). Literacy and Learning with multimodal texts: Classroom Glimpses. synergy, 4, 43-49.