PowerDown with ActionAid’s new schools climate change toolkit
ActionAid is launching an exciting new schools climate change toolkit,  PowerDown, available FREE to the first 3,000 schools.
There are two toolkits which help to explain the causes and impacts of climate change to both primary and secondary school pupils. Each one explores the extraordinary potential for schools to shape some of the solutions to climate change.
Packed with activity sheets, photo-cards, lesson plans, stories, brainteasers and much more, PowerDown enables learners to investigate energy use at home and at school, and discover how this links to extreme weather events thousands of miles away.
Lesson plans follow a simple three stepped approach: learn, investigate, act, and each lesson has clear curriculum links and learning outcomes. Activity ideas include ‘Be a world leader for a day’ and a slideshow illustrates how  schools in Assam, India, are adapting to climate change. By studying some of the local, national and global solutions to climate change, learners are encouraged to discuss, plan and create their own climate change solutions.
St Martin at Shouldham CEVA School in Norfolk has already started to work with ActionAid to be part of the solution. The pupils’ top tips on how to monitor and save energy throughout the school have been included in the primary toolkit.
Marika Mears, Headteacher at St Martin at Shouldham School, which has been piloting this project said: “Our pupils have really been inspired to take action with PowerDown It has helped to connect them with the wider world and help them understand this complex but vitally important issue. It has also supported our work in science, geography and citizenship and provided a range of cross curricular lesson ideas for the teaching of sustainable development and the global dimension.”
The toolkit includes brainteasers such as:
A PC and monitor left on standby all year adds around £63 to electricity bills. There are around 20,000 primary schools in the UK. If each school left 10 PCs and monitors on standby all the time, how much money would they waste in total? A: £12,600,000
Janet Convery, Head of Schools and Youth at ActionAid said: “ActionAid knows about this issue because of its first hand experience in dealing with disasters and emergencies and the work we do with schools in developing countries to help them prepare for the impacts of extreme weather. We have gathered some amazing stories from children in the most vulnerable parts of the world; from building canoes with banana plants to learning first aid, which highlight how some of the world’s poorest people are adapting to climate change.
 “We hope these stories will help children here make the connections between their actions and the lives of their peers overseas and inspire them to make real changes at school and at home.”
The new toolkit is available from September. To make sure you get your free copy pre-order via www.actionaid.org.uk/powerdown or call ActionAid on 01460 238000.
The PowerDown toolkit includes:
Teachers booklet with lesson ideas, activity sheets and curriculum links;
Over 20 thought provoking photo-cards featuring:
- An introduction to the causes and impacts of climate change
- Stories shoring the impact of climate change around the world
- Examples of how energy use is related to climate change
- Inspiring solutions to slowing climate change
A CD Rom featuring:
- ‘Be the solution’ PowerDown DVD (5 mins)
- Digital guide to using the toolkit, plus photo-cards and activity sheets
- Slideshow showing schools adapting to climate change in Assam, India
- PowerDown! Design icons to create your own materials
The PowerDown toolkit is available for review from 15 September.
ActionAid is a unique partnership of people who are fighting for a world without poverty, in which every person can exercise their right to a life of dignity. We work with poor and marginalised people to help eradicate poverty by overcoming the injustice and inequity that cause it. www.actionaid.org.uk
For an example of the Learn Cards click here
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