Methodological Guide on Environmental Sustainability Methodological_Guide | Page 8
Strategic Partnership Project (Key action no 2)
“ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP AND ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS THROUGH FORMAL
AND NON-FORMAL EDUCATION” (ACEAFNE)
product virtual water (in litres)
bottled water (1l) 9
an A4 sheet of paper 10
a potato 25
cup of tea (250 ml) 30
an egg 135
a glass of milk (200 ml) 200
sugar (1kg) 1,590
a cotton shirt 2,900
rice (1kg) 3,400
a pair of leather shoes 8,000
a pair of jeans 11,800
Source: Hoekstra, Chapagain 2008: 15,119; http://www.waterfootprint.org (retrieved. 9 Jan
2011)
Follow-up (10 minutes)
1/ Class discussion (5 minutes)
Summarize what you have talked about today regarding so-called “virtual water”, the water
that you can‟t see at first glance but is needed to produce a particular product. Stress that for some
products, it can be quite difficult to calculate the virtual water, but at least it enables us to find out
how much water is used to produce the products we buy. After that, choose some of those
questions to start a discussion:
Why do you think that we talked about “virtual water” and compared various products?
Why could it be important? What could be the effects of production and consumption of products
that are water intensive? What is the impact on the people living in the areas of production,on the
planet etc.? Is there anything that we can do to avoid the negative impacts? If yes, what can you
think of?
Note: In case students come up with questions that you do not find answers for in the
Infobox, inform them of other sources, e.g. www.waterfootprint.org or other English websites.
ACTIVITY ASSESSMENT
Personal journals (5 minutes)
Ask students to write into their journals: ͮtheir
definition of “virtual water” ͮ three
important pieces
of information that they are taking away from this lesson.
STUDENTS‟ IMPACT *
Awareness of the impact of human actions on nature
Enhancing of interest in participating in the environmental protection activities
Active involvement during the curriculum integrated activitie
Shaping active citizenship abilities and skills
Refinement of the independent learning techniques through investigation, selection,
presentation
CONCLUSIONS AS TO THE STUDENTS‟ BEHAVIOUR, INTEREST, ACTIVITY:
The lesson was very interactive, a big weight on the students´ activity and engagement, real life
connections and increasing of the awareness of the global environmental issues.
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