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Year Group and Subject Year 12 Science Semester and Year

Semester 1 2016

Course Title and Accreditation T, A or M

T, A or M

Earth and Environmental Science T

Unit Title and Code Living on Earth 22314 Value: 0.5

or 1.0 1.0

Teacher/s Mr. C. Price

Assessment Instrument # and type

3 Research Assignment Weighting 20%

Length – words/time 1000-2000 words Date Due 16 March 2015

Learning Goals This task will allow students to demonstrate:

Their knowledge, understanding, critical thinking and investigative skills with regard to sustainability, their personal ecological footprint, ACT’s ecological footprint and ways that both can be improved.

Task Description

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT ASSIGNMENT Students have to record their food, water and energy consumption for a week, and then using this and other accurate data and an online calculator to determine their personal carbon, water or ecological footprint. They will then research and present ACT’s ecological footprint, and propose an action that will improve the ACT’s ecological footprint.

Assessment Criteria

The grade and scores for each section of the research assignment will be assessed using the descriptors in the marking rubric. Weightings within each section are shown in the guidelines.

Task Instructions

As per the attached guidelines.

Submission Requirements

Students are expected to submit a completed Declaration of Original Work with the task. The stapled research notes printed on lineless A4 paper must be submitted with the report.

BSSS assessment policies

Information about assessment policies can be accessed in the Daramalan College Years 11 & 12 Handbook or on the ACTBSSS website www.bsss.act.edu.au Penalties will be applied in accordance with ACTBSSS policies for cheating, plagiarism and the late and non-submission of assessment tasks.

Assessment Instrument - YEAR 11 & 12

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ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT RESEARCH

ASSIGNMENT: GUIDELINES

An ecological footprint is “a measure of how much area of biologically productive land and water an

individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it

generates, using prevailing technology and resource management practices. The Ecological Footprint is usually

measured in global hectares.

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/glossary/#Ecologicalfootprint

The assignment is in 5 parts:

1. Each student records data for a week in a logbook on their home, power and water bills, family transport and

lifestyle; and their food and water consumption plus transport.

2. Explain what sustainability is, why it is important to use the Earth’s resources sustainably and what an

ecological footprint measures (plus what a water or carbon footprint measures if you choose one of these).

Then use your data from Part 1 and an online calculator to estimate your personal water, carbon or ecological

footprint, and propose lifestyle changes that would significantly lower your footprint.

3. Research and explain ACT’s ecological footprint, its major components and some ways to improve it.

4. Write a one page green paper that proposes an action that reduces ACT’s ecological footprint .

5. Research notes and report presentation.

PART 1 In a logbook (a notebook or exercise book) you have to record the following information:

The floor area of your house in square metres, information on how it was built (e.g. wooden or steel frame)

and the total number of people living in your house.

Your household electricity bill for the past year (typically from 4 quarterly bills) in total dollars and KWh

(kilowatt hours)

Your household gas bill for the past year in total dollars and MJ (megajoules)

Your household water bill for the past year in total dollars and litres

A daily record of what you eat and drink (including its mass, volume, cost, source)

A daily record of your water use and your share of your family’s water use.

The totals for the week should be added up on the last page.

IMPORTANT: Collect data that matches the footprint calculator that you will be using. It is a good idea to

run through the calculators first.

PART 2 Start your typed report with an Introduction that includes the following:

What is sustainability? Explain the concept and describe at least one example.

Why is it important to use the Earth’s resources sustainably?

What is an ecological footprint and what does it measure?

What is a carbon or water footprint and what does it measure?

Choose one of the following online footprint calculators:

Ecological footprint calculator:

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/

Carbon footprint calculators:

http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/agc/home.html (use detailed mode, input data for the whole household and then divide

by the number of people to get your personal carbon footprint)

http://calculator.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx (conversion for natural gas 1 megajoule = 0.28 KWh,

except for ‘House’ input data just for yourself e.g. your share of annual distance travelled in family car)

Water footprint calculator:

http://waterfootprint.org/en/resources/interactive-tools/personal-water-footprint-calculator/

You must use the extended version of the calculator. The water footprint requires an estimate of your share of your

family’s income in US$ (multiply A$ by 0.72). This is usually private and sensitive information that your parents

may not be willing to let you use. If this is the case, ask your teacher for a suitable estimate to use.

IMPORTANT: Save and print out the results page of the calculator using a screenshot

tool such as Snipping Tool. Ideally save this as a JPEG file and include it in your report.

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PART 3 Research and explain ACT’s ecological footprint, its major components, and compare it to Australia’s

and the world’s ecological footprints.

The best source of information on ACT’s ecological footprint is the ACT Commissioner for Sustainability and the

Environment. Explore this site!

http://www.environmentcommissioner.act.gov.au/

The most up-to-date ACT ecological footprint is for 2008-2009 (as of January 2016), but there will be an updated

ACT ecological footprint for 2013-2014 as part of the 2015 ACT State of the

Environment Report. This should be available online in February 2016.

PART 4 Write a one page green paper that proposes and justifies an action that reduces ACT’s ecological footprint . You

need to download the following guide, pick one of the topics on Page 10, and follow the instructions on page 15:

http://www.see-change.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/PoY-Project-Information-for-Teachers-2016.pdf

The topic choices and green paper instructions are also printed on the following pages. This booklet also has many

links to high quality websites with information on ecological footprints and sustainability.

Try to avoid making proposals that are already being planned and implemented by the ACT government. Your

proposal should be original, creative and well-justified.

The students with the best 3 proposals will be chosen to represent Daramalan at the

2016 Parliament of Youth on Sustainability, which will be held at the ANU on Monday

30th

May 2016.

PART 5 Research notes and report presentation. THE RESEARCH NOTES ARE TO BE

COMPLETED AS A WORD DOCUMENT WITH A HEADER WITH YOUR NAME.

The research notes should provide evidence of the research that you did for all sections,

with useful information highlighted, URL’s and access dates.

REPORT FORMAT:

Title Page: (should include an appropriate labelled photo or diagram)

Title: Ecological Footprint Research Assignment

Name:

Class:

Due Date: 16 March 2016

Contents Page:

Introduction – sustainability and ecological footprints

My personal ecological footprint (or water or carbon)

ACT’s ecological footprint

_________________________ : an action that will decrease ACT’s ecological footprint

References

Appendix: Logbook (either printout of digital logbook or handwritten logbook attached)

Appendix: Research Notes

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Marking Rubric: Year 12 Ecological Footprint Research Assignment Name: ________________________________________________________ Class: ______________

GRADE/CRITERIA + A - + B - + C - + D - + E - Part 1 Footprint data logbook (investigative skills and work practices)

Organises time and resources to work in a highly productive manner to produce an accurate and comprehensive log of consumption, utility bills data and home data; and correct calculations for input into the footprint calculator.

Organises time and resources to work in a productive manner to produce an accurate log of consumption, utility bills data and home data; and correct calculations for input into the footprint calculator.

Organises time and resources to work in a generally productive manner to produce a log of consumption, utility bills data and home data; and calculations for input into the footprint calculator with some errors.

Demonstrates inconsistent organisation of time and resources to produce a brief and incomplete log of consumption, utility bills data and home data with several errors.

Demonstrates limited organisation of time and resources to attempt a log of consumption.

25 23 21 20 19 18 17 15.5 13.5 13 12 11 10 7.5 5

Part 2 Explaining sustainability and presenting your ecological, carbon or water footprint (investigative skills, knowledge and understanding)

Demonstrates sophisticated and extensive knowledge and understanding of sustainability and footprints, and produces a carbon, water or ecological footprint that closely matches their logbook data

Demonstrates an in-depth knowledge and understanding of sustainability and footprints, and produces a carbon, water or ecological footprint that matches their logbook data

Demonstrates general knowledge and understanding of sustainability and footprints, and produces a carbon, water or ecological footprint that matches their logbook data with some errors

Demonstrates basic knowledge of sustainability and footprints, and produces a carbon, water or ecological footprint that matches some of their logbook data with several errors

Demonstrates a limited knowledge of sustainability and footprints, and no evidence of using a footprint calculator

25 23 21 20 19 18 17 15.5 13.5 13 12 11 10 7.5 5

Part 3 Research and explain ACT’s ecological footprint (investigative skills, knowledge and understanding)

Insightfully evaluates, synthesises and analyses the information from research to explain ACT’s ecological footprint, its major components, and give an accurate comparison to Australia’s and the world’s ecological footprints.

Synthesises and analyses the information from research to explain ACT’s ecological footprint, its major components, and give an accurate comparison to Australia’s and the world’s ecological footprints.

Uses the experimental data and information from research to describe ACT’s ecological footprint, its major components, and compares it to Australia’s and the world’s ecological footprints.

Describes some aspects of ACT’s ecological footprint, its major components, and attempts a comparison to Australia’s and the world’s ecological footprints.

Briefly states ACT’s ecological footprint and some of its major components.

15 13.5 12.5 12 11.5 10.5 10 9 8.5 8 7 6.5 5.5 4.5 3.5

Part 4 One page green paper (critical thinking, knowledge and understanding)

Insightful innovative proposal that addresses the problem outlined, will significantly improve ACT’s ecological footprint, and is accurately and persuasively justified.

Thoughtful proposal that addresses the problem outlined, can significantly improve ACT’s ecological footprint, and is accurately justified.

Realistic proposal that addresses the problem outlined, can improve ACT’s ecological footprint, and is well justified.

Attempts a proposal that addresses the problem outlined, can improve ACT’s ecological footprint, and reasons are attempted for the proposal.

Attempts a proposal that can improve ACT’s ecological footprint.

25 23 21 20 19 18 17 15.5 13.5 13 12 11 10 7.5 5

Research and Presentation (investigative skills and communication skills)

Research notes contain high quality relevant information from multiple reputable sources Correct and appropriate scientific language; well-chosen appropriate figures, tables and graphs referred to in text; correct in-text and Harvard referencing

Research notes contain relevant information from reputable sources Appropriate scientific language; relevant figures, tables and graphs referred to in text; in-text and Harvard referencing with few errors

Research notes contain mostly relevant information from reputable sources Sometimes appropriate scientific language; relevant figures, tables and graphs; in-text and Harvard referencing with several errors

Research notes contain some relevant information Attempts some scientific language; some figures, tables and graphs not related to text; attempts some referencing

Attempts to collect some information Basic language; figures, tables and graphs not related to text; no referencing

10 9 8.5 8 7.5 7 6.5 6 5.5 5 4.5 4 3 2

COMMENTS: GRADE: SCORE:

Days late:

Final score:

Formal request for extension?

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