EDUCATION PACK - m6 Theatre Company
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EDUCATION PACK
Page Index
Page 3 Context
Page 5 Activity 1– Teacher Information
Page 6 - 14 Activity 1 – Student Market Place Sheets
a) Trends in global CO2 levels
b) The effect of rising atmospheric CO2
c) Climate change: how do we know it is happening?
d) Climate change – predictions for the future
e) Climate change drivers
f) Flooding and sea level rises
Page 15 Activity 2 – Teacher Information
Pages 17 - 23 Activity 2 – Student Expert Group Sheets
(a) Carbon capture
(b) Rewilding
(c) Tree planting
(d) Personal and public transport
(e) Electricity generation
(f) Lifestyle choices
(g) Efficient homes
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 2
The Storm Education Pack
This pack provides follow up material/activities for high schools, intended for use with their students
after seeing the live performance of The Storm.
The overriding message about the short-term future of Earth is one of proactive optimism. The real
threat posed by climate change, caused by humans, is now almost universally recognised and the
current discussions are much more about the size of the threat and what can be done about it. It
would be easy to feel gloomy, but the aim is to help people of all ages to see beyond this. It will need
action from countries and governments right down to the day to day choices we make as individuals
and the clamour of our voices to influence the decision makers.
Purpose of the materials
To mobilise our students’ hearts and minds on the issues of climate change and
sustainability.
To provide opportunities to revisit areas of the curriculum relating to climate change and
sustainability.
To broaden and deepen students’ engagement with the problems we are facing with man-
made climate change and with a range of potential approaches to tackling it.
To provide opportunities for students to make links across a range of curriculum areas,
including Science, English, Geography and PSHE.
How to use these materials
Ideally, these activities will be used very soon after seeing The Storm to take advantage of the
energy generated by the play. The materials are aimed at supplementing what schools are already
doing/planning around climate change and sustainability. They are written with Y7 students in mind;
however there should be sufficient challenge for many older students also. They are also meant to
be accessible to the vast majority of Y7s, although some will need more support than others.
As part of Dippy’s visit to Rochdale a range of “KS3 Enquiries” have also been made available to
schools. These have a strong links to KS3 Science around the main themes for Rochdale: working
scientifically and sustainability. The KS3 Enquiries and these materials are designed to complement
each other, and it is hoped that schools will be able to give their students the widest possible range
of opportunities presented around Dippy and The Storm. Flexibility is built into the design of the
resources so that teachers/schools are able to use the materials as they stand or draw from them
selectively or adapt and develop them.
The resources are intended to be used with on-line access using tablets or computers, so access to a
computer room or a class set of tablets (one between two) is highly recommended. Each student
activity has been created on a separate page so it should be easy to distribute them so that students
receive just the information they need.
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 3
It is not intended that teachers have to print off class sets of any part of these materials and it is
hoped than paper resources can be minimised for obvious reasons! A number of web links are
provided in the resources; we strongly recommend that you check that they are not blocked by
your school’s system. You may also wish to look at the readability for the students you intend to use
the materials with. All of the links were current when these materials were written. Please accept
our apologies if you find any which have gone out of date and you and your students are left to
search for new ones. We live in a fast-changing world…
The activities are largely student-centred so a teacher of any subject could deliver the lessons.
However a teacher with considerable interest in and knowledge of climate change/sustainability
would be in a strong position to help students gain maximum benefit.
Students are asked to work collaboratively in pairs and in larger groups. Depending on your
students, you may need to give them considerable guidance and structure for the group tasks. For
example: setting ground rules; assigning roles; time management; resolving difficulties.
There are around four hours’ worth of activity in the pack that could fit into four, hour-long lessons.
Activity Focus/description Suggested
duration
Activity 1 Students increase the depth of their understanding of 1 hour
How did the world get like the causes of man-made climate change by engaging
this? in a marketplace activity.
Activity 2 - part 1 Students work together in groups. Each group 1 hour
Expert groups becomes “expert” on a different aspect of tackling
What can be done about climate change and living in a more sustainable way.
climate change and to help
the wider environment?
Activity 2 - part 2 Students are regrouped into Rainbow groups 1 hour
Rainbow groups containing a mix of students with different expertise
from part 1. They work together create a presentation
or speech about tackling climate change and living
more sustainably.
Activity 2 - part 3 Speeches and presentations. 1 hour
Presentations Final reflections.
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 4
Activity 1 How did the world get like this?
The Storm depicts a world where climate change has not been tackled successfully. In the face of
much more severe and frequent extreme weather events; failing agriculture; rapid degradation of
the natural environment, with many species endangered; global food shortages; natural disasters;
crumbling infrastructure with society starting to breakdown, The Storm’s main character, Frankie
battles to achieve simple things. Much of what we take for granted in the 2020’s is threatened or
lost.
In this first activity, students are asked to participate in a marketplace activity where they explore
answers to the big question: “How did the world get like this?” Students could collect and present
their answers in a variety of ways, with possibilities including:
An annotated poster with an emphasis on providing information (as opposed to artistic flair).
A continuum activity. Before carrying out the marketplace, students position themselves on
a continuum line (see below). After completing the marketplace activity, students place
themselves the continuum again. Have their positions shifted?
For the continuum, your students can be asked to consider this statement: “The threat from
man-made climate change is small” and decide to what extent they agree/disagree with it.
They are then asked to position themselves on a continuum line stretched across the
classroom. One side of the room indicates 100% agreement with the statement and the
other side 100% disagreement. Ask each student to remember their exact position on the
continuum or you could photograph them, if protocols allow. At the end of the activity, the
continuum activity is repeated. A sample of students can be asked to justify their current
position and if they have moved, explain why.
For the marketplace, students work in pairs or small groups and visit a series of “stalls” positioned
around the room. Each stall has a computer or tablet displaying one of the student sheets (themes -
see below) with prompts to guide them, web links for them to find out more and possibly additional
materials provided by the teacher. The stalls can be visited in any order. Each stall in the market
place activity has information on a different theme, relating to the big question that the students will
attempt to answer. The information can be limited to the PDFs provided with this resource; accessed
on screens, so that they can follow the web links to the sources of information.
Marketplace stall themes:
a) Trends in global CO2 levels
b) The effect of rising atmospheric CO2
c) Climate change: how do we know it is happening?
d) Climate change – predictions for the future
e) Climate change drivers
f) Flooding and sea level rises
Student sheets for each theme are provided on pages 6 - 14:
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 5
a) Trends in global CO2 levels
Things to think about:
Where does the CO2 in the atmosphere come from?
- Why is Frankie’s world so different from ours?
- To what extent has the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increased recently?
- How has the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere changed over thousands of years in the past?
- How rapid have recent changes in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere been compared to
the past?
- Is it possible that the recent change in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is just a blip?
Summary of information:
Today there is more CO2 in the atmosphere than at any time over the last 800 000 years. In fact,
there is over 1/3 extra CO2 compared to the previous high, which was over 300 000 years ago.
Not only is there much more CO2 than before, but it is currently rising very quickly. There are no signs
of it slowing down.
If we continue to meet our increasing energy demand through fossil fuels, it is predicted that the
amount of CO2 will more than double by the end of the century, compared to today.
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 6
To find out more go to:
- BBC Bitesize - What is CO2 (and where does it come from)?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z3fv4wx/articles/zndkxyc
- NOAA providing the USA with climate change information.
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-
atmospheric-carbon-dioxide
- Also see NASA’s global climate change website.
https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/graphic-the-relentless-rise-of-carbon-
dioxide/
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 7
b) The effect of rising atmospheric CO2
Things to think about:
- What affect does CO2 in the atmosphere have on the temperature of Earth?
- How could global temperature rise have led to situation depicted in The Storm?
- How does the greenhouse effect work?
- What are the benefits and downsides of the greenhouse effect?
Summary of information:
CO2 is known as a greenhouse gas. It helps to trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. If we had no
greenhouse gases, Earth would be much colder. However if the levels of greenhouse gases are too
high, too much heat is trapped in Earth’s atmosphere.
To find out more go to:
- BBC Bitesize
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z3fv4wx/articles/zndkxyc
and
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zt6sfg8/revision/2
- Climate Kids from NASA
https://climatekids.nasa.gov/greenhouse-effect/
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 8
c) Climate change: how do we know it is happening?
Things to think about:
- How respected and reliable are the organisations that are presenting evidence?
- What different indicators tell us that climate change is happening?
- Is climate change a bad thing?
- How likely is it that the type of world that Frankie lives in could become a reality?
Summary of information:
It is actually quite hard to measure the Earth’s temperature because it varies so much from place to
place, day to day and year to year. However, by calculating the mean temperatures, we can get a
picture of what is almost certainly happening. The mean temperature rise in the last 100 years may
seem small but we can see many other changes which reinforce the idea that the climate is changing.
This includes: warmer winters, more severe droughts, retreating glaciers, rising sea level, a much
smaller Arctic ice sheet today compared to the past, more extreme weather events.
To find out more go to:
- BBC bite size
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zt6sfg8/revision/2
- WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)
https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/effects-of/climate-change
- Evidence presented by NASA
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 9
d) Climate change – predictions for the future
Things to think about
- How do scientists make predictions about the climate of the future?
- How confident can we be in the predictions about climate change?
- If we continue as we are, what could it be like on Earth by the end of the century (2099)?
Could it be as bad as or even worse than Frankie’s world?
Summary of information:
Weather and climate predictions are extremely complicated. Very powerful computers have specially
developed programmes, called climate models, which allow predictions to be made. Climate
scientists are learning more all the time and are continually improving the climate models they use.
There is not perfect agreement on what different climate models predict, but there are lots of
similarities.
Climate is complicated but using simple measures can help us appreciate what is happening. The
mean temperature on Earth and the mean sea level are both useful measures.
Climate change models can also try to predict how tackling the amount of CO2 we produce could
help. The faster we act the more we can slow down the damage.
To find out more go to:
- NASA’s climate change modelling information
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2943/study-confirms-climate-models-are-getting-future-
warming-projections-right/
- Global Climate Change Explorer
https://www.exploratorium.edu/climate/looking-ahead
- Some history of climate change modelling
https://youtu.be/Y_jKXcgR_QA
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 10e) Climate change drivers
Things to think about
- Without human activity would the Earth’s climate be stable?
- How can nature take CO2 out of the atmosphere?
- Are we helping or harming nature’s ability to take CO2 out of the atmosphere?
- In addition to CO2 what other things are making our climate warmer?
Summary of information:
When plants grow, photosynthesis takes carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. In forests, huge
amounts of carbon dioxide are locked away in the structure of the trees. When the forests are cut
down, not only is less carbon dioxide taken in, but the trapped carbon is released as carbon dioxide,
when the wood rots or is burnt.
A lot of CO2 is taken up and held by the oceans. Gases are less soluble in warm water than in cold, so
if sea temperatures increase, CO2 is released into the atmosphere. More CO2 in the atmosphere leads
to more global warming/warmer seas and so it continues.
CO2 is not the only greenhouse gas. Water vapour, methane (from animals, especially cattle) and
Nitrous oxide (from farming and burning fossil fuels) are other examples.
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 11To find out more go to:
- BBC Bitesize – Photosynthesis
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zvrrd2p/articles/zn4sv9q
- Compassion in world farming
https://www.ciwf.org.uk/factory-farming/environmental-
damage/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjfHVhM_d5wIVWODtCh2zUQisEAAYAiAAEgLnfvD_BwE
- British Geological Survey – other reason for climate variation
https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/climateChange/general/causes.html
- Inside climate news – Nitrous oxide
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11092019/nitrous-oxide-climate-pollutant-explainer-
greenhouse-gas-agriculture-livestock
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 12f) Flooding and Sea level rises
Things to think about
- How real is the threat of flooding in Frankie’s world? What clues are in The Storm?
- Are major floods becoming more common?
- How close do you live to places that were flooded during recent storms?
- How would rising sea levels affect the UK and other parts of the world?
- How worried should we be about flooding from storms and from rising sea level?
Summary of information:
Big floods have happened throughout history but evidence shows that they are probably becoming
more and more common. The autumn and winter of 2019-20 saw a lot of flooding in the UK and the
few years before that were also bad. Extreme weather events, made worse by global warming are
not the only cause, but are important factors leading to flooding.
There are large areas of land around our coasts and lower river valleys that are only a few metres
above mean sea level. They are at risk when there are big tides and storms. Even though there are
flood defences, there is still flooding from time to time. If mean sea level is higher, storms and high
tides will send water over the flood defences more often.
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 13To find out more go to:
- BBC England – Storm Ciara hits the Calder valley.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-51507162
- BBC Wales- how storm Dennis affected Wales in February 2020
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-51549413
and
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-51522195/storm-dennis-south-wales-under-
water-as-floods-hit
and
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-51552954/storm-dennis-the-barrage-protecting-
cardiff
- Climate Central – how sea level rises will affect low-lying land by 2050, if we do nothing.
https://coastal.climatecentral.org/map/8/0.0393/52.9488/?theme=sea_level_rise&map_typ
e=coastal_dem_comparison&elevation_model=coastal_dem&forecast_year=2050&pathway
=rcp45&percentile=p50&return_level=return_level_1&slr_model=kopp_2014
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 14Activity 2 What can be done about climate change and to
help the wider environment?
Follow up activity 1 focuses on the negatives and now the focus switches to positive actions. The
eventual outcome is that groups of students do 5 minute speeches /presentations, to be addressed
to either: the Prime Minister or a mass meeting of families in Rochdale. The title of their
speech/presentation is “What can be done about climate change?”
Activity 2 has the potential to be quite substantial. It has three parts to it, so you may choose to
spread it across three lessons. As with activity 1, students have the opportunity to use and develop a
wider range of skills including team work and presentation skills. There is potential benefit to
different curriculum areas and to involve different subject teachers.
Activity 2 Part 1 – Expert groups
Students work together in “expert groups” with each group focusing on one, different climate
change solution. (Science and Geography)
The suggested sources are not intended to be exhaustive and students’ learning from the preceding
“marketplace” will be valuable. The sources suggested in the marketplace are not duplicated here so
it may be useful to make them available again.
Organising the expert groups
Students work together in groups of 4-6 to become experts on one type of action that can be
considered in order to tackle climate change. It will probably be sensible to allocate the actions to
groups to avoid indecision and argument…
Actions to tackle climate change:
Expert group (a) Carbon capture
Expert group (b) Rewilding
Expert group (c) Tree planting
Expert group (d) Personal and public transport
Expert group (e) Electricity generation
Expert group (f) Lifestyle choices
Expert group (g) Efficient homes
Student sheets for each theme are provided on pages 17 - 23
Activity 2 Part 2 - Rainbow groups
Students are regrouped to combine what they have learnt in their expert groups and prepare their
speech or presentation. (English – writing for a specific purpose, literary devices etc.). Each rainbow
group contains an expert on each of the potential actions. They share their expertise to plan,
produce and present their answer to “What can be done about climate change and to help the wider
environment?”
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 15Activity 2 Part 3 – Speeches, presentations and final reflections Following the speeches and presentations, a final activity is a period of personal reflection where each student writes a postcard/letter to their future selves about the actions they will have taken and the changes they hope they will have made to help with climate change. It takes some organising, but giving the students their own letter a year later can have a lot of impact. It is likely that students will have far more to say than will easily fit into five minutes, so one emphasis may be getting the key messages across in the most powerful way in the time that is available. Greta Thunberg’s speech to the United Nations was around four and a half minutes and that was certainly powerful! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAJsdgTPJpU The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 16
a) Carbon Capture
Questions to think about:
- What is meant by carbon capture?
- How does carbon capture work?
- If carbon capture technology was available to Frankie’s generation, how could it help them?
- Could carbon capture be the complete solution to excessive carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere?
- Are there any down-sides to carbon capture?
Sources of information:
- A video about one aspect of carbon capture:
https://www.facebook.com/VICEAustralia/videos/2995627423800803/
- Information and video from the Royal Scociety
https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/greenhouse-gas-
removal/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3uXA5rrM5wIVTbDtCh1JfQuEEAAYAiAAEgIVT_D_BwE
- Negative aspects of carbon capture
https://climatevision.co.uk/the-negatives-of-carbon-capture-and-storage
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 17b) Rewilding
Questions to think about:
- What does “rewilding” mean?
- How has Frankie been involved in rewilding?
- Is rewilding as simple as leaving nature to take its course?
- How big a contribution could rewilding make to solving climate change?
- What other benefits could rewilding provide?
Quotes about rewilding
“Rewilding is about inspiring and engaging people to restore natural processes.
This means repairing damaged ecosystems and reintroducing lost species. It covers the restoration of
native woodlands and high mountain habitats such as dwarf birch and montane scrub. It also covers
the reintroduction of former native species such as the beaver, sea eagle, lynx or wolf.
A natural process is the way nature works when left to her own devices. You can’t build a natural
process but you can create conditions to help them reassert themselves.
For example, we aim to maintain deer numbers at levels the land can sustain. Deer need woodland
and woodland needs deer. It’s more sensible to reduce deer numbers where possible than to build
fences to separate them.”
John Muir Trust https://www.johnmuirtrust.org/
“Rewilding is the large-scale restoration of ecosystems where nature can take care of itself. It seeks
to reinstate natural processes and, where appropriate, missing species – allowing them to shape the
landscape and the habitats within.
Rewilding encourages a balance between people and the rest of nature where each can thrive. It
provides opportunities for communities to diversify and create nature-based economies; for living
systems to provide the ecological functions on which we all depend; and for people to re-connect
with wild nature.”
Rewilding Britain https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/rewilding/
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 18c) Tree Planting
Questions to think about:
- Why is tree planning a good idea to help tackle climate change?
- What advice or encouragement could you give to Frankie?
- What large-scale tree planting projects are going on in the UK?
- How can you get involved?
- What changes in other parts of the world (e.g. Brazil) could help?
Sources of information:
- The woodland Trust – Free trees for schools and communities
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/schools-and-communities/
- The Woodland Trust - Large scale Tree planting
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/large-scale-planting/
- The National Forest – Large scale tree planting
https://www.nationalforest.org/about/what-is-the-national-forest
- WWF – 5 Ways to Fight Deforestation
https://www.wwf.org.uk/deforestation-
free?pc=ATB001001&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkO6Gko3e5wIVybHtCh1aLgdEEAA
YASAAEgK6JPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 19d) Personal and Public Transport
Questions to think about:
- What transport do you think Frankie has access to?
- What types of transport produce most CO2 and which produce little or no CO2?
- How does the amount of CO2 produced by transport compare to other sources of CO2?
- What is the impact of the way that you travel to school?
- What role do electric cars have to play? Are there drawbacks to consider?
- Is flying abroad for holidays justifiable?
Sources of information:
- European CO2 Human Emissions Project
https://www.che-project.eu/news/main-sources-carbon-dioxide-emissions
- BBC Science and Environment – Should you fly, drive or take the train?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49349566
- The Guardian – Which industries and activities emit the most carbon?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/28/industries-sectors-carbon-
emissions
- Go Ultra Low – a combined government and car industry campaign
https://www.goultralow.com/ev-owners/benefits/
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 20e) Electricity generation
Questions to think about:
- What are the main ways that electricity is generated?
- In the world depicted by The Storm, how might electricity be generated?
- What is meant by renewable energy?
- Which methods of electricity release CO2 into the atmosphere and which do not?
- What are the down sides to the various “green” methods of electricity generation?
- Are solar panels worth having in the UK?
Sources of information:
- EDF Energywise – information about different energy sources with links to further details
about the different forms of renewable energy.
https://www.edfenergy.com/for-home/energywise/renewable-energy-sources
- Clean Energy Ideas – advantages and disadvantages of energy from different sources.
https://www.clean-energy-ideas.com/wind/wind-energy/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-
wind-energy/
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 21f) Lifestyle choices
Questions to think about:
- How is Frankie’s lifestyle different from yours?
- How does what you eat affect climate change?
- What is meant by carbon footprint?
- What journeys do you do by car each week that you could walk, cycle or avoid altogether?
- How could repairing something that is broken add less CO2 into the atmosphere compared to
buying a new one?
- Are there examples where it very hard to know what is the best choice to make?
Sources of information:
- The Guardian – What we eat matters.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/03/ipcc-land-use-food-production-
key-to-climate-crisis-leaked-report
- BBC Science and Environment – What is our diet’s footprint?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46459714
- WWF – The carbon footprint calculator. You may not know all of the information without
asking at home, but have a go to find out what affects your carbon footprint.
https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/
- BBC Science and Environment – Big lifestyle changes are the only answer.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49997755
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 22g) Efficient Homes
Questions to think about:
- How is your home heated? Are there other ways that puts less CO2 into the atmosphere?
- What differences are there between typical houses in the UK compared to really efficient
“energy passive” houses?
Sources of information:
- A video about very efficient house design called “energy passive”. The first two minutes give
the idea and there is extra detail if you watch the whole ten minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz6qomFM_dw
- Building Eco homes.
https://www.eco-home-essentials.co.uk/energy-efficient-home-design.html
- BBC Science and Environment – a very energy efficient house.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-25763200/is-this-britain-s-most-energy-
efficient-house
The Storm - Follow up activities for students and their teachers Page 23You can also read
