Unit 11: Project Design
and Management
‘What is a
project?’ activity
guide
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This project was funded by the Department of
Sustainability and Environment.
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Unit 11: Project Design and Management
‘What is a Project?’ activity guide
Estimated Duration: 20 minutes
Aim
 To develop a shared understanding of the concept of a sustainability project
Outcome
By the end of this class, students will be able to:
 Understand what a sustainability project is, and some of the possibilities for their project
Resources
 Whiteboard and markers
Activity description
‘What is a project?’ brainstorm
Explain to students that over the next few weeks they will be managing their own sustainability
project. Explain what a sustainability project is: a task undertaken over a short period to support
environmental sustainability. It will be limited by what they can actually do – a project that takes
years to complete, requires millions of dollars or needs them to have close ties with the prime
minister is unlikely to fit into their VCAL classes. Get students to brainstorm possibilities, keeping in
mind these limitations but not getting too bog down in them – after all it’s just a brainstorm, and
they wont decide on actual projects till later in the class. To keep the brainstorm moving, throw in
occasional suggestions, such as the ones listed below. (You may want to go through and highlight
favourites first – it’s a long list.)
Brainstorm on what you can get out of managing a project
Ask students to brainstorm what they could get out of managing a sustainability project. Examples
might include:
 New skills – Project management offers a chance to develop new skills and put them into action
 Teamwork – Working together towards a common goal is often fun and motivational, especially
if you are working towards making a positive impact on the community
 Friendships – Projects offer a chance for people to learn more about one another and develop
stronger friendships
 Community awareness – Projects can also help raise awareness of environmental issues .
Project ideas for the brainstorm
Note that some of these may be too big, or too small, depending on the time and resources you
have available for the project.
Research and communication projects:
 Investigate biological controls of pest that have gone wrong, e.g. cane toads
 Investigate threatened and extinct animals in Victoria
 Effects of chemicals – plastics, dioxins, EDCs , lead
 GMOs (genetic modified organisms)
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Visiting local rivers and doing water testing with WaterWatch
Bike friendliness of school/community – prepare report for council on bike access
Audit of own school – water, energy or waste
Audit of other local schools/senior citizens center/hall
Communication and IT:
 Develop own adverts/multimedia/phone information on the environment
 Develop a sustainability section on the school website
 Set up a green radio station
 Make a short DVD about an environmental issue
 Make an animated DVD to teach small children about sustainability
 Write and article for a local paper about an environmental issue
 Design an SMS message about sustainability and send it to friends
Design and building projects:
 Make a solar oven
 Create own composting bin/worm farm
 Build a chook pen
 Build a no dig garden
 Build a herb and vegetable garden
 Build an indigenous food and/or plant garden
 Make a model of a solar-powered car
 Make a model of solar hot water system
 Make a model of wind generator
 Make a banner promoting sustainability to display outside the school.
 Create your own invention – draw or write about invention that you would like to see which
would help the environment
 Design posters to get environmental messages
Organising an event:
 Get a designer/builder to come and talk about sustainable house design
 No photocopy day
 A green battle of the bands with environmental songs and information
 Presentation by an environmental group, e.g The Wilderness Society
 A fair trade display or tasting event
 A fashion show of op-shop fashions or re-modeled, pre-loved clothes
 Put on a jumper day (turn the heaters off)
 Ride to school day
 Organise a debate about sustainability
 Organise some speakers from different political parties to speak about sustainability at a
school/community meeting.
 Walking school bus day/week
 Write a song about sustainability and perform it at a school assembly/concert
 Giving talks/presentations to primary school students/peers
Enterprise projects:
 Build a herb and vegetable garden and SELL the produce to the canteen
 Build an indigenous food garden and SELL the produce to the canteen
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Organise a fundraising project for an endangered animal
Organise a fundraising project for a community in a developing country
Organise a lawn moving and gardening business and introduce water saving measures
Organise a composting advisory service
Make environmental badges and sell them
Make a board game about sustainability and teach primary students how to play it
Make t-shirts with a prize winning logo or cartoon about sustainability and sell them.
Organise a showerhead exchange to be run out of say the post office or banks or news
agencies
Organise a competition
 Best environmental art (sculpture, craft, posters)
 A rubbish free lunch competition
 Best “turn-off” to place around the school
 The best cartoon on a sustainability theme
 Best photograph on a sustainability theme
 Best poem, essay or short story on a sustainability theme
 Design a quiz with prizes to first correct entries
 Organise a raffle with sustainable produce
Student Roles and Responsibilities
Contribute to class discussions
Work cooperatively with others
Seek teacher assistance and support when needed
Level of Teacher Support
Facilitate discussion
Provide encouragement
Introduce tasks and activities
Provide assistance when requested
Provide examples of mind maps to assist brainstorming
Assessment
To use these learning activities as assessment tasks, collect evidence such as:
Teacher checklist and observation
Teacher checklist for class discussions
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