Voices & Values: Citizenship in Asia - Teacher Information (Environment)

Some of the environmental problems and issues facing the Asian region are presented in ‘Caring for the Earth’ (pp8–10) in Voices & Values: Citizenship in Asia. Young people’s concerns and responses to environmental issues are highlighted, with examples from India, the Philippines and Thailand. The student activities provided on the three activity sheets on this website build upon and complement the material in the book. The country-specific focus for the activities is on India and Thailand.

Student activities

Clean the Ganges Campaign

This student activity sheet provides opportunities to explore the work of Australian NGO, OzGreen, and Indian NGO, Sankat Mochan. Both organisations are committed to improving the water quality of the Ganges River in India. Students explore issues relating to this topic and discuss the extent of responsibilities inherent in global citizenship.

Conserving and Preserving Thailand

This student activity sheet highlights some of the environmental actions people in southern Thailand are involved in the Yad Fon Association, a community-based organisation helping local people address their environmental problems. Students explore websites to find out more about the ways people in Thailand’s southern coastal regions are conserving and preserving their environments.

Thailand: Caring for the Earth

This student activity sheet prompts investigation of environmental problems in Thailand and some existing projects for conservation and preservation. Students will simultaneously evaluate the features of each website they visit and then design a framework for a website entitled ‘Thailand: Caring for the Earth’.

Teacher Support

One of the learning activities about Thailand asks students to find and assess the effectiveness of websites as a source of information. The following information may be useful in supporting this activity.

Website Features

Students may propose the following elements as possible important features of a useful website:

accuracy and authority of information presented – sources, dates, names of authors, cross-references
information type: archival as well as contemporary
ease of access: well-defined links within the website, capacity for search within the website through a search tool, list of contents
provision of links to other websites on the internet and descriptions of those websites
email: capacity for feedback or to ask specific questions of the website managers and other visitors to the site
presentation: visually appealing, grahics complement text, clear instructions, attractive and suitable use of colour and icon codes, site maps
time-efficient: downloading time
mediums integrated: sound or music, interviews, photography, film footage