Teacher Preparation
Learning intentions: Students will…
Success criteria: Students can…
Make the learning intentions and success criteria visible for students throughout this lesson.
Tackling climate change requires large-scale, systemic changes across all aspects of society. Simply aiming to reduce our C02 emissions is not enough: we need to rapidly decarbonise our planet. While this might sound challenging, the good news is we already have the knowledge and tools to do it.
2040 is an innovative feature documentary that looks to the future, while focusing on what is happening now. Award-winning director Damon Gameau (director of That Sugar Film) embarks on a journey to explore what the future could look like by the year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them into the mainstream.
The film will demonstrate to your students that we already have the solutions to climate change; we just need to take action to bring them rapidly into the mainstream. The 2040 documentary and curriculum package will support your students in turning this knowledge into positive action for a better future.
Find out how to see the film here. 2040 launched in cinemas in Nov 2019 and is now available for booking for your school. These lessons have been designed with a media library to support teachers. The film is available on video-on-demand and DVD for individual viewing.
The film is the entry point to a global impact campaign that seeks to mobilise audiences to learn about, contribute to, advocate for, and invest in regenerative solutions that improve the wellbeing of the planet, all people and all living systems. To join the Regeneration and share your vision for 2040, see the website.
Watch the 2040 trailer:
Password: 2040_EDU
Note: You can use this same password to access all clips in the 2040 education media library.
Cool Australia, GoodThing Productions and Regen Pictures would like to acknowledge the generous contributions of Good Pitch Australia, Shark Island Institute, Documentary Australia Foundation, The Caledonia Foundation, Global Health Film and our philanthropic partners in the development of these teaching resources.
Developing classroom guidelines: In this lesson, students are asked to consider and share personal experiences and feelings, therefore it’s a good idea to set some ground rules for sharing. Consider the following:
Tips for providing feedback
Teaching sequence
Work through this resource material in the following sequence:
20 minutes – Part A: What Would You Like To See In The Future?
30 minutes – Part B: Preparing For The 2040 Documentary
10 minutes – Reflection
Preparation: Print enough The World in 2040 worksheets for groups of three to four students.
Step 1. Begin the lesson by writing the following question on the board:
What would you like to see in the year 2040?
Break the class into small groups and give each group a copy of The World in 2040 worksheet. Explain to students that they will have five minutes to imagine what each of the themes on the worksheet might look like in 2040. Students should record their ideas on the worksheet.
Once complete, engage students in a class discussion around each of the themes on the worksheet, inviting groups to share their ideas for each theme.
EXTEND: You could keep a record of student ideas to explore through further inquiry. You could also invite students to create an image of their future world, based on the ideas generated in this activity.
Step 2. Now, write the following question on the board:
What you think might be the big challenges for the year 2040?
Still working in their groups, invite students to flip their World in 2040 worksheets over and begin discussing their ideas in response to the question.
Again, engage students in a class discussion around their ideas.
Explain to students that for some people the future is a scary place; many people are concerned about a whole range of challenging social and environmental issues and how these will affect the future. Explain to students that it is ok to feel overwhelmed by some of these issues. Encourage students to share and listen to each other’s ideas in a supportive way, remembering your classroom guidelines.
Step 1. Explain to students that they will soon be exploring a documentary called 2040. In this documentary, the filmmaker – Damon Gameau – looks at the big challenges facing our planet and investigates what solutions already exist to address these challenges. The aim of the film is to communicate to audiences the fact that we don’t need to wait for people to create solutions to these challenges; we already have them.
Students will now watch a clip from this documentary. As they watch, invite students to record any ideas that they find important or interesting.
2040 – Film Overview
Password: 2040_EDU (https://vimeo.com/showcase/6167669/video/326932510)
Note: You can use this same password to access all clips in the 2040 education media library.
Hot Tip: If the above clip would not suit your class, consider replacing it with the following clip.
2040 – Setting Up the Journey
Password: 2040_EDU (https://vimeo.com/showcase/6167669/video/336505203)
Note: You can use this same password to access all clips in the 2040 education media library.
Once complete, invite students to work in pairs to complete a THINK PAIR SHARE routine in response to this clip using the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):
THINK PAIR SHARE is a collaborative learning strategy in which students work together to solve a problem or answer a question.
Consider these questions:
You could consider inviting student volunteers to briefly share their thoughts with the class.
Through your discussion, lead students to the idea that the film focuses on several key challenges for the future, including energy, transport, food production, and economics. Students will be exploring these challenges in detail later in this lesson and in the following lessons.
Step 2. Explain to students that they will soon be watching the whole 2040 film. In preparation for this, they will be creating an information collection sheet that can be used to record observations from the film as well as any other research conducted before and after the film (see note below).
NOTE: complete one of the following options
OPTION A – In this case, students need to create a set of questions that can be used to help them record information as they watch the film as well as conduct research about the challenges and solutions presented. Explain to students that they will be assigned one challenge presented in the film (e.g. energy, transport, or food production) to focus on as they generate their questions and conduct their research. Students need to view the challenges and solutions through a scientific lens (i.e. what scientific support is there for this challenge/solution?).
Break the class into three, six or nine groups (depending on age and ability) and assign each group with one of the following challenges presented in the film:
Students will then develop their questions around their challenge, for example:
To assist students with developing appropriate questions, you could provide them with the Generating Great Questions factsheet.
You could suggest students work for several minutes to brainstorm as many questions as they can think of. They could then vote for their favourite questions, based on how these questions might help them gather the information required to fully understand the challenge they have been assigned.
Allow students time to refine their questions, using the Generating Great Questions factsheet.
Explain to students that even though they are working in groups and should work collaboratively to generate their questions, each student is responsible for recording the final questions on their own piece of paper or in their own workbook. Students will work independently to respond to these questions in the following lesson and while watching the film.
TIP: Depending on age or ability you could adjust the number of questions students need to create. For example, younger students could develop two or three questions while older students could develop five or six questions.
OPTION B – In this case, students need to create a set of questions that can be used to help them record information as they watch the film. Questions should focus on the science behind the challenges presented and the solutions to these challenges.
The question that students develop should fall into two categories:
To assist students with developing appropriate questions, you could provide them with the Generating Great Questions Factsheet.
Students should work in groups of three or four. You could suggest students work for several minutes to brainstorm as many questions as they can think of. They could then sort the questions into the two categories and vote for their favourite questions, thinking about why these questions will help them respond to the film in the best way possible. Allow students time to refine their questions, using the Generating Great Questions factsheet.
Explain to students that even though they are working in groups and should work collaboratively to generate their questions, each student is responsible for recording the final questions on their own piece of paper or in their own workbook. Students will work independently to respond to these questions while watching the film.
TIP: Depending on age or ability you could adjust the number of questions students need to create. For example, younger students could develop two or three questions while older students could develop up to four questions for each question category.
Invite students to work independently to answer the following question (also available on the Student Worksheet):
Extend: You could invite students to reflect on this question from one or more of the following perspectives:
Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching
What’s Your 2040?
Record your students’ work in their communities with the hashtag #whatsyour2040 and share their visions in the ‘2040:The Regeneration’ Facebook Group. The 2040 crew would love to see your class’ work.