Overview

This activity involves the student in drawing their journey from home to school, encouraging them to reflect upon the safe and healthy choices they make during the journey, how their envirnoment affects their wellbeing, and conversley how their actions affect the environment.

Art and Design

Three 45 minute lessons (including evaluation)

13 – 21 years old

Groups of up to 25

Objectives

Behavioural competences

To have a safe and healthy relationship with the surroundings (Goal 3)
To protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage (Goal 11)
To be an active and participatory citizen in the community (Goal 11)

Reflections

To reflect upon ones built environments and surrounding and the impact of these on health and wellbeing (Goal 3)
To reflect upon the dangers of losing cultural and natural heritage (Goal 11)
To reflect upon the importance of heritage in communities (Goal 11)
To reflect upon how heritage aligns with our modern habits and culture (Goal 11)
To reflect upon the importance of participation to ensure sustainable communities (Goal 11)

Lifelong learning key competences

Social and civic competences
Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship

Materials

A3 (or bigger) paper/card
Penclis/pens
Paint/colourd pencils/crayons
A3 (or bigger) Tracing paper

Instructions

First Class (45 minutes)

Ask the students to close their eyes and picture their journey to school, from the moment they leave their home to when they arrive at school (5 minutes)

Ask the students in groups or pairs to talk about their journey to school, how do they travel, what notible things/places to they pass through, which parts do they enjoy/not enjoy. (5 minutes)

Hand out the sheets of paper, and pencils/pens, one piece per student.

Ask the students to draw their home at one corner of the paper and the school at the other corner. Explain that they can draw the buildings however they wish.

Then ask the students to draw their typical journey from home to school, drawing details of any specific points of interest (30 minutes)

Ask the students to put their names on the drawings and collect them together.

Close the lesson by asking the students, to be observent during their next journeys to school, to observe what parts and elements of their journey do they like or dislike, are their any parts that feel unsafe, are there any parts that make them happy? (5 minutes)

Second Class (45 minutes)

Hand out the students drawings, and ask them to reflect upon them, do they feel that they are still accurate? (5 minutes)

Over the following 40 minutes:

Ask the participants to add details of the areas surrounding their path to school, to the best of their memory

Ask the students to add further details to their drawings according to any places that they feel are dangerous, pose a risk, or have a negative impact on their mood, are there any busy roads? They may choose colours as representation – ie red as danger

Ask the students to add further details to their drawing according to any places that they feel are safe, calming, energising or have a positive impact. They may choose colours as representations of positive feelings.

Evaluation

Third Class (45 minutes)

For the final part of the activity and to evaluate:

Hand each student a piece of tracing paper, and tell them to place the tracing paper over their maps.

Over the following 30 minutues

Ask the students to add annotations to the maps by writting comments and drawing on the tracing paper according to the following:

• Could they change their route, or means to travel to school, to avoid the any areas, or experiences that have a negative impact upon them, or poses a risk to them
• Are there any risk areas/or negative areas that are unavoidable? How can they mitigate the risk/negative impact, how can they ensure their safety and well being?
• The areas that they identified as positive – what makes them positive?
• The areas that they identified as negative – what makes them negative, what could be changed to make them more positive places, can they do anything to change it?
• Is there anything they do that contributes to the negativity of a place?

In the last 10 minutes of the lesson either ask the students to go around the room and look at each others maps and ask each other questions, or ask 2 or 3 of the students to volunteer to present their maps to the rest of the class.

Suggestions and Alternatives to the Method

Landscape Painting – indentify a  location near to the school that a number of participants commonly identified as ’good’ or ’bad’ in their maps, take the students to the location to take photographs and make sketches. Set the students the task of creating a lanscape painting/art depicting the location, highlighting its positives/negatives.

Global Mapping our Neighbourhoods – get in touch with another certifed school using our interactive map, and create a partnership where you share each other maps, and create a exhibition of maps from each others countries.

Follow up suggestions

The times indicated are indicitive, you may wish to extend the activity over further lessons, giving the students more time to reflect and work on their drawings. The drawings could form part of the students course work/ exam work

Ideas for actions

Street Safety Campaign – You could create a street safety campaign with the students for the school, whereby the students, from their own initiative put posters around the school, make presentations in assembly, and exhibit their drawings.

Positive Places, Social Action – You could support the students in exploring their own initiative in a social action that aims to increase the safety and positive environment of a particular location either within or close by to the school, such as planting a garden, making street art, collecting litter.

Further information

The sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being) targets: http://globalresponsibility.eu/goal-3-good-health-well-being/

https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/ We want to create a walking nation where people of all generations enjoy the benefits that this simple act brings. And we want to ensure all our streets are fit for walking.

For more than 85 years we’ve been a beacon for walking. In our early days our campaigning led to the UK’s first zebra crossings and speed limits. Now our campaigns change minds and ensure that every one of us is able to exercise our right to walk and the freedoms and possibilities it brings.

Our work to bring walking back and local projects deliver real change to overcome barriers to walking and our ground breaking initiatives such as the world’s biggest Walk to School campaign encourage millions of people to walk.