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An
activity for KS2 or KS3
Use
the case studies below.
With
younger pupils, you could take one case study only and, after discussing
it with them, encourage them to empathise with different people within
the study by completing sentences: "If I was ..., I would feel ...".
For example, in `Swampy', you could suggest Swampy himself, the road builders,
a government official, a local person who wanted the road, and so on.
(writing
frame)
With
older pupils, ask them to consider all the different types of action
described and to conclude what they think is right or wrong with that
way of behaving. (You may need to check that the pupils understand the
case studies - for example, in `The Chipko movement', the term `soil erosion'
may need to be explained.).
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Case
Study 1: Swampy
Swampy
is a young man who, with many other young people, tries to stop
the government building roads through the countryside. They believe
that roads are bad for the environment. In a town called Newbury,
some people wanted a new road to stop traffic coming into the centre
of the town and causing jams and noise. The road would have to be
built through a wood. The young people tried to stop the road by
living in the trees and the ground so that the builders could not
do their work. It cost the government a lot of money to move them
away. The young people did not stop the road from being built, but
they got a lot of publicity for what they believed in.
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Case
Study 2: The Chipko Movement
Many
villagers in a part of India were angry because trees in the countryside
were being chopped down. Big companies wanted the trees for wood
which they could sell. The villagers said the trees were needed
to stop soil erosion. So, a group of Indian women started the tree
hugging (or Chipko) movement. They stood around the trees, thus
stopping them from being cut down. Eventually, a law was passed
in parts of India that protected some trees from being cut down.
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Other
examples of action:
- People
write to their MP. MPs can be made to take action if enough people
write.
- People
go on demonstrations. They walk through the streets, holding up
traffic and making other people notice what they are angry or
worried about.
- People
use violence. In some cases, they fight for what they want. In
other cases, they break machines or damage property.
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