Age groups: 10-15
Keywords: Outdoors; Indoors; In-school activity; At-home activity; Individual activity; Pen and paper needed; Comparisons; Critical thinking; Human landscapes
One-sentence summary of activity: Students learn about snow leopard habitats and compare them to the human landscapes where they live, and then critically reflect on the differences through conceptualized drawings or journaling.
Diagram of activity: Example of a drawing conceptualizing a snow leopard living in a human landscape.
Learning Goals for activity:
- Skill: Critical thinking, Sharing and communication skills
- Value: Intrinsic, Relational
- Information: Local environment, Human interactions with nature
- Action: N/A
- Other: Creativity
Step-by-step instructions for activity:
- To begin the activity, students will watch an educational video about the snow leopard’s habitat.
- Students will then reflect on the habitat/landscape where they live (city, rural town, etc.)
- Critically thinking about the differences between these two landscapes, students will explore switching habitats with a snow leopard and how each of them (the student and the snow leopard) would survive in each other’s habitat.
- Using their creativity, students will conceptualize this switch in habitats through drawing, journaling, or acting it out.
Ecological concepts involved
- Local environment – learning about snow leopard habitats
- Human interactions with nature – comparing and contrasting human landscapes with snow leopard habitats
Additional content needed:
This activity requires access to the internet to watch an educational video about the snow leopard’s habitat.
Some possible questions that students might ask when exploring “switching habitats” with a snow leopard:
- How will they survive in each other’s habitat?
- How/what will they eat?
- Where will they sleep?
- What obstacles will they each face?
Educational Activities developed by the University of Vermont’s Environmental Education course, Fall 2020