Lesson plan:

Conservation or Development?

Like a number of episodes of Round the Twist, this one deals with the conflict between conservation and development and presents the case for conservation in a favourable light.

As a whole class

View the episode Little Squirt. Identify the conflict between conservation and development with which the episode deals and ask students to identify the ways in which the episode invites the audience to disapprove of development. Ask them to identify the arguments which could be mounted in favour of development in this case.

Class discussion

Discuss whether development is always wrong and conservation always right. How does one decide between conservation and development of natural areas? What factors would need to be taken into account?

In small groups

Students could, in groups, develop a set of guidelines for the development and preservation of natural areas generally or a natural near their home.

Environmental awareness in myth and legend

Individual research

The water sprite in this episode draws on religious and spiritual traditions associated with specific places. These figures can be seen as the means by which other cultures express their environmental awareness. Ask students to research such figures. Possibilities include the Greek god of the ocean Poseidon, the river nymphs of Greek mythology, the Hindu reverence for the Ganges river and indigenous Australians' beliefs associated with specific places.