Service Learning and Social Justice in the Classroom

I gave my Pay It Forward presentation on service learning, and how it can benefit and tie into my class, but just as a refresher, service learning is a way to apply what is being taught in the classroom to reality. Lessons that can be tied to the lives of the students in some way are much more meaningful. Service learning is a good way to do this. I was glad that our service learning project was about an environmental issue. There are so many ways environmental issues can be tied into any subject and any grade level, so it was pretty perfect for our group. The time we were there, I was thinking of lesson plans that could fit with this project that I can use in my classes.

Access to water is a human right that at least 1.1 billion people in the world do not have. 2.6 billion people do not have access to access to sanitization. According to the World Heath Organization, 1.6 billion children die every day because of no access to water and/or sanitization issues. In most of the developing world, were access to water and sanitation is the least, water issues cause more deaths than conflicts. This is also a problem in the United States, but not to the extent listed above. For example, 40,000 households (about 100,000 people) could not pay their water bills. Water issues are especially true for girls and women, who it is considered their role to take care of the family in many developing countries. This limits access to school. Some who are able to go to school do not have access to a bathroom, and are taken out of school when they reach puberty.
One of the causes of this is privatization of water. Many companies and countries, including the United States, European countries, and Coca-Cola, are buying water and selling it for a profit. I can go on about how there is speculation about water rights causing future wars, how it the effects access to food, this effect on oceans, the overuse of bottled waters effect on the environment, (noticed Coca-Cola owns several bottle water companies), but I will spare you.

One of the actions being done to remedy this is cleaning up the existing rivers in developing countries. This (finally) leads me back to how I can bring the service learning today back to my room. Ross, one of the grad students, said something that stuck with me. He was pointing out all the ways humans affect the little area we worked in. Building roads, housing developments, car pollution, and littering to name a few. So now that I have my students, and possibly you, depressed yet again, what can they do about it?

Participating in service learning at sites like we were today is a good example. (That water will eventually go to the ocean, which will spread worldwide, so it needs to be taken care of.) Bringing word of mouth-telling people about it, writing letters to government and companies involved in privatization. Fundraising! Did you know that it only costs $0.25-$1.25 to fill one container that would meet the daily minimum water intake (20 liters)? Buying water filters and reusable containers and turning off the water when brushing your teeth are even small, but water-saving changes that can be made at home. Students can track their water use over a set amount of time, research about countries that have lack of water access, make poster to hang around school, start clubs, there are even online games that ask questions about water consumption, what are water issues in Idaho (there are plenty of lawsuits filed in Idaho every year for water access), try to find how many households in their community cannot pay their water bills-use your creativity! Students would have more ideas then this if given the opportunity to learn about it. Water is something that affects them, and their world. Because it is something that can be tied to their lives, it is something that can be more memorable to students.

Here are my sources: http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/index.php?id=23
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/water_rights_and_wrongs_english.pdf
http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/VANOVEDR/

Here are links to some resources (so much more available than is posted):
My Wonderful World-Freshwater Lessons
National Geographic-more than just this lesson about water on this site
Water.org
Freshwater Lessons
YouTube video "Diary of Jay Z: Water for Life
YouTube video "THIRST: World Water Crisis"
Documentary "Blue Gold:World Water Wars"