
Intended End User: Teacher
Age Group: Lower Secondary; Upper Secondary
School Curriculum: Social & Environment Science
Themes and Topics: Behaviour & Lifestyle; Environmental Change; Futures Thinking; Power & Influence, Citizenship
Duration: 60 – 90 minutes
Type of Resource: Guidelines & Notes, Lesson Plans, Presentation
Keywords: Biodiversity, urban planning, challenging dilemmas, design thinking
Languages: English
Description
This lesson’s objective is to help students understand the impact people have on biodiversity and generate solutions that meet the needs of both people and nature.
This resource contains a teacher guide and PowerPoint presentation to help teachers introduce the topic of supporting biodiversity in our built environments. Through questioning, teamwork, and discussion, students will learn and debate the challenging dilemmas of meeting nature’s and people’s needs.
The Design Thinking approach could be used to facilitate students developing solutions to meet the conflicting needs of people and nature.
The resource has been created by The Economist Educational Foundation.
How to use this resource
The resource is part of the Topical Talk series by The Economist Educational Foundation, designed to inspire students and help develop essential critical-thinking and communication skills through informed and open-minded discussions about the most significant issues of our time.
This resource is designed to be used as a 1-hour lesson with students. It contains
- Ready-to-use, clear teacher instructions that are easy to follow
- An accessible PowerPoint that’s clear, colourful and student-friendly
- Printable, engaging resources with instructions for how to present them
- Keywords and definitions to break down new or challenging vocabulary
The resources
Sustainable Living: Building Biodiversity PDF:
Download the Presentation (PowerPoint)
The Economist Educational Foundation hosts free resources, festivals and events on their website. You can access more in this series on The Economist Educational Foundation Topical Talk homepage, where you can browse and download free resources. Please note, the downloading of Topical Talk resources requires user registration.
Learning Outcomes (Teachers)
- Elicit prior knowledge and further develop knowledge and comprehension of key Sustainability Citizenship key concepts, challenging established worldviews and values.
Green Competencies
- Embodying Sustainable Values: Valuing Sustainability; Promoting Nature
- Embracing Complexity in Sustainability: Critical Thinking; Problem Framing
- Envisioning Sustainable Futures: Adaptability; Exploratory Thinking
Creative Commons

The Topical Talk Sustainable Living: Building Biodiversity resource was created by The Economist Educational Foundation. It is shared on the Synapses Portal with kind permission from The Economist Educational Foundation.
SDGs


