Green Futures: mapping as a medium for self-expression and supporting decision making

In my role as a Community Mapper, I visit primary schools on Ynys Môn to deliver mapping workshops with a focus on environmental issues. As part of the Public Map Platform project, we have been seeking ways to engage young people in mapping their local areas. I’ve visited several primary schools and introduced children to the project and am keen to give learners an experience of how mapping can be a medium for self-expression and support decision making.

Last term, myself and Aaliyah, a fellow Community Mapper, visited Ysgol Parc y Bont and delivered a renewable energy workshop for Years 5 and 6. After introducing the concept behind Public Map Platform and ‘citizen science’, we discussed ways that Public Map Platform could help when making decisions about the future of Ynys Môn. During the workshop, children also learnt more about climate change and different energy sources. We considered how at a local level people can play their part in reducing the impacts of climate change. The children were able to articulate prior learning about climate change and shared some great ideas about renewable energy!

The main activity was a Decision Making Exercise about where to put a wind turbine on the school site. The learners carried out an Environmental Impact Assessment of potential locations for the imaginary wind turbine. In groups, they measured impacts commonly associated with wind turbines, scoring each site against various criteria. There was also an opportunity to add additional criteria to the Environmental Impact Assessment. Many of the children were keen to add their own question; one assessed the impact of a wind turbine on the school’s football pitch.

While out on the school’s grounds, the children used specialist equipment to measure wind speed and temperature. They also had fun with some ‘low tech’ approaches, such as using string to measure out radius from the possible wind turbine locations.

Afterwards, the children returned to the classroom to draw maps showing their results. They were given an outline map of the school, taken from OpenStreetMap, and encouraged to be creative and original in how they presented their findings. It was great to see the children’s varied approaches to map making and how they expressed what was important to them through their choices of symbols and text.

We look forward to returning to Ysgol Parc y Bont in future to teach the children digital mapping skills.