At the Royal Botanical Gardens Their Royal Highnesses joined the Mayor of London, explorer and presenter Steve Backshall MBE, Olympian Helen Glover MBE and school students to take part in a series of fun, engaging and thought-provoking activities.
The event celebrated Generation Earthshot, an educational initiative delivered by our World’s Largest Lesson team in partnership with The Earthshot Prize and The Royal Foundation.

Speaking ahead of the inaugural Earthshot Prize awards later this month, The Duke invited teachers to get involved by sharing their students’ best environmental ideas to be showcased on the Generation Earthshot website.

Implication:
In this stage we will introduce one of the 5 Earthshots, and discover what you know about that Earthshot and then come up with a local problem that we can solve with our ideas, together.

There are 3 steps to follow:
Step 1. Choose your Earthshot
Step 2. Break the problem down
Step 3. The problem to solve 

Protect and Restore Nature 

Clean Our Air 

Fix Our Climate 

Build A Waste-Free World 

From ideas to solutions 
In this step your students will take all their creative ideas and start thinking about how to turn them into real solutions. Here are two techniques to take your ideas and see how they could be applied in the real world. 

Decision Tree: This is a great way to sort through your ideas. Start at the top of the tree and ask your students to answer each question one by one. 
Each time you answer yes or no, follow the branch of the Decision Tree which matches your answer. 
Does it exist already? 
Would it harm people? 
Would it harm the planet?
Would it make a difference? 
Could it be possible? 
They might want to just pick a few of your favourite ideas to save time. The ideas that make it to the end of the tree will be the most original, practical and sustainable solutions. Don’t forget, your students might find ways to improve their ideas as you go through the Decision Tree. 
This is an important part of the process - taking big ideas and finding ways to make them a reality. 
If you hit a dead end, take time to discuss how your idea could be improved. 
For example, you might think of a way to make an impossible idea possible 

Your solution When you have chosen one idea, it’s time to write your Solution Summary. 
Remind students that this one solution is the result of all their brilliant creative ideas. 
The Solution Summary should explain to someone new exactly what your solution is, in just a few sentences. 
Ask students to imagine they only had 2 minutes to explain their solution to a stranger. 
How could they explain it as clearly and simply as possible? What is your Problem Statement? 
1. What is your solution? 
2. What effect will this have? 
3. Then in The Solution Stage you will choose a way to share your idea with others. 
Then in The Solution Stage you will choose a way to share your idea with others. 

Extension ideas:
Spend time researching the science behind this issue in depth.
Set up an experiment to test whether your solution will work. Plan a field trip to gather the data yourself

 Inventor
Your students are inventors.
Inventors solve problems by finding new ways to do things. They are designers and makers! Learning objective: Understand how to plan, test and improve a solution.
Quick activity
Ask students to create a storyboard or draw a cartoon strip showing how your solution will work in the real world.
You can use the Inventor worksheet for this activity.
Each square should be a new step in the process, showing what happens before, during and after the solution has been put into practice.
This will help students break down what is needed and find any unexpected issues.
If they do find issues, find new ways to do it!
That’s what inventing is all about.
Guiding questions:

Extension ideas:
Draw a diagram of your solution with labels describing each part and include a list of the materials needed to make it.
Build a physical model - a ‘prototype’ - out of available materials.
Or even build the solution itself if you can!
See if it works.
If it doesn’t, try and develop it further so that it does.
Explore how you could use digital skills or coding to bring your solution to life.

Entrepreneur
Your students are entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs spot good ideas and persuade others to support them to make them a reality.
You are business leaders!
Learning objective:
Understand how to persuade others that a solution is important.
Quick activity
Ask students to write a speech or a presentation explaining why this solution is so important.
The Entrepreneur worksheet has sentence starters that they can use.
When they’ve finished writing, they can practice in pairs or small groups.
Remind students to give each other feedback that is kind and constructive, suggesting how they could make it better.

Then perform them to each other, another class or a group of parents.
Guiding questions:

Extension ideas:
Make an advertisement for your solution, encouraging people to use it. 
Write a business plan explaining how you will make solution a reality 

Host a Dragons’ Den pitching session!
Invite other students to watch and act as judges.

Artist
Your students are artists!
Artists take ideas and share them with the world in beautiful ways.
They are performers and creatives of all kinds!
Learning objective:
Understand how to express a solution and share it with others, through art.
Quick activity:
Ask students to write a poem that explains why their solution is so important. 
There is no right answer. 
It’s all about students sharing their own perspective. 
First ask them to think about the problem you are trying to solve and why it matters to them. 

You could use the Artist worksheet to help you get started. 

In this poem each new line should start with the letter from the word Earthshot. 

The rest is up to your students! 
When they have written their poem, they can decorate it for display. 

Extension ideas:
Make a big poster to bring your solution to life.
Each student starts with a section and then put them all together!
Display your posters around your classroom
Make a song or a dramatic performance, persuading others why your solution is needed.
Put on an exhibition to share your solution with others, through art!

Journalist:
Your students are journalists.
Journalists tell us what is happening in the world.
You are sharers of the news!
Learning objective:
Understand how to communicate in a factual way, in order to give your audience all the information they need.
Quick activity
Ask students to imagine that the year is 2030 and their solution has become a reality.
They are going to write a report for the national newspaper, on the front page!
Fill in the blanks on the Journalist worksheet, or ask students to design their own front page.
Make sure you have a headline, a summary, a longer description and an image.
Discussion questions:

Ideas:
Make a TV news report on video, with interviews and discussion about the solution. 
Write a detailed case study for a magazine explaining why the problem you are tackling is so important. 
Write an opinionated blog persuading others of why you think this solution is so important. 

How would you like to display your work and lets set a time line to complete our projects

The adjective sustainable comes from sustenance: food and drink we need to live day-to-day lives as humans on Earth.