Media Literacy Lesson: Is This Greenwashing?
Lesson Plan
1 hour 10 minutesGrades6, 7, 8English Language Arts
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Written by Dan Castrigano
About this lesson
In this lesson, students learn about greenwashing and greenhushing, watch a series of videos, and write a paragraph arguing if an advertisement is greenwashing or not.
Inquire: Students watch and discuss ExxonMobil’s advertisement called “What Carbon Capture Can Do.”
Investigate: Students watch a video describing greenwashing and answer guiding questions.
Inspire: Students select and watch a video from various companies, engage in research, then write a claim-evidence-reasoning paragraph arguing if the video is an example of greenwashing or not.
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Suggestions
- This lesson teaches students to critically examine digital media. As digital citizens, they must be aware of how to tell fact from fiction.
- This lesson could be used to introduce or review CER writing. If teacher modeling is not needed, the Inspire section can be shortened to give more time for students to review advertisements and develop CER paragraphs.
- The Investigate and Inspire sections can be completed on separate days to extend discussion and depth of research.
- Depending on writing levels and grades, writing amount and depth can be adjusted.
- Students can discuss the role of visuals, sound, and music in advertisements as they relate to greenwashing.
- Teachers can highlight specific writing techniques or use the writing assignment in the Inspire section to target specific writing skills practice.
- Teachers can use this writing assignment in various forms of writer’s workshop or engage in rounds of peer review and editing already established in classroom practice.
- Teachers can use a pre-established writing rubric to assess student writing.
- Students can choose two videos and write 2-3 paragraphs comparing and contrasting elements of greenwashing.
Prerequisites
- Students will most likely argue that all the videos are examples of greenwashing. Teachers should preview all videos and prepare guiding questions to help students identify specific aspects.
- Encourage students to dig around the corporation’s website to see if the claims are actually true.
- Encourage students to scroll to the bottom of the corporations’ websites. Students can usually find a site map, including pages like “sustainability.”
- Teachers should prepare real-world examples of both greenwashing and greenhushing to share as concrete examples or to use for more guided questioning.
Differentiation
- Students can use the “More Resources on Greenwashing” slide in the Investigate section to help them understand greenwashing.
- Students can include more concrete evidence in their paragraphs.
- Most students will benefit from color coding their sentences. Encourage them to keep their text highlighted as they write. They can even keep their paragraphs color-coded after they finish.
- Students needing support can write only five sentences. Stronger students may write more sentences by adding context to their supporting evidence sentences.
- If students are struggling with their closing sentences, ask them to read their claim sentences aloud. Sometimes this helps guide their thinking.
- Students who finish early can edit one another’s paragraphs for mechanical errors, read their paragraphs aloud to one another, or discuss their chosen videos and greenwashing in general.
- Students can be challenged to compare and contrast two videos for greenwashing or greenhushing.
- Students may be interested in reading a series of fact sheets on greenwashing in the aviation industry, like this one on electric flight.
- Students can engage in further research for current examples of greenwashing and greenhushing locally, nationally, or globally. Additionally, students can compare advertisements of the same company in different countries.
From the scientist review
This lesson introduces the concept of greenwashing and ways students can spot greenwashing by companies. The videos and accompanying materials embedded in the lesson are suitable to explain this concept. This lesson has passed our review process, and it is recommended for classroom use.
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About the teacher writer
Dan Castrigano
Academic Teacher at Burlington YouthBuild
Dan Castrigano taught STEM and humanities at elementary, middle, and high schools for 11 years. From 2021-2023, he served as the Chief Content Officer at SubjectToClimate. Dan advocates for climate education and organizes for climate, social, and racial justice.
