Ready for action?
Resources
Tangible Resources
pens, pencils, paper, waste materials (food, paper/card, plastic), basic craft materials and equipment for modelling, workshop materials and tools to use for prototyping
Preparation
Collect waste materials, prepare tools and materials for practical activities.
Goals, messages & concepts
Specific goals
- To understand the ‘waste’ journey and material flow of either food, paper or plastics.
- To design and implement a solution for one of the 3 areas of school waste.
- To use experiences and knowledge gained so far in the project to inform the design solution.
Specific messages
- There are lots of different solutions and ways to help reduce waste at school.
- Successful design is backed up by research and testing.
Main terms
- circular economy
- waste journey
- material flow
- sketch model
- prototype
- stakeholder
Practices & skills
STEM practices
- Constructing explanations and designing solutions
- Engaging in argument from evidence
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
- Asking questions and defining problems
Soft skills
- Teamwork and collaboration
Management skills
- Planning
- Use of resources
Course of activity
step 1
Students will be asked to choose one of the three areas of waste – food, paper/card, or plastics.
step 2
Students will follow the ‘waste’ journey and material flow of their chosen area to identify at which stages in its lifecycle it can be improved or exploited. They will research this and represent it visually.
step 3
Students will use all their experiences and knowledge gained so far to develop ideas for products/systems that can solve the problem and reduce or eradicate the waste produced.
step 4
They will create sketch models and test their concepts, using the opinions of other stakeholders. They will discount the least successful ideas and carry out improvements as a result of testing.
step 5
Students will then build a prototype (or model the system) of the waste solution they have designed.