Taking Action to Reduce Trash!

Laura Montague

Project Overview

Too quickly, the trash produced in modern civilization is “out of sight, out of mind”. As society encourages production and use of the products of today, our trash piles are adding up and causing issues of global proportion across the world. On average, a typical United States citizen throws away the equivalent of their body weight in trash each month (Hoornweg, Bhada-Tata, & Kennedy, 2013). When considering this fact in parallel to the rise of the global population, it is questionable where exactly all of the trash is going and how our over-use is manifesting into the environment and global community. Issues such as the Texas-size patch of plastic in the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean (Lovett, 2010), and the natural resources burned in the production of our trash, are only a few of the global issues that surround our trash production and disposal. This four-week project will offer students experiences to inquire into our production and disposal of trash, as they collaborate with the global community to enrich their understandings and urgency to invoke change. Upon conclusion of the project, students will have a variety of enduring understandings surrounding this topic as well as have participated in the creation of a Reducing Trash campaign with technology tools.

References:

Hoornweg, D., Bhada-Tata, P., & Kennedy, C. (2013). Environment: Waste production must peak this century. Retrieved July 9, 2015.

Lovett, R. (2010). Huge Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic Too. Retrieved July 9, 2015

Targeted Grade Level(s)

Grade four

Project Length

This project will take place over three to four weeks.

Project Learning Goals

Students will recognize the excess of trash produced across the world alongside the need to reduce trash production and active utilize responsible waste-disposal practices and strategies.

Students will be able to:

  • articulate the need for responsible waste-disposal practices.
  • identify areas impacted by trash and irresponsible waste disposal practices.
  • measure and compare trash production.
  • reduce their waste
  • create a campaign for the need for and ways to execute responsible waste disposal practices.

Essential Questions

  • What happens to our trash when we throw it away?
  • How much trash does the United States produce?
  • Where and what are impacted irresponsible waste disposal practices?
  • How can we reduce the trash we produce?
  • What products produce the least amount of trash?
  • How does composting compare to recycling? Which is a better practice?
  • How can we contribute to global reduction in trash production?

Enduring Understandings

  • Students will understand that trash production and disposal is impacting the environment, animals, and people of the world.
  • Students will understand that responsible alternatives to waste disposal include composting, recycling, and reusing.
  • Students will understand that reducing trash involves purchasing and eating products of organic materials.
  • Students will understand that composting is a more responsible alternative to recycling and reusing.

National and State Standards

Social Studies:

4.H.1.3 Explain how people, events and developments brought about changes to communities in various regions of N.C.

4.G.1.1 Summarize changes that have occurred in North Carolina since statehood (population growth, transportation, communication, landscape).

4.G.1.2 Explain the impact that human activity has on the availability of natural resources in North Carolina.

4.E.1.2 Understand how scarcity and choice in a market economy impacts business decisions.

Science:

4.L.1.1 Give examples of changes in an organism’s environment that are beneficial to it and some that are harmful.

4.L1.3 Explain how humans can adapt their behavior to live in changing habitats (e.g., recycling wastes, establishing rain gardens, planting trees and shrubs to prevent flooding and erosion).

Math:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.A.2 Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Represent measurement quantities using diagrams such as number line diagrams that feature a measurement scale.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.B.4 Make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4, 1/8). Solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions by using information presented in line plots.

Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (e.g., quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g.,wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation).

ICT Integration

Being a twenty-first century project, students will utilize technology tools throughout the project to foster their understanding and sharing of learning. Throughout this projects students are expected to…

  • utilize LessonPath.com to access learning resources including articles, videos, and interactive activities to develop a foundational knowledge of waste overproduction and disposal.
  • research data surrounding measurements of waste disposal within the United States and across the world.
  • collaborate with students across the globe with epals.com to discuss waste production and disposal in varying parts of the world.
  • collaborate with students in a different country to brainstorm solutions to the waste disposal issue on a local and global level.
  • utilize cartooning tools such a powtoon.com to create an original video to campaign responsible consumer and waste disposal practices.

Proposed Calendar of Activities and Exchanges.

Week / Phase of Inquiry Cycle / Description of Activities and Exchanges
1 / Tuning In
Introduction to the global issue of waste disposal. / Students will begin estimating and measuring the trash produced in-class each day. A discussion surrounding what products contribute to the class’ production of trash the most begin and students
Students will work independently, in pairs, or in small groups to navigate and negotiate meaning from a pre-made learning playlist from the website lessonpaths.com. Here, students gain access to resources including articles, videos, and interactive activities to develop a foundational knowledge of the responsible waste production and disposal.
Class will create a “Y” chart to determine what they “think they know” and what they “want to know”. Here, students determine what they find interesting about the topic and determine which direction each student will take to learn more about this global issue based on their personal inquiries.
1 / Finding Out
Students explore resources to negotiate meanings surrounding their personal inquiries. / Students work independently, in pairs, or in small groups to determine which resources will help them learn more about the direction they are taking with their inquiries. Teacher assists students in finding and accessing resources to meet their needs as inquirers.
For example - Students may inquire into how the United States compares to other countries in the world in terms of waste production. Other students may inquire into how citizens of other regions dispose of their waste. Teachers may prompt students to post on a blog, epals.com, or purposefully arrange a pen pal from targeted regions to discuss waste production and disposal practices.
2 / Sorting Out
Students collaborate among each other to determine relevant information from irrelevant information. / Class convenes to share information students have gained surrounding their inquiries. Students take turns to share the questions they are exploring about the global issue alongside the information they gained from their research. As students share, the teacher prompts students to determine which information is the most relevant to targeted inquiries of the students. If students are collaborating with people from other parts of the globe, it is recommended that this information is documented on a classroom map to foster geographical understandings and the determining of possible relationships between findings. By the end of the discussion, the class has create a concise and explicit compilation of information that pertains directly to student inquiries established in the “Tuning In” phase.
2 / Going Further
Students establish a platform and information to be shared with the local and/or global community. Students then create their presentation. / As students begin to explore their possibilities for sharing their learning with the local and/or global community, it is recommended that teacher expose students to exemplars of student-made presentations with technology tools to better enable students to decide how they will share their learning. Possibilities of technology tools for utilization include Powtoon.com, BitStips.com, photopeach.com, the Lego Movie Maker app, or animoto.com.
Once the students decide how they will share their information, they can work on iPads or in a computer lab to create their presentation of the relevant information established in the “Sorting Out” phase.
3 / Making Conclusions
Once students have created and shared their presentation made with their technology tool, they develop concise conclusions about their learning and how it relates to their world. / Students share the presentations they created using their technology tools with their class or the global community through a blog or Skype. Students then reflect on what they have learned for their project and how it relates to the global issue of irresponsible waste production and disposal. Students must establish which audiences would benefit from viewing their creation and learning what they have learned. To do this, students may choose to discuss with a collaborative group to determine the best-fit audience and how their learning relations to their own world and personal actions.
3 / Taking Action
Students put their learning to work by taking action in in their own world to contribute to the need for responsible waste production and disposal. / Now that students have determined enduring understandings surrounding their inquiry project and the inquiry projects of their classmates, students take action as they see fit. Actions may include; choosing to only eat from reusable containers, kickstarting a school recycling or composting program, writing letters to government officials to urge stricter environmental laws surrounding waste production and disposal, creating a school garden to offset carbon emissions from production and to make use of compost, or participating in a “Zero-Waste” day/week/month/life!

Project Assessment with Scoring Rubric

Essential Project Design Element / Lacks Elements / Needs Further Development of Elements / Successfully Includes Features of the Elements
Inquiry Question / My inquiry question is not related to the issue of irresponsible waste disposal. / My inquiry question is moderately related to the issue of irresponsible waste disposal. / My inquiry question is directly related to the issue of irresponsible waste disposal.
Research Resources / I chose research resources that are unrelated to developing my understanding of my inquiry question. / I chose research resources that are authentic and contributed little to my understanding of my inquiry question. / I chose research resources that are authentic and contributed to my understanding of my inquiry question.
Knowledge and Understanding of the Global Issue / I can not accurately explain how the current state of waste disposal is a global issue and how it is affecting the local and global community. / I can explain with little accuracy how the current state of waste disposal is a global issue and how it is affecting the local and global community. / I can accurately explain how the current state of waste disposal is a global issue and how it is affecting the local and global community.
Technology Tool Presentation / My presentation does not show my understanding of the global need for responsible waste disposal by not including relevant information and examples of the effects of irresponsible waste disposal. / My presentation shows little understanding of the global need for responsible waste disposal by including little relevant information and few examples of the effects of irresponsible waste disposal. / My presentation shows my deep understanding of the global need for responsible waste disposal by including little relevant information and few examples of the effects of irresponsible waste disposal.
Taking Action / I can not explain how my idea for taking action positively contributes to the global issue of irresponsible waste disposal. / I can explain with little detail how my idea for taking action positively contributes to the global issue of irresponsible waste disposal. / I can explain how my idea for taking action positively contributes to the global issue of irresponsible waste disposal.
Cooperation and Participation / Throughout this project, I did not cooperate and participate with my peers in order to deepen my understanding of the global need for responsible waste production and disposal practices. / Throughout this project, I cooperated and participated with my peers in a moderately respectful manner in order to deepen my understanding of the global need for responsible waste production and disposal practices. / Throughout this project, I cooperated and participated with my peers in a respectful manner in order to deepen my understanding of the global need for responsible waste production and disposal practices.

Resource Compilation

Articles:

Hoornweg, D., Bhada-Tata, P., & Kennedy, C. (2013). Environment: Waste production must peak this century. Retrieved July 9, 2015.

Lovett, R. (2010). Huge Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic Too. Retrieved July 9, 2015.

Books:

Beavan, C. (2009). No impact man. London: Piatkus.

Johnson, B. (2013). Zero waste home: The ultimate guide to simplifying your life by reducing your waste. Scribner.

Porter, E. (2013).What's sprouting in my trash?: A book about composting. Capstone Press.

Siddals, M., & Wolff, A. (2010).Compost stew: An A to Z recipe for the earth. Penguin Random House.

Children’s Literature:

McMullan, K., & McMullan, J. (2002). I stink! New York: Joanna Cotler Books.

Sensel, J., & Bivins, C. (2000). The garbage monster. Enumclaw, Wash.: Dream Factory Books.

Starr, E., & Balkovek, J. (2010). Rascal & Shady recycle & reuse. S.l.: Elizabeth Starr.

Films:

Dive! A Film by Jeremy Seifert [Motion picture]. (2009).

No impact man [Motion picture]. (2009). Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Project:

The No Impact Experiment - No Impact Project. (2009, August 14). Retrieved July 13, 2015.

Technology Tools:

Animoto. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2015.

Bitstrips. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2015.

EPals. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2015.

PowToon - Brings Awesomeness to your presentations. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2015.

LEGO® Movie Maker. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2015.

LessonPaths - Create, share and explore Learning Playlists. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2015.

Skype. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2015.