Recycling
Recycling is a common area of study in the primary classroom and falls under the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) part of the global dimension.
At times in your science lessons you may wish to make the global dimension the main focus of a topic such as 'waste'. Recycling is a common area of study in the primary classroom and falls under the Education for Sustainable Development part of the global dimension. It can include elements of primary science, such as materials and their properties, magnets, reversible and irreversible change, forces and so on.
Broadening perspectives
Wastewatch is a UK environmental organisation, promoting sustainable resource management by:
- reducing resource consumption;
- maximising resource reuse;
- increasing the percentage of waste recycled.
It also gives guidance on where 'waste' can be addressed in our national curricula.
Click on the weblink: Wastewatch Go to 'Education/Kids and teachers/The teacher zone'.
Recycling itself can produce issues - synthetic textiles will not decompose in landfill sites and woollen garments produce methane. Solutions to these problems are given on the 'Teacher Resource' pages.
Although schools may address recycling at some time in the primary curriculum, it tends to be addressed at a local level. Looking at how materials are sorted and recycled in other countries can broaden the pupils' perspective of materials, how they are recycled and how they are used around the world.
However, it is important to highlight the technological development in many areas of the world still referred to as 'undeveloped'. A BBC television news bulletin in August 2005 showed doctors coping with an influx of babies who were severely malnourished due to flood devastation in Mumbai. The technology used by the hospital and visible behind the doctors and nurses was clearly as modern as that seen in the 'North'.
Now have a look at the Activity on the right.
Activity Resources:
- Images
- Interactive
- Sound
- Text
- Video
Activity
- To reduce waste in your own school, you could ask colleagues for three ideas each. Then look at 'What your school can do about waste' in the 'Wastewatch Teacher Zone' of the website below for more ideas. Wastewatch
- Once everyone has had time to discuss the issue of recycling in your school, try creating an action plan to get all members of the school community involved.
- The primary area on the 'Globaleye' website (below) shows how materials are sorted in Mumbai. If you explore the site, 'Reduce, reuse, recycle' demonstrates what other countries do with waste, while 'E-waste' explains how the West's waste is sent to China. Globaleye You'll find a short list of other useful websites, and a description of each, under the Text icon above.
Pupil activities:
- Your pupils could try the Rubbish Quiz on the 'Wastewatch' site. Click on the 'Wastewatch' link on the left, then click on the 'Education' button at the top of the page. Go to the list of 'Education pages' on the left and choose 'For kids', then click on 'Info zone' and 'Is your brain full of rubbish?' (Rubbish Quiz).
- You could ask them to estimate how many tonnes of plastic/glass/metal are used and recycled in the UK annually. The 'Teacher Resource' pages give excellent feedback on this.
- Following on from the staff activity, direct pupils to consider ways to save energy and reduce waste in school.
