War on Waste - Teaching Primary Maths with Waste Audits

Course Summary

War on Waste - Use Primary Maths to Measure Waste is a hands-on course designed for Years 4 to 6 educators looking to engage students in real-world learning experiences while developing their mathematical skills. By using waste audits, this course helps students connect their maths knowledge to environmental issues, fostering a growth mindset as they solve real-life problems.

You’ll explore how to incorporate waste audits into the Year 4 to 6 Maths curriculum, learn various methods for collecting waste data, and discover ways to extend your students' learning. This course also equips you to teach student-led waste audits and share teaching resources to amplify the impact of this project across your school.

https://vimeo.com/170278765/0103bbeedf?share=copy

You will learn:

• About the different types of waste and litter at your school.
• How waste audits connect to the Year 4 to Year 6 Mathematics curriculum.
• The different methods for collecting waste data.
• The ways you can extend your students’ learning.
• How to teach student-led waste audits in Mathematics lessons.
• How to use course teaching resources and share learning with others.

Course time:

This course will take you 2 hours to complete. Enjoy it in one session or spread it out over a few weeks. You will have ongoing access via your personal dashboard.

Accreditation:

This course is mapped to the Professional Standards for Teachers. It is accredited for teacher professional development hours:

Proficient Teacher – all states and territories:

• 2.5.2 Apply knowledge and understanding of effective teaching strategies to support students’ literacy and numeracy achievement.
• 3.3.2 Plan and implement well-structured learning and teaching programs or lesson sequences that engage students and promote learning
• 3.4.2 Select and/or create and use a range of resources, including ICT, to engage students in their learning.

This course is accredited by TQI for 2 hours of professional development for teachers in the ACT for 2025.

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Course Content

Getting Started

01.

About this course

02.

Set some learning goals

Landfill and Recycling Waste

03.

Mathematics education

04.

Using War On Waste to teach mathematics

05.

About landfill waste

06.

About recycling waste

07.

Analysing waste bills

08.

Measuring waste in bins and skips

09.

Graphing your findings

Litter

10.

Journey to the ocean

11.

Your school's litter

12.

Measuring and collecting litter data

Take Action

13.

Taking learning further

14.

Using creativity to solve waste problems

15.

Using your maths learning to drive change

16.

Involving others

Your Teaching

17.

Cool lesson plans - landfill and recycling

18.

Cool lesson plans - litter

Reflection

19.

Reflection

20.

Taxonomy of learning

21.

Suggestions for collaboration

22.

Congratulations

Course instructor

Mark Drummond from Cool Australia is your course teacher. He has worked in the education sector for over 11 years as a classroom teacher, Leader of Pedagogy within an Ed-Tech startup and as an educational consultant. Mark is an absolute science nerd and loves talking about dinosaurs as much as he loves talking about education (which is a lot)!

Frequently Asked Questions

Partners

Cool Australia’s War On Waste lessons have been developed in partnership with Lune Media and with support from the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network.