Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune in: What do we mean by sustainable?

20 minutes

Find out: Definitions of sustainability

20 minutes

Take action: Use the rubric to determine the suitability of materials

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune in: What do we mean by sustainable?

Step 1. Begin by explaining to students that we may not see them, but in our houses and buildings there are many, many pipes that transport clean water into the buildings and waste water out of the buildings. There are also pipes for carrying electricity and telephone (internet) cables. We don't give them too much thought most of the time, but given that every single building has them, maybe we should start thinking about them a bit more, and especially thinking about how sustainable they might be.

Step 2. Pose the following question to your students:

What do we mean by 'sustainable' in the context of pipes?

Through your discussion, consider the following points:

Is sustainable piping just about how long the pipe can last once it's in the ground before it has to be replaced?
Does sustainability refer to the materials we use to make the pipe and how we gather these from the environment?
Does sustainable piping refer to how it aligns with the key principles of a circular economy?
Note: Where students haven't looked at the circular economy, you could share the About the Linear Economy and Circular Economy - Presentation.

Find out: Definitions of sustainability

Step 1. Explain to students that sustainability can be tricky to grasp because there are so many different understandings and definitions. Here are a few ideas:

the ability for something to keep going at the same rate and in just as good condition as before
meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
living within the limits of what the environment can provide and understanding the many interconnections between the economy, society and the environment.

So what does this mean for pipes?

Due to the critical role pipes play, we need them now and into the future. Therefore, they need to be able to perform, be of high quality, be durable and have a long life span. This means we can't design a pipe that will only be useful for us now in the short term.
Thinking of the circular economy principles, we need pipes to be in use for a long time, to be repaired, reused and then recycled back into new pipes. Doing so creates a closed-loop system.
Consider some repair options to keep pipes sustainable and in use for as long as possible.
If the pipes didn't last a long time, how expensive might it be to replace them?
After 100 years, would it be sustainable to dig up a pipe under the ground? Could the pipe be used for something else?
How could the raw materials and manufacturing processes make pipes more sustainable?

Extend: Students could undertake their own research to find more definitions of sustainability. Based on this, students could choose the definition that most appeals to them, or they could create their own definition. Students could explain why they chose this definition by writing a short paragraph about it. This could be used to help address the literacy requirements for this lesson.

Step 2. Explain to students that for something to be sustainable, there must be a balance between the environmental, social and economic needs (you could share this diagram or create your own on the board):

This Venn diagram graphically represents the balance between the planet, people and economy.

If our design favours the environment/planet too much (environment), it may not meet the needs of the people who use the pipes.

If we overthink the social aspect (society) and make pipes that fulfil every one of their considerations, while the people might be happy about this, there's a chance that pipe design will harm the environment.

Making the cheapest pipe possible (economy) might be great for profits in the short term but may not achieve the best outcome for the environment or the people using the pipes.

Sustainability is only achieved when a balance is represented on the diagram where the three circles overlap.

Take action: Pipe assessment

Step 1. Students can work in groups to brainstorm a list of things they would like for pipes to see under the three elements of sustainability.

Give each group a piece of butchers' paper and some marker pens and invite them to add the following title to the top of the page: 'Pipe sustainability'. They can then create three large circles on the butchers' paper (they shouldn't overlap). Label one circle as 'environment', another as 'society', and the last as 'economy'.

Give students a time limit (such as 10 minutes) to come up with as many ideas as possible for each category. Explain to students that this activity has no wrong answers; the aim is just to throw ideas around and see what comes up. They shouldn't discuss any of the ideas yet - they will have the chance to do this later. Finally, they may find that some ideas fit in more than one circle - if that's the case, add them into as many circles as possible.

Differentiation: Depending on the confidence of your students, you could make this a silent activity, where students don't get to talk about what they are recording, but rather they should read and respond in writing to what others are sharing.

You could share some of the following prompts to help students through this brainstorming process:

Pipes are used for carrying drinking water into houses - what materials would you be happy to drink out of?
What materials do we have that there are a lot of? Are there any materials that are a problem for our environment that we could use as a resource for making pipes?
What materials last a long time?
What materials are cheap to find and use?
What materials can we recycle and reuse? (E.g. The Romans made pipes out of leather but it's pretty hard to recycle wet leather so maybe this isn't the type of material you're looking for)
Are natural materials always better than processed materials? (E.g. It's important to consider what you need to use the product for. Think about your water bottle - would a wooden or paper water bottle be useful, or is a plastic one better?)

Once complete, give groups a minute or two to discuss and clarify their ideas.

Step 2. Now give groups another piece of butchers' paper and invite them to draw a sustainability Venn diagram as we saw earlier (draw an example on the board to remind them if you need to).

They will now transfer their ideas from their original brainstorm onto the Venn diagram. In this activity, they will need to discuss where each idea should go. It's likely that many of their ideas will fit where two circles overlap. Where this happens, invite them to think about if this idea could be tweaked in order to make it fit into the centre, where the three circles overlap. It may be that this is not possible, but you can explain that this is what engineers and designers frequently do with their ideas; when the initial ideas aren't quite right, they dive into more brainstorming to see if they can come up with a suitable solution.

You can explain that achieving sustainability can be hard and that many of our greatest minds struggle to get it right, so they shouldn't feel bad if they don't succeed on their first go.

Step 3. When complete, invite each group to share their Venn diagram with the class, discussing their ideas and answering any questions that the class has.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to respond to the following question:

In your opinion, what are the most important aspects of making pipes sustainably? Why are these important?

Differentiated learning

We trust that teachers are the best equipped to know how to cater to the diversity in their classes. At Cool.org, we incorporate a variety of differentiation strategies into each lesson. Firstly, each lesson in this unit appeals to an array of different learning preferences. Learning activities can be completed in a number of different ways - if a student feels more comfortable speaking rather than writing, there are opportunities to accommodate this. In lessons that feature group work or learning stations, we trust that teachers will use their discretion in knowing how to best organise their students in accordance to positive working relationships and ability. Graphic organisers and scaffolds are often included so students can ‘visually think’ and keep a record of their work. While our lessons are designed to be 55 - 60 minutes in length, we trust that teachers will manipulate lesson and segment times according to the needs of their students.

In addition, students who finish early could spend some time developing their own definition for a sustainable pipe in line with the three principles of sustainability. For example:

a sustainable pipe is that which is made from recyclable materials (environment) that doesn't leach chemicals into the water that may harm people (society). They last a long time so they don't need to be replaced very often (economy).

Brainstorming for Sustainable Pipes

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Summary

Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

Lesson Guides and Printables

Lesson Details

Skills

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Info

Related Professional Learning

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