Visy Education - Using Energy to Recycle

Australian content descriptions: 

Year 8 Science:

• Energy appears in different forms, including movement (kinetic energy), heat and potential energy, and energy transformations and transfers cause change within systems (ACSSU155).
• Scientific knowledge has changed peoples’ understanding of the world and is refined as new evidence becomes available (ACSHE119).
• Solutions to contemporary issues that are found using science and technology, may impact on other areas of society and may involve ethical considerations (ACSHE120).
• People use science understanding and skills in their occupations and these have influenced the development of practices in areas of human activity (ACSHE121).
• Communicate ideas, findings and evidence based solutions to problems using scientific language, and representations, using digital technologies as appropriate (ACSIS133).

Syllabus outcomes: SC4-10PW, SC4-15LW, SC4-11PW, SC4-13ES, SC4-9WS

General capabilities: Literacy, Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Understanding

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.8

Relevant parts of Year 8 Science achievement standards: Students identify different forms of energy and describe how energy transfers and transformations cause change in simple systems. Students identify questions that can be investigated scientifically. They use appropriate language and representations to communicate science ideas, methods and findings in a range of text types.

Unit of work: Visy Education – Secondary Science

Time required: 120 mins.

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – teachers will facilitate an innovative design process.

• Student Worksheets (one copy per student)
• Device capable of presenting a video to the class
• Tools/materials to be incorporated into students’ soft plastic removal systems
• A range of different recyclable materials (listed in Part C of the Teacher Worksheet in more detail)

• Adaptability
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Creativity
• Critical thinking
• Global citizenship
• Initiative
• Problem solving

This lesson has been developed in partnership with Visy. For over 70 years Visy has been committed to finding sustainable solutions for Australia and New Zealand’s recyclables and helping to reduce local landfills. Visy collects, receives and sorts paper, cardboard, glass, plastics, steel and aluminium from households, businesses and schools with the purpose of reusing these products in the re-manufacture of new packaging products.