Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes

Part A: Understanding right to repair

35+ minutes

Part B: Investigating a product

5 minutes

Reflection

Part A: Understanding right to repair

Step 1

Begin by inviting students to complete a THINK PAIR SHARE routine around the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What is e-waste?
What do you already know about e-waste and our environment?

Once complete, invite students to share their ideas with the class. Use the following information to clarify student understanding:

What is e-waste?
- Suggested answers: E-waste means electronic waste, such as discarded electrical or electronic devices. Some examples of e-waste include phones, tablets, desktop computers, televisions, keyboards, cables, cameras, DVD players, lamps, clocks, torches, printers, CD players, MP3 players, and household appliances such as fridges, washing machines, kettles, toasters, blenders, and coffee machines.
What do you already know about e-waste and our environment?
- Suggested answers: We are creating a great deal of e-waste, much of which is ending up in landfill. Many e-waste items contain precious metals that could be reused rather than extracted from the ground. Although e-waste items can be recycled—and the metals, plastics, and precious metals reused—many e-waste items end up in landfill where they leach pollutants into our environment. There are also social problems associated with e-waste: to recycle e-waste items you need people to pull them apart and separate the materials. However, there are risks to human health from components of e-waste. Many e-waste items are sent to developing countries to be separated, and so people in these countries are being exposed to harmful chemicals they had no part in creating.

Step 2

Now write the following phrase on the board:

Right to Repair

Invite students to suggest what they think this means.

You can then distribute this article and this article to students and invite them to read through them. They should record anything they find interesting or important in the space provided on the Student Worksheet.

Once complete, you could invite students to share their thoughts about what they read and noted down. Consider the following questions to guide your discussion (select the questions that you think would suit your students/year level—older students or those requiring extension could answer these questions in writing):

What do you think planned obsolescence means?
What do you think right to repair means?
Should businesses be ensuring that their products can be repaired? Do you agree that consumers should have a right to repair the products that they own? Why or why not?
Should businesses have a right to plan for obsolescence if it means they stay viable, or do they have a responsibility to the planet? What is the compromise?
Should products be designed with repairs in mind? Why or why not?
How would a labelling system relating to repairs influence your purchasing decisions?
What do you think of the defence that if anyone was allowed to repair a product then the intellectual property belonging to a company could be compromised?

Throughout your discussion, highlight the need for companies to generate profits and maintain a competitive advantage, which can in some cases seem to be in opposition to the need to be sustainable. Balancing both these needs could be difficult. In the next activity, students will find out how the companies that create electronic products think about this balance.

Part B: Investigating a product

Step 1

Now explain to students that they will be selecting an electronic product that they use every day (e.g. iPhone, Gaming console, Apple laptop) and will conducted research on how often the brand releases new or updated versions of that product, and whether or not these products can be repaired. They can work individually, in pairs, or in small groups to complete this task.

They can use the following questions to guide this initial research (also available on the Student Worksheet):

On average, how often is this product updated (i.e. a new model is released)?
Can you find any information about whether this product can be repaired? To what degree can it be repaired? If it can be repaired, who can repair it?
What other information can you find out about the sustainability of this product more broadly?

Invite students to share and compare what they found out.

Step 2

Students will now dig even deeper, and start to question the brand’s business model and ethos.

Students will need to think critically about their product to create a series of questions that can be sent to the manufacturing company. The aim of these questions will be to find out:

the company’s position on planned obsolescence
the company’s position on repairs
any other information about the sustainability of this product that students are interested in.

Students could use the Generating Great Questions Factsheet to help them create their questions.

Students will then need to compile these questions into a letter (remembering these Letter Wri tin g Tips) that can be sent to the company for a response. Alternatively, students can compose a script that can be used to guide a phone call if they would rather call the company.

Encourage students to ask tricky questions, but frame them respectfully and thoughtfully—rude letters are less likely to get interesting and thoughtful replies!

Students should share a draft of their letters or test out their phone script with a classmate. Feedback can then be incorporated into the final version.

Step 3

It may take some time for the replies to come in. When you do get replies, encourage students to share them. As a class, take some time to discuss these replies and to reflect on the following:

How well do you think this company is addressing the consumer's right to repair? Explain your answer.
How well do you think this company is meeting its obligations to sustainability? Explain your answer.
What was interesting or surprising about their response?
What else do you wish you had asked? What do you want to know more about? What could you include in a follow-up letter?
How has the response from the company affected how you think and feel about this company and this product?

Students requiring extension could prepare written responses to these questions.

Take it further:

Invite students to view the linear economy model versus the circular economy model:

Invite students to work independently to create a poster about the product they focused on. The poster should explain which economic model this product would currently confidently adhere to, and what actions students would suggest that the company producing this product could take to shift this product into the circular economy model.

Reflection

Invite students to reflect on this lesson by completing the following (also available on the Student Worksheet):

I used to think …
But now I think …
What has this lesson made you think about the electronic products that you use?

Differentiated learning

Students requiring extension could:

Investigate more than one product and compare and contrast their approaches to waste, planned obsolescence, and right to repair. They could send out multiple letters.
They could also prepare written answers to the following questions:
- Who has the most sustainable business model and ethics?
- Should the right to repair be legislated for this product?

Students requiring support could:

Work in pairs to develop questions to include in their letters and to draft their letters.

Teacher reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Clean Up Australia - Right To Repair

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