Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Recycling for good

15 minutes

Find Out: Measure for success

25 minutes

Take Action: Share what you know

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

understand the impact of technology recycling
create an entry for the Schools Classroom Recycling Challenge by MobileMuster.

Success criteria

Students can:

measure and compare objects using familiar metric units
design and measure a collection box for the MobileMuster school competition.

Tune In: Recycling for good

Preparation

For this activity, you will need to prepare an example collection box to show students.

Step 1

Introduce the Schools Classroom Recycling Challenge by MobileMuster and the theme of this year by reading through their webpage. Identify the prizes on offer to students. Also, be sure to open and read the judging criteria.

Explain that your class will be designing your own collection box for your school community to use, and that your entry to this year’s competition will be a photograph of your collection box, along with a written description of how and why it is designed the way it is.

Step 2

Ask students to raise their hands if they think mobile phones can be placed in their recycling bin at home. Outline to students that you know they can’t, but that doesn’t mean they should go into the landfill bin when they’re broken or not wanted anymore, even if it’s easier. Many components of a mobile phone can be recycled. Through MobileMuster, more than 90% of materials are recycled. That is why people need to be convinced of the importance of recycling their old mobile phones and informed about how to do it. Explain to students that this is where the MobileMuster campaign comes in and why the class will be designing and making a collection box, which will make it both compelling and easy for the school community to donate old phones.

Step 3

Bring out your prepared example collection box and show it to the students. Invite students to touch, hold, and assess the box. Their task is to consider whether using the example collection box as the MobileMuster collection box and placing it in the school office without any other information would be successful.

Step 4

Draw a T-chart on the whiteboard with two columns labelled ‘Design Fault’ and ‘Design Features’. Record student responses in the ‘Design Fault’ column. For example, students may identify that it is too small, not strong enough to hold many phones, doesn’t explain its purpose, or there’s no information about the competition theme.

After gathering these responses, explain that we can use these faults to help design what should be included in the collection box. Discuss what design features, then record what could be done to overcome each fault.

For example:

Design Fault	Design Features
It’s too small	Large enough to hold all the phones we will collect
It doesn’t explain its purpose	Explains what MobileMuster is and why it is important
Unclear signage	Clear signage that is proportionate to the size of the box, as this is the second source of information people look for when wanting to dispose of their items

Step 5

Once your class has addressed all the design faults in the example collection box, encourage them to continue adding any extra design features that they think will be important when creating their own box. Prompt students to also consider how to keep track of the mobile phones that have been donated in your collection box.

Learning support: Take a photo of your completed T-chart so it can be referred back to later, or included in your competition submission.

Find Out: Measure for success

Step 1

Show the class one or a set of sample phones and phone accessories. Explain that they will need to measure the length, width, height, and weight of the phones to ensure their collection box is large enough.

Ensure that you

remind students that length, width, and height are measured in centimetres (cm) and weight is measured in grams (g)
show them how to read a ruler with labelled centimetres and millimetres and a scale with marked grams.
model how to place a phone on the ruler to measure its length, width, and height, and how to place it on the scale to measure the weight.
encourage students to record their measurements, including the unit (cm or g) for each measurement
discuss how small differences in phone sizes might affect the design and why it’s important to measure carefully.

Share this interesting fact with your students. Did you know that in 2025, MobileMuster’s program collected a total of 171 tonnes of e-waste?

Step 2

Once students have approximate measurements, ask:

What data do we need to create our collection box? → How many phones might be collected? How big and heavy are the phones?
How can we find it? → Estimate how many phones the school community might donate and measure a few sample phones and chargers.

Step 3

Divide them into two groups and assign each group a focus:

Group 1: How many phones will we collect?	Students are to estimate the number of phones likely to be donated. Support the students in understanding what is realistic for the school population, such as one phone per family.
Group 2: What size will our box need to be?	Students use the measurements of the sample phones and accessories to determine the size of the collection box. They use division to explore different arrangements (for example, 50 phones could be 2 layers of 25 or 10 layers of 5). They add a small allowance to each measurement to make sure the phones fit comfortably.

Learning support: Direct students to use the information on the whiteboard when measuring and estimating their collection box. By reflecting on the design faults and features of the example collection box, students will be able to ascertain what they require.

Step 4

Once groups have collected the relevant information, bring groups together to share their findings and provide feedback.

Take Action: Create your collection box

Step 1

Now that students have the necessary data, their task is to build their collection box and create the final product. Ensure students understand that this will require collaboration to construct the box itself from suitable materials and to ensure that it is decorated or accompanied by the required information to meet both the competition criteria, and encourage your school community to donate.

Divide students into two new groups with a new focus:

Group 1: What design will we include on our box?	Students design the creative elements that should be on the collection box to grab people’s attention and encourage donations.
Group 2: What information will we include on and around our box?	Students select and use information from the MobileMuster digital library to include in the collection box, explaining why it is important to donate.

Learning support: Direct students to use the information on the whiteboard when measuring and estimating their collection box. By reflecting on the design faults and features of the example collection box, students will be able to ascertain what they require.

Learning extension: Prompt students to also consider how to keep track of the mobiles donated in the collection box, whether they will use a donation sheet or collect the data afterwards.

Step 2

Allocate the remaining time for both groups to complete their tasks and create a final product. For this, students may require:

Cardboard or similar materials to construct a box
Digital device
Pens and textas

Step 3

Once the groups have completed their individual tasks, bring them together to create the final product. Then, assist students in writing a paragraph that explains the key features of their competition entry to meet the competition criteria. This paragraph could be constructed as a shared or modelled writing activity.

Step 4

On behalf of your class, photograph your completed collection box and send the competition entry to Schools Classroom Recycling Challenge by MobileMuster here.

Learning support: Provide students with key vocabulary words to use, ensuring they write detailed and concise paragraphs.

Reflection: Think, pair and share

Step 1

Complete this reflection activity at the end of your collection period. Collect data on the number of phones that have been donated, and in a Think, Pair and Share, discuss:

What could be done differently to encourage more people to donate their old phones?
How would you change what we did if we were to repeat the project?

Design Your Collection Box - Measure Your Impact

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Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

Lesson Details

Skills Required

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Information

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