Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes

Tune In: What is MobileMuster?

15 minutes

Find Out: Introduction to media for behaviour change

20 minutes

Take Action: Let's make change!

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions:

Students will...

examine behaviour change media looking at how and why they were created, and discuss how these works can develop social awareness
propose their own theme for tackling behaviour change linked to resource use.

Success criteria:

Students can...

identify key issues and elements presented in behaviour change media
write a theme to address a resource use issue.

Tune In: What is MobileMuster?

Note: If you have completed the introductory lesson with your class, you can skip 'Tune in' and move straight to 'Find out'.

Step 1

Show the following clips to the class as an introduction to the topic of mobile phone recycling:

MobileMuster - The Recycling Journey (vimeo.com/265126143)

MobileMuster - The Benefits of Recycling Your Phone (vimeo.com/265126147)

Step 2

Invite students to reflect on mobile phone recycling by participating in a class discussion around the following questions:

What is mobile phone recycling?
Why is mobile phone recycling important?
What are some reasons people don’t recycle their mobile phones?

Step 3

Share the following information with students (also available on the Student Worksheet):

According to the United Nations, all the countries in the world combined generated a staggering 44.7 million tonnes or an equivalent of 6.1 kilograms per inhabitant of e-waste annually. Only 20% of e-waste is reported to be collected and recycled globally.
Mobile phone recycling is free and easy, with over 3,500 public drop-off locations across Australia.
Over 99% of the resources in mobile phones can be recovered and returned to the supply chain to go back into making new products.
Recycling 50,000 mobiles saves 99 tonnes of mineral resources and 19 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Approximately 25 million unused mobile phones are hidden in our drawers and cupboards across Australia. Of those, 5 million are broken and no longer working.
Only one in three Australians have ever recycled a mobile phone.

Reference: mobilemuster.com.au

Step 4

Invite students to take a moment to read and share their thoughts about these facts:

What is surprising?
What is interesting?
What do you want to know more about?

Step 5

Now, explain to students that many people want to do the right thing but have a range of reasons for not recycling their phones. Share the following list of reasons with students, explaining that these reasons come from MobileMuster, who undertook research into why people weren’t recycling their phones (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Mobile phones aren’t recycled because people...

are keeping old phones as spares for backup in case current phones stop working or get broken
haven't got around to recycling them yet
might have old phones that are still working or might have information on them that people still need
aren’t sure what to do with them
are concerned someone might access the data
- Hot tip: Clarify the meaning of data with students. Suggested definition: Data is information about yourself or other people that is stored on your phone. It includes things like your or other people's names, phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, bank details and photos.
don't know where to recycle them
didn't think of recycling their phone, or they forgot about it
didn't know you could recycle mobile phones
want to give it to their friends or family
are keeping the phone for their kids.

You might like to print out the Barriers to Mobile Phone Recycling information sheet and put it somewhere the students can refer to.

Step 6

Invite students to work in pairs to read through and discuss these barriers, using the following questions to guide their discussion (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What do you think about these reasons?
What emotions would you attribute to these reasons? (E.g. If you’re concerned about someone accessing your data, maybe you are afraid). Select one reason to analyse.
How would you encourage someone with one of these reasons to recycle their phone? Select two or three reasons and discuss them with your partner.

Allow students time to discuss their ideas.

Find Out: Introduction to media for behaviour change

Step 1

Using our Behaviour Change Media visual explainer, show students the range of different artwork and ask them the following questions for each piece:

What does the artist want you to do or know?
What catches your attention first?
What do you like about this artwork?

Step 2

Ask students to consider a sustainability issue (littering, not recycling, single-use plastics like straws or shopping bags). Often people know the right thing to do but still don’t do it. How do we get people to change their behaviour around these issues?

Show students the following video:

The Elephant, The Rider, and The Path - A Tale of Behavior Change (youtu.be/X9KP8uiGZTs)

What does the rider represent?
What does the elephant represent?
What three things do you need to do to get behaviour change to happen?

Take Action: Let's make change!

Step 1

To help us make change, we need to know what message to share with our audience. Using the student worksheet, look at one of the pieces of media from the slide deck again.

Step 2

Revisit the list of reasons why people don’t recycle their old mobile phones. Ask students to work individually or in pairs to complete the ‘Planning my Theme’ section of the worksheet.

Step 3

Have students share their themes with the class. Give time for other students to provide feedback using ‘I liked how (person)...’ statements.

Learning Support: Students who need support can stick with identifying the key topic of a piece of behaviour change media (what is it talking about? What does it want me to do?) rather than working to identify a theme.

Extension: Students who require extension can develop 'call-to-action's based on their themes. What should people do after observing their media? Try using alliteration or rhyme to make it catchy (i.e. Chicks on the Beach, Dogs on the Leash, BirdLife Australia Campaign for Hooded Plovers or Blow Bubbles not Balloons, ZoosVic/ Phillip Island Nature Parks)

Reflection

Ask students:

Why do we want to inspire behaviour change?

Note: This could be completed as an exit slip activity.

Inspiring Behaviour Change

Go to

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

In this lesson