Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

5 minutes

Tune in: Activating prior knowledge

15 minutes

Find out: Barriers to mobile phone recycling

30 minutes

Find out: Designing change

50 minutes

Take action: Designing for film

Learning intentions:

Students will...

understand the barriers to mobile phone recycling
understand the role that emotion plays in behaviour.

Success criteria:

Students can...

apply Design Thinking processes.

Preparation: Flipped classroom

If students haven’t completed this previous lesson, Designing for Sustainability Part 1, ask them to do the Flipped Classroom activity on the Student Worksheet. Students can then bring this completed activity to class in preparation for the lesson below.

Tune in: Activating prior knowledge

Before you begin the lesson, take the opportunity to inform students of the MobileMuster Schools Competition, this year's theme and the Assessment Matrix. This competition challenges students to create a piece of behaviour change artwork around mobile phone recycling. This year, MobileMuster is offering its biggest prize yet! There are 2 x $5,000 gift cards to be won, with 6x $1,000 runner-up prizes.

To participate in the Schools Competition, students can submit any one of the following: Drawing, Photography, or Short Film. The theme for all 3 mediums is Inspiring Recycling Action. Mention that this lesson will provide some handy background information to help them submit an entry.

Step 1

Explain to students that they will now participate in a 'Stand On The Line' activity that can be used as a barometer to test students' prior knowledge of the topic of mobile phone recycling and sustainability.

Stand on the line

Using string, masking tape or chalk (this activity could be done outside) create a line on the floor/ground, long enough for all students to place themselves along.

Explain to students that one end of the line means 'strongly agree' and the other end means 'strongly disagree', while the halfway point means 'neither agree nor disagree' (consider adding small signs with these titles along the line). Invite students to respond to a range of statements by positioning themselves along the line, according to whether they agree or disagree with the statement. With each statement, engage students in a brief discussion, highlighting some of the key points identified in each statement.

Read the following statements to students. Use the additional notes to engage students in further conversation around each point:

'I know what sustainability is.'
Suggested answer: Sustainability is about making sure there is enough for our environment and for everyone on Earth, both now and in the future. Many people consider sustainability to be a balance of three factors: the environment, the economy and society. When these are in balance then you can achieve sustainability.
'I know what mobile phone recycling is.'
Suggested answer: Mobile phone recycling is the process of breaking apart old and no longer working phones to retrieve the valuable resources used to make the phone. These materials are then reprocessed and turned into new phones or other products.
'I know some of the ways sustainability relates to mobile phone recycling.'
Suggested answer: By recycling mobile phones we are removing the need to extract more natural resources through processes that cause environmental (and social) damage, such as biodiversity loss, land and water pollution, and air pollution that also contributes to climate change. By recycling mobile phones we are also ensuring access to natural resources for future generations.
'I know what sustainable design is.'
Suggested answer: Sustainably designed products are designed to reduce negative impacts on the environment, health and comfort. They are specifically designed to reduce waste and the use of non-renewable and non-reusable materials. Sustainably designed technology products are those where a vast majority of components are able to be recycled.

Read the following statements to students. Use the additional notes to engage students in further conversation around each point:

'I know what sustainability is.'
Suggested answer: Sustainability is about making sure there is enough for our environment and for everyone on Earth, both now and in the future. Many people consider sustainability to be a balance of three factors: the environment, the economy and society. When these are in balance then you can achieve sustainability.
'I know what mobile phone recycling is.'
Suggested answer: Mobile phone recycling is the process of breaking apart old and no longer working phones to retrieve the valuable resources used to make the phone. These materials are then reprocessed and turned into new phones or other products.
'I know some of the ways sustainability relates to mobile phone recycling.'
Suggested answer: By recycling mobile phones we are removing the need to extract more natural resources through processes that cause environmental (and social) damage, such as biodiversity loss, land and water pollution, and air pollution that also contributes to climate change. By recycling mobile phones we are also ensuring access to natural resources for future generations.
'I know what sustainable design is.'
Suggested answer: Sustainably designed products are designed to reduce negative impacts on the environment, health and comfort. They are specifically designed to reduce waste and the use of non-renewable and non-reusable materials. Sustainably designed technology products are those where a vast majority of components are able to be recycled.

Find out: Barriers to mobile phone recycling

Step 1

Explain to students that currently, only 20% of e-waste is recycled, despite it all containing reusable and recyclable components (source: mobilemuster.com.au/recycling). Mobile phones are one type of e-waste. Despite the fact that mobile phones are, generally speaking, designed with recycling in mind, there is a gap in the model because end-users (consumers like you and me) are not doing their part. This lesson will explore how we might encourage end-users to complete the loop in the sustainable design of mobile phones, by recycling them.

Step 2

Pose the following question to students and have a brief discussion:

"If the benefits of mobile phone recycling are so clear for people and our planet, then why aren’t more people doing it?"

Share the following information with your students, explaining that MobileMuster conducted its own research into why people weren’t recycling their mobile phones. These were the reasons they identified:

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 that might have information on them that people still need
aren’t sure what to do with them
are concerned someone might access the data. One in three mobile users agree that the data stored on their unused phone will stop them from recycling.
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 3

It is important at this stage for students to understand the role that emotion plays in behaviour. Invite them to view this video on behaviour change:

The Elephant, The Rider And The Path - A Tale Of Behavior Change (youtube.com/watch?v=X9KP8uiGZTs)

Once complete, clarify the concepts raised in this clip, including:

the rider is our rational, thinking side
the elephant is our emotional side
the rider can tell us where we want to go but our emotions don’t always let us go that way; our emotions often dominate us
this is why even when we know we should be doing something (like recycling mobile phones) our emotions stop us
you can help someone change their behaviour using the following steps:
- give the rider (the brain) clear directions
- motivate the elephant (by tapping into our emotions)
- shape the path and show the way to change.

Step 4

Display the list of barriers to mobile phone recycling again.

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 that might have information on them that people still need
aren’t sure what to do with them
are concerned someone might access the data. One in three mobile users agree that the data stored on their unused phone will stop them from recycling.
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.

Ask the students to turn to a partner and discuss the following (they can take notes on the Student Worksheet):

Why is it important to understand emotion when considering sustainable product design?
What are the emotional issues tied to mobile phone recycling?
What might be some methods that could 'straighten the path' to mobile phone recycling?

Hot tip: These methods might be able to be introduced in their entries for the MobileMuster Schools Competition.

Conduct a class discussion and highlight parts of the above list that could be related to emotions (perhaps users are 'afraid' that a stranger will be able to access their private information stored on the phone, or are 'attached' to their old phones for various reasons).

Find out: Designing change

Step 1

Explain to students that they have already completed the first step in the Design Thinking process: Empathising with the audience.

Step 2

Briefly talk the class through the remaining stages:

Empathise: understand users to uncover their needs (already done)
Define: unpack empathy findings and focus on compelling and meaningful challenges to work on
Ideate: generate radical options for meeting user needs
Prototype: physically create a model of your idea, allowing yourself to fail quickly and cheaply
Test: get feedback from users and refine your solutions, creating better prototypes

Explain to students that for the rest of this lesson they will be using the Design Thinking approach to create compelling solutions for mobile phone recycling.

Hot tip: To assist you in assessing student work, have each student maintain their own design portfolio. Emphasise to students that each group member should take responsibility for collecting evidence and artefacts about the work that they put into the project. This should include drafts of everything they create as part of the project and records of any opportunities they pursue (either successfully or unsuccessfully). The most important thing for students to remember is that the PROCESS of completing the project is really important - perhaps even more than the final product. Students should aim to demonstrate the growth and learning that they experienced, both personally and as a group, as a result of facing the challenges inherent in a project of this type.

Step 3

The class will now take part in a Design Challenge.

The next stage, 'define', is perhaps the most challenging stage. In this stage, the problem is defined or 'framed'. Achieving this requires unpacking and synthesising the findings from the empathy stage.

Explain to students that the strategy they will use for defining the problem will be the 'challenge map'. This technique will scaffold students through framing the problem. Real-world problems are fuzzy, ambiguous and very complex. Challenge mapping is useful because it helps break down vague objectives into more practical ones.

Step 4

To start the challenge map, write the following statement in the centre of the board:

"We need to make mobile phone recycling a priority in our community."

Now ask your students, 'Why?'

The purpose of this question is to broaden the problem. You want to get to the real problems behind this statement.

There are different themes that will arise from this statement. After the first response ask 'why?' again or 'why else?' or 'why might we want to?'. You may get many different answers. Write all of them down and connect them to the original question, then ask why again for each. Repeat this process until your class can not think of any more reasons.

You will get a broad image of what problems are associated with mobile phones and sustainability, and why they need to be solved.

Step 5

Now it is time to dig deeper into each of the themes that arose from the 'why' questions and to narrow the focus of each problem.

Rephrase the most interesting problems, those you want to dig deeper into, as "How might we?" questions.

"How might we?" questions

"How might we?" questions are problems that have be rephrased
as challenges or tackle-able questions.

The "How might we?" phrasing is used because it suggests that a solution is possible and that the challenge can be addressed in a number of ways.

"How might we?" questions. when properly phrased, don't suggest one solution - rather. they provide a great frame for innovative. out-of-the-box thinking.

Examples of "How might we?" questions could be:

How might we improve awareness of mobile phone recycling in our community?
How might we reduce barriers to mobile phone recycling in our community?
How might we tackle the emotional issues surrounding mobile phone recycling in our community?
How might we stress the urgency of mobile phone recycling?

Once you have decided on a "How might we?" question, write this question on the board or print it out and display it where all students can see it. Explain to students that this is the question they will be using to guide their ideas for making change in their community.

Step 6

Students now need to start thinking of ideas to answer their "How might we?" question. This is the ‘ideate’ stage of the Design Thinking process.

You could do this by inviting students to work in groups, to brainstorm ideas about actions students could take. The ‘50 Ideas In 5 Minutes’ challenge is a useful way to generate a list of ideas that can then be developed and refined. Work through the following steps:

break the class into groups of five or six students
students will work in their groups to come up with as many different and varied solutions as possible in five minutes
the ideas can be as abstract and off-the-wall as students like, but they should also add some practical and realistic ideas too
the aim is to have as many as possible, with a view to being able to choose one that can be developed, refined and put into action.

The group brainstorm could be run like this:

give each group a piece of butcher’s paper and each person a marker pen
Hot tip: If students have different coloured markers, they can see who has written what and add this to their portfolios.
before starting the countdown, ask students to write the guiding question on the top of their piece of paper
students should stand around the tables rather than sit in their chairs as this encourages more creative thinking
remind students not to filter or say 'no' to any answers during this process as it allows the creative ideas to flow better
they should:
- write everything down as fast as possible on the butcher’s paper
- work fast: they only have 5 minutes and they need 50 ideas
do not discuss the ideas at this stage ... just get them recorded
give time markers as they progress - “Three minutes left! Two minutes! One minute left!”. You could project a countdown of 5 minutes using this website
share a rough figure of how many ideas have been generated across the whole class - remind students how productive they can be in 5 minutes
you could offer a prize for the group that creates the most ideas within the 5 minutes.

Once groups have completed the ‘50 Ideas In 5 Minutes’ challenge, ask each group to spend the rest of the brainstorming time viewing and discussing their list of ideas. Invite each student to nominate their favourite ideas by:

drawing a star next to the idea they think is the most creative
drawing a smiley face next to the idea that they like best.

Step 7

Explain to students that each group will be selecting one idea to bring to life through artwork – this could be entered into the MobileMuster Schools Competition.

Hot tip: If they haven't had a chance yet, they might like to check the MobileMuster Schools Competition details. Encourage students to look carefully at the Assessment Matrix so that they can use it to inform their production choices.

Step 8

Ask students to decide on their idea. If required, they could cast a vote. Once a decision has been made, invite students to record their idea to address the "How might we … ?" question on the Student Worksheet.

Hot tip: The MobileMuster Schools Competition Assessment Rubric would be a great tool to direct students in self-reflection and peer-assessment activities, even if they don't enter the competition.

Take action: Designing for behaviour change

Step 1

Give each group a few stacks of sticky notes. You might also like to provide a wall, board or piece of butcher's paper for students to arrange and re-arrange their sticky notes on.

Step 2

Briefly remind students that there are three different types of artwork they could produce: a drawing, a photograph or a short film.

Use the 'Creating Quality Content' Information sheets to help them think about composition, design elements, and planning.

The most important things to remember when producing artwork for behaviour change is to make sure it is engaging, that you communicate your theme and include a 'call-to-action' for the viewer.

Step 3

Instruct students to start to 'prototype' their artwork by writing creative elements, content, style and/or theme ideas - one per sticky note. Each component of the artwork could have its own sticky note and these can be easily re-arranged to form the basis of a storyboard.

Allow 20 minutes for this process.

Step 4

Once students have completed their prototype, invite them to create a short presentation of their ideas to share with the class. The presentation should last no more than 2 to 3 minutes but should be treated as an opportunity to gain important feedback that can be used to improve the project.

The audience might like to address the following questions as part of their feedback:

Does the idea address the problem of mobile phone recycling?
Does the idea provide a realistic and achievable 'call to action' for mobile phone users?
Does the idea tap into the emotional aspects of barriers to phone recycling?
Would you find this artwork interesting?
Do you think the artwork will be practical to create? What ideas might you have to help? What resources or learning do you think they might need?

When giving feedback, remind students to be kind, helpful and specific:

Tips for providing feedback

• Be kind -It can be hard sharing your ideas with other people so make sure you remain kind and supportive.

• Be specific -Be clear about what you think and why. Rather than saying "I like your story", say something like "I like the way you set the scene by describing the characters in such detail".

• Be helpful - try not to just say what is strong or weak. but also make suggestions about how things could be improved.

Step 4

Allow students the opportunity to integrate their feedback before they begin working on their entries. Some groups may need to test several prototypes and this is a valuable process, even if it means they don't manage to develop a final production.

Hot tip: If students want to learn more about film-making in particular, and improve the quality of their production, they can access this terrific site: The Film Space - Advice - Film Making.

Step 6

Provide students with plenty of time and opportunities for creating their artwork.

Optional: You may like to have a viewing session so students can share their work.

Hot tip: If students decide to submit an entry to the MobileMuster Schools Competition, remind them to check their entry against the Assessment Rubric as they go.

Reflection

Invite students to complete the artwork reflection and personal reflection questions.

Project reflection

What impact did our artwork have?
Was our artwork a success? Why or why not?
What elements of the artwork were the most successful and why?
What elements of the artwork were the least successful and why?
How would we improve these parts?
How would we improve the artwork overall?
What challenges did we face and how did we overcome them?
How might we approach the designing or creating process differently if we did it again?

Self-reflection

How did I work in the group?
What would I do differently next time?
What was the best part of working on this artwork and why?
What was the worst part and why?
What impact did I have?
What am I most proud of?

Finally, congratulate your students on their efforts and remind them to be proud of what they achieved (even if they didn’t achieve all they hoped to) in terms of the final product or audience response. Changing behaviour is hard and any efforts to make positive change should be acknowledged and celebrated.

Differentiated learning

Extension -

Students might like to explore the concept of emotion-based campaigns more through this article on marketing: blog.hubspot.com/marketing/emotions-in-advertising-examples
Students might like to take their prototypes back to the people they interviewed to see if their idea would inspire them to recycle their old mobile phone/s. This is the most ideal way to test a prototype.
Students might like to develop a launch campaign around their artwork at the school or through social media or community channels.

Provisions for Learning Support - Not all students will have time to refine their ideas AND develop a strong piece of behaviour change art. You might like to agree with those students what expectations to put around their final product. For example, some students might want to submit a plan or design rather than a completed artwork. Others might want to skip the testing stage and go directly to making their artwork. Simply ensure that students understand the importance of the testing stage, and what they will be missing out on if they skip it, but in some circumstances, it may be a good option.

MobileMuster Schools Competition

Submit your artwork that encourages the community to recycle their old mobile phones at mobilemuster.com.au/education/competition.

Designing for Sustainability Part 2

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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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