Teaching sequence

Throughout this lesson, students will learn about the social, ethical and environmental considerations for the production and consumption of mobile phones.

Step 1

There are a lot of elements that go into a smartphone. View the image Chemical Elements of a Smartphone on the Student Worksheet and ask the students to work out how many elements go into manufacturing a Smartphone.

Step 2

Explain to students about the production supply chain. That is, the process of bringing a raw mineral to the consumer market which involves the extraction, transport, handling, trading, processing, smelting, refining and alloying, manufacturing and sale of end product.

Ask students if they understand the difference between a mineral, metal and material. Refer to the terms below and provide some examples.

Minerals: the raw stuff that comes from the ground (ore, as in the rock that contains minerals).
Metals: what comes out of these minerals.
Material: what is created from these metals and minerals; eg, how cassiterite (mineral) is taken to a smelter, where raw cassiterite ore is smelted and becomes tin (a metal).

Step 3

Ask students if they ever heard of the word “conflict minerals”?

Conflict minerals are tantalum ore (coltan), tungsten ore (wolframite), tin ore (cassiterite) and gold that originates from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or an adjoining country, from areas controlled by armed groups or that helped to finance the conflict. The DRC, which is one of the poorest countries in the world, has been involved in a long‐running bloody civil war in which rebel groups fight over access to minerals and profit from illicit trade.

Watch the following video for more information on conflict minerals and the initiatives that have been established to find alternatives.

Conflict-Free Tin initiatives (00:52 mins)

Step 4

Introduce the students to the Fairphone social enterprise which is based in Europe and has designed and developed a smartphone with conflict-free minerals and minimal harm to people and the environment. Watch the Fairphone video on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/fairphone

Step 5

Break your class into groups of at least six.

Ask students to read the Fairphone roadmaps and complete the first task on the Student Worksheet.

Answer summary is below:

Mining	Conflict-free or responsibly mined minerals. Improve working conditions for miners. Reduce mining degradation. Address child labour. Trace minerals to their source.
Design	Design for longevity. Design for reparability. Transparency on how the phone is designed.
Manufacturing	Better working and employee conditions. Safe conditions. Fair pay. Allow employee feedback.
Reuse and Recycling	Extend the life of the phone. Offer spare parts and repairs. Offer responsible and safe recycling. Don’t send old phones overseas to countries that are not set up to recycle.

Once complete, ask each group to develop ideas for their own sustainable smartphone that has been designed in a safe, ethical and responsible way. Allow 15 minutes for brainstorming.

Step 6

Once groups have completed their brainstorming, it's time for them to create the concept of their sustainable phone. Students can create a presentation (e.g. Prezi or Powerpoint), blog or an infographic (e.g. Piktochart). The presentation should include:

The name of the Smartphone
An outline of what it does
The main sustainable features
How the product improves the mobile phone life cycle
Supporting images

Ask students to make their presentations to the class.

Assessment/Reflection

Ask students to use the Peer Assessment Rubric to assess group presentations.

Differentiated Learning

Extension activity: Ask students to research a conflict-mineral (such as tin, tantalum, tungsten or gold), how is the mineral used in the production of a mobile phone and what is being done to use conflict-free minerals by the mobile phone manufacturers.

Provisions for Learning Support: Students with learning difficulties should be assigned to groups with supportive students. For students with visual learning styles they can design a picture advert for their group's smartphone, which demonstrates the sustainable elements.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching

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

National Recycling Week - The Sustainable Smartphone

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