National Recycling Week - Renewable and Non-renewable

Australian curriculum content descriptions:

Year 7 Science:

• Some of Earth’s resources are renewable, but others are non-renewable (ACSSU116)
• Science understanding influences the development of practices in areas of human activity such as industry, agriculture and marine and terrestrial resource management (ACSHE121)
• Summarise data, from students’ own investigations and secondary sources, and use scientific understanding to identify relationships and draw conclusions (ACSIS130)

Year level: 7

Syllabus Outcomes: SC4-13ES, SC4-12ES. 

Time needed: 90 minutes

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – confirm students have developed a data record sheet that will be useful for data analysis. Make sure students don’t handle waste. Consider allowing students to use the staffroom and photocopy areas as part of their audit.

• Clipboards and pens, or tablets (iPads) and access to computers. Also get permission to inform staff if students are going to locations such as staff lunch rooms to collect data

This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:

• critical thinking
• collaboration

Planet Ark’s National Recycling Week started in 1996 to bring a national focus to the environmental benefits of recycling. This highly regarded annual campaign continues to educate and stimulate behaviour change by promoting kerbside, industrial and community recycling initiative. It also gives people the tools to minimise waste and manage material resources responsibly at home, work and school. In partnership with Planet Ark, we have developed lessons from early learning through to year 10 to help educators bring these important topics into the classroom.

National Recycling Week is held in the second week of November each year but you can recycle all year-round with these lessons which were designed to be used at any time. Click here to find out more about National Recycling Week and the Schools Recycle Right Challenge.