Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

5 minutes

Tune In: Battery hunt

25 minutes

Find Out: The journey of a battery

25 minutes

Take Action: Battery awareness

5 minutes

Reflection: How can we make safe battery choices?

Learning intentions

Students will:

identify that batteries are used in many everyday classroom items
identify that people design services to manage the disposal of batteries safely and sustainably.

Success criteria

Students can:

recognise safe and unsafe choices involving batteries
create a simple message to help others know how and where batteries should be disposed of safely.

Tune In: Battery hunt

Step 1

Ask your students to look around the classroom and name the items that use batteries.

Guide your students to look for items that light up, move or make sound. Explain that batteries provide the energy for these functions. Remind students not to open items or touch batteries.

Step 2

As a class, create a list of items that use batteries on the board. Your students might identify items such as a laptop, a mobile phone, a smoke detector, a clock, a remote control, or a calculator.

You can group items into categories such as ‘lights up’, ‘moves’, or ‘makes sound’ to help students connect batteries to different functions.

Step 3

Ask your students:

Why are batteries useful?
How do you use batteries in our classroom or at home?

Discuss these questions with your students, then write the key ideas on the board.

To extend the discussion, ask your students:

Have you noticed that there are many different types of batteries?
What different types of batteries have you seen?

Find Out: The journey of a battery

Step 1

Show your students this Using Batteries Safely and Sustainably Visual Explainer and explain what batteries are, the different types of batteries, and why they need special care. Refer to the Teacher Content Information for additional talking points as you go through the slides.

Step 2

Show your students the following video about why batteries shouldn’t go in the general waste or recycling bins, and how to dispose of them safely.

Never Bin your Batteries, B-cycle – (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GUppOao3c4).

After watching the video, ask students to tell a partner 1 action they can take to dispose of batteries safely.

Step 3

Step through the journey of a battery using the Visual Explainer (slide 9). Ask your students to turn to a partner and recall the stages in a battery’s journey.

Give students their Student Worksheet: Battery Audit and instruct them to draw the 3 main stages in a battery’s journey in the correct order (made, used and disposed of), using the boxes provided.

Learning support: Keep slide 9 of the Visual Explainer displayed while students draw the stages of a battery’s journey.

Learning extension: Ask students to add labels to their drawings to explain each stage.

Ask your students to share their drawings and identify what happens at each stage of the battery’s journey.

Discuss as a class why the end of the journey matters for people (eg waste workers) and the environment. Prompt discussion by asking students:

Question	Suggested response
What might happen if batteries aren’t disposed of safely?	Chemicals can leak out of batteries, which can harm people, cause fires and pollute the environment.
How could this impact people (eg family, waste workers)?	Fires in bins or rubbish trucks can be a danger to people, such as waste workers. The chemicals in batteries can also cause skin irritation or burns
How could this impact the environment?	The chemicals in batteries are hazardous and can cause pollution of the environment if they leak into soil and waterways.
What are unsafe choices you can make when handling and disposing of batteries?	putting batteries in the general waste or recycling bins; leaving old batteries in devices or at home without putting tape over the ends or sealing them in plastic bags; leaving batteries in places where they can get hot; leaving batteries in places where babies or toddlers can find them; damaging batteries or using them in ways they are not meant to be used
What are safe choices you can make when handling and disposing of batteries?	Tape the ends of loose batteries (such as AA, AAA or button batteries) when they stop working to prevent them from sparking, then place them in a sealed plastic or zip-lock bag and take them to a battery disposal location. For devices with embedded or built-in batteries (such as phones, tablets or rechargeable items), do not try to remove the battery yourself! Take the whole device to an approved e-waste or battery recycling drop-off point for safe handling.

Step 4

Show your students the Recycle Mate website (recyclemate.com.au). Explain that they can find locations near school to safely dispose of batteries by typing their school’s address into the website.

Explore Recycle Mate with your students by following these steps:

Type your school’s street name into the address search bar.
Select the local council that your school is in.
Select the type of bins you have at school.
Type ‘battery’ into the search bar and select a type of battery (eg AA).
Explore the map or the list of locations in the left-hand menu.

Ask your students:

Have you been to any of these locations listed on the Recycle Mate website?
Do you have any old batteries at home that you can take to a battery disposal location?

Suggest that students look for the battery disposal containers next time they are at the supermarket.

Take Action: Battery awareness

Step 1

Ask your students to work in pairs to complete an audit of classroom or school items that use batteries.

Ask students to record the items they find in the Student Worksheet: Battery Audit. Explain that they can draw and/or write to describe the items.

Learning support: Support students by referring to the list of items recorded on the board at the start of the lesson.

Learning extension: Ask students to add items that use batteries at home to their audit. Suggest that they can share this information with their family to help them learn about how to use and dispose of batteries safely.

Step 2

Provide students with the Battery Awareness Poster Template and explain that students will create posters to raise awareness about batteries in their school. Explain that their posters should include:

where batteries are found (in their classroom or school)
why we need to be careful (using, handling and disposing of batteries)
what we should not do (why batteries can’t go in the regular general waste and recycling bins)
what we should do instead (how to use and dispose of batteries safely)
how to find places where batteries can be disposed of safely.

Step 3

Display students’ posters around the classroom. Ask students to share their posters and explain:

how battery disposal services keep people safe
how battery disposal services keep the environment safe
how they can use their poster to help people make safe battery choices.

Reflection: How can we make safe battery choices?

Ask your students to turn to a partner and share:

1 way that battery disposal services keep people and the environment safe
1 safe battery choice they will make at home and share with a family member.

Using Batteries Safely and Sustainably

Go to

Summary

Learning intentions

Success criteria

Lesson Guides and Printables

Lesson Details

Skills Required

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Information

Related Professional Learning

In this lesson