Visy Education - Bottled a Better Way

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

• creative thinking
• critical thinking
• collaboration
• communication
• problem solving

Australian Curriculum (v9.0) content description:

Year 7&8, Science

Students learn to

• use a particle model to describe differences between pure substances and mixtures and apply understanding of properties of substances to separate mixtures (AC9S7U06)
• select and construct appropriate representations, including tables, graphs, models and mathematical relationships, to organise and process data and information (AC9S7I04)
• classify matter as elements, compounds or mixtures and compare different representations of these, including 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional models, symbols for elements and formulas for molecules and compounds (AC9S8U06)
• select and construct appropriate representations, including tables, graphs, models and mathematical relationships, to organise and process data and information (AC9S8I04).

Relevant parts of Year 7 achievement standards: Students use particle theory to explain the physical properties of substances and develop processes that separate mixtures. They select and construct appropriate representations to organise data and information.

Relevant parts of Year 8 achievement standards: Students classify and represent different types of matter and distinguish between physical and chemical change. They select and construct appropriate representations to organise and process data and information.

NSW Syllabus outcomes:

A student

• describes the observed properties and behaviour of matter, using scientific models and theories about the motion and arrangement of particles (SC4-16C)
• processes and analyses data from a first-hand investigation and secondary sources to identify trends, patterns and relationships, and draw conclusions( SC4-7WS).

General capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking, Literacy 

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability 

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium - facilitate class discussions and support students in life cycle model-making task.

UN SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

• Target 12.5: By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.

• Challenges in Plastics Recycling Fact Sheet 
• Materials for model-making (e.g. paper straws, glue, sticky tape, coloured paper, and clean items destined for the recycling bin, such as cardboard and containers)
• Student Worksheet - one copy for each student.

This lesson has been developed in partnership with Visy. For over 70 years, Visy has been committed to finding sustainable solutions for Australia's and New Zealand’s recyclables and helping to reduce local landfills. Visy collects, receives, and sorts paper, cardboard, glass, plastics, steel, and aluminium from households, businesses, and schools to reuse these products and re-manufacture new packaging products.

Fit Sustainability Into the Secondary Curriculum

Quick Summary: In this course, you will learn a holistic definition of sustainability, which goes beyond compost bins and solar panels and how to embed sustainability concepts to enrich your current curriculum without it being an add-on.