Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes	Part B: Why Do We Make So Much E-Waste?
25 minutes	Part C: Questioning Consumption
5 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Preparation:

Collect a range of electronic items to share with students. Make sure all items are switched off and unplugged. Items could include kettles, toasters, phones, tablets, desktop computers, televisions, keyboards, cables, cameras, DVD players, lamps, clocks, torches, printers, CD players and MP3 players.

If you have an electronic item that has been taken apart or that you could take apart you could also share this with students.

Step 1.

Begin this lesson by working with students to create a mind-map based on the following questions:

What materials can we recycle?
What are some examples of recyclable household items made from these materials?

In your mind-map, work with students to group items according to what they are made of, for example:

Through this process, explain to students that getting materials into the right recycling bin is easy when an item is made from just one material, like a glass jar or a plastic bottle. But when something is made from multiple materials it’s harder to know what bin to put it in and whether or not it can even be recycled. This is certainly the case with e-waste.

Take a moment to clarify student understanding around the term 'e-waste'. Explain that e-waste means electronic waste, and describes discarded electrical or electronic devices.

Invite students to suggest examples of e-waste, such as phones, tablets, desktop computers, televisions, keyboards, cables, cameras, DVD players, lamps, clocks, torches, printers, CD players, MP3 players and household appliances including fridges, washing machines, kettles, toasters, blenders and coffee machines.

Step 2.

Now gather students around the electronic items you prepared earlier. Invite them to name each item and to look closely at each item and identify the different materials these items are made of. For some of the items – like lamps – you’ll be able to see many of the materials just from looking at them. But for others – like personal devices, clocks and cables – many of the materials are hidden inside.

If you have an item that has already been taken apart or that you could take apart you could share this with students now.

Explain to students that when items are taken apart you will likely find things like metal, plastic, glass and precious metals (precious metals means there aren’t many of these metals in our environment and they should be used carefully). All these items can and should be recycled.

Take a moment to refer back to your mind-map – which of the categories that you’ve created on the mind-map would you add e-waste to, given that they are made of multiple materials? Through this process explain to students that there are several problems with recycling e-waste products:

Firstly, recycling them isn’t easy because of how they are made and how many different materials are included. This means that in the case of many e-waste items, the items need to be taken apart by people before being recycled. This takes time and costs money, and in some cases can be dangerous as chemicals can be released that can harm the environment and the people dismantling the e-waste products.
The second problem is that we – as humans – are making a lot of e-waste and it's hard to stay on top of recycling all this waste. It is this point that students will focus on in this lesson.

Part B: Why Do We Make So Much E-Waste?

Step 1.

Students will now watch a clip from War On Waste. This clip talks about e-waste, and focuses in particular on the amount of e-waste the average family in Australia generates. View on iTunes or Clickview:

Episode 2, The Battle Continues - 11:27 to 16:30

Once complete, spend a few moments discussing the clip with the class. Consider the following questions:

What did you find interesting or important?
What questions does this clip leave you with?

Step 2.

Now share the following, explaining that it describes a scene from the episode just watched.

You could project/share this statement where all students can see it.

Natalie looks around at the pile of e-waste her family would produce over 10 years and says: "We're a very spoilt generation which upgrade way too easily." Then Craig says: "You're not alone. So many of us do this. The technology nowadays moves faster, so we end up chucking out stuff that works."

Students can then work in pairs to reflect on what is said in this scene using the following questions. Share the questions suited to your students and ask each student to write them down on the Student Worksheet:

Year 4:
- Why do you think we upgrade way too easily? Why do we feel like we need to?
- Think of one example of a new type of technology that you’ve wanted and discuss why you thought you needed or wanted this.
Years 5 and 6:
- What is the difference between a need and a want?
- What types of technology are a need, and what types are a want? Provide one example of each and explain your answers.
- Should upgrading your technology be considered a need or a want? Explain your answer.
Year 6:
- Do you think the e-waste crisis is because people want the latest technology or because businesses want us to buy their new technology? Explain your answer.

Students should work collaboratively to discuss their answers, with each student recording their own thoughts on their own Student Worksheet. Students could then share some of their ideas with the class or team up with another pair to share their ideas.

Through this process, ensure that students understand that buying new technology is often a choice. Sometimes it feels like it’s something we have to do because we are told it will make our lives more interesting or more fun, or because if we don’t upgrade our technology won’t work anymore. However, there are questions we can ask ourselves before we buy that can help us decide whether we really need to buy something new, or whether we can make do with what we’ve already got.

Year 6 differentiation: You could also introduce the concepts of planned and perceived obsolescence. Explain to students that obsolescence means the process of becoming obsolete or outdated and no longer used.

• Planned obsolescence is a strategy of producing consumer goods that rapidly become obsolete and so require replacing. This is done by frequent changes in design, not providing spare parts or a way to repair the item, and the use of materials that break easily.
• Perceived obsolescence is the use of clever marketing that convinces you that your existing product is no longer useful or ‘cool’ and that you need to upgrade despite the product working perfectly.

More about planned obsolescence can be found here: The Truth about Planned Obsolescence

Part C: Questioning Consumption

Step 1.

Activity differentiation:

Year 4:

Present students with the following list of questions and explain that these questions can be used to help their families decide whether or not to buy new electronic items.
Questions (also available here to cut up and distribute to students):
- Why are we buying this?
- Is this thing we want to buy a need or a want? How would our lives be without buying this thing?
- Are we buying it to replace something else? Does this thing actually need replacing or does it still work fine?
- If we are replacing something, what will we do with the thing we are replacing?
- Is this thing we want to buy something we could share with another family?
- Could we buy this thing second-hand?
Break students into groups and give each group one of these E-Waste Scenarios. Students should use the questions above which have been projected/distributed to assess whether they would recommend buying the item described in each scenario. Groups should then share their scenario and recommendations with the class.

Years 5 and 6:

Students could work in pairs or small groups to develop a series of questions to help guide the purchasing of new electronic items in their own homes. Students can use the following points to guide their question creation (also available here).
When creating questions about buying new electronic items for your home, think about the following (these points are also available here to distribute to students):
- The reasons for buying it
- Whether having the new item is a need or a want
- Whether there is something that could be used instead
- Whether this is something that you could share with someone else
- Whether you could find this second-hand
- The environmental cost of disposing of the new item and the item you are replacing (if you are replacing something)
Students may need to suggest e-waste recycling programs, they could check with their local council or this directory at Planet Ark.
Support: If students need extra support in creating questions, you could provide them with this Generating Questions Factsheet.
Encourage students to spend some time writing down questions and then working together to refine them. By refining and rewriting them they will be more likely to get the questions they really need. Invite students to swap questions with another group. Give each group one of these scenarios and use this scenario to test the questions created by the other group. Groups should then provide feedback to each other on their questions, including whether the questions help them to make a decision about whether to buy the new item listed in the scenario.
Extension: Students could then swap scenarios and questions to test the questions of other groups.

Step 2.

Students should now work independently to create an A4-sized poster that includes their questions. If time permits, you could also ask students to include some facts about e-waste in Australia as justification for their questions. Students can illustrate their posters.

Step 3.

Completed posters can be displayed where other students and staff can see them before being sent home with students.

Reflection

Students can work independently or in pairs to reflect on this lesson and respond to the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What did you find most interesting or surprising about this lesson?
What is still challenging or confusing for you?
Can you think of any products that we use in our day-to-day lives that don’t need regular upgrading? List them here and explain why you think they don’t need upgrading.

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?

War On Waste - The Trouble with e-Waste

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