introduction task_description process evaluation conclusion

Introduction

The Recycle Challenge is a series of activities that allow students to set-up and evaluate a recycling program in their school. The Challenge is designed to be used primarily with grades four through eight, it is flexible enough to use with a diversity of learning styles and grade levels. Many of the activities can be scaled up or down depending on individual needs. The experiential nature of the activities require students to take a hands-on approach to learn about the value of recycling by:

  • Identifying their school's system for dealing with waste
  • Designing a recycling plan to implement a recycling program
  • Collecting data on recycled material or through waste audits and constructing graphs and charts to aide in monitoring and adjusting the plan
  • Exploring nature to learn about how recycling is an important part of nature's systems for dealing with waste
  • Extending their understanding of the importance of technology to recycling by looking at "low-tech" recycling of paper and new techniques for recycling sport shoes.

The culminating activity in The Recycle Challenge is a presentation by students to the administration of their school or district that summarizes what they have learned. The purpose of the presentation is to use data and evidence from nature to convince the administration to continue recycling efforts at the school.

Standards

The standards used to align the activities in The Recycle Challenge are summarized in The Recycle Challenge Standards Overview. The standards used are based on Arizona Department of Education Standards.

Teacher's Notes on Implementing What's the Plan?

Purpose

To identify the waste stream and design a plan to begin recycling at your school.
Context This activity sets the stage for beginning a recycling program. By identifying the kinds of recyclable material found in the garbage students can create a plan that will let them redirect recyclables out of the waste stream and into recycling bins. The plan and predictive graphs created here will let students measure the effectiveness of their recycling efforts and monitor and adjust in later activities.
Skills
  • Define the types of waste found in garbage.
  • Create a plan for setting up recycling
  • Predict using behavior over time graphs
  • Contribute and work cooperatively in group and class discussions
Recommended Procedure

Part 1

Time
1 - 2 Class Periods

identify the waste stream in your school.

  1. Be sure to modify the criteria for evaluation to fit your needs.
  2. The product students create in this part is a drawing or drawings of the kind of waste found in a school's garbage and the waste stream for their school. You may have students create their drawings by hand or use a computer and software like Inspiration. For examples created by fifth graders select the links below:
  1. Have students work in groups to brainstorm and create one drawing per group.
  2. Once students have created their drawings, have them share their work and discuss it as a class.
  3. Have the class determine what kinds of materials the school should focus on for recycling. Hint: Paper is the easiest and less messy recyclable to deal with. It is usually best to start simple, especially with younger students.
  4. Encourage students to identify as many of the steps in the waste stream as possible. If time allows have them identify the origins of the materials that go into the waste stream. This is a good place to discuss renewable versus non-renewable resources.
  5. Begin the discussion of how to set up a recycling program by asking the question: Where is the best place to set-up recycling to divert recyclable material from the waste stream.

Part 2

Time
1 - 2 Class Periods

Create a recycling plan that will modify the waste stream to help your school recycle.

  1. Be sure to modify the criteria for evaluation to fit your needs.
  2. The product students create in this part is a plan for setting up a recycling program at your school. A basic plan should have the following details:
  • Goals - Have students define what will be accomplished by their recycling plan. These goals should be agreed upon by the stakeholders in your school and community. Stakeholders include students, teachers, administrators, and other community members.
  • Steps to Take - List the steps that must be taken to realize the goals. This should include who is responsible, and a timeline or date for accomplishing each step.

    At Black Mountain we decided to have the fourth and fifth grades collect classroom data for four weeks on garbage, paper, and plastic. This gave us a way to compare how much we reduced the amount of garbage by recycling. After four weeks they began to collect data on a weekly basis for paper and plastic only.

    Support areas recycled paper only. We also began a recycling club to help measure and empty bins from kindergarten through third grade classrooms and from all support areas. The recycling club eventually took over the evaluation of data.

  • Evaluation - Describe how students will evaluate the effectiveness of the plan. The specific types of charts and graphs used for evaluation will be determined in a later part of The Recycle Challenge.

    At Black Mountain School we decided to focus on collecting data on the mass of paper and plastic. We decided to enter the data into an Excel spreadsheet and create charts based on the data. Mass is the simplest to measure, especially for younger students. For older students measuring volume would also provide useful data for evaluation.

  • Materials - A list of materials needed to implement the recycling plan. At Black Mountain we bought spring scales (5000 gram max) and bathroom scales (for greater than 5000 grams) to measure mass. Recycle boxes and a recycle bin were provided by ABCO Recycling and Waste Management Services in Phoenix.

For a template to use in creating a plan and an example of a plan created by fifth graders at Black Mountain Elementary School select the appropriate link below:

  1. It is best to have students work in groups to brainstorm and create a preliminary draft of a plan. Use the template to create an overhead or recreate the template on the board to use as a visual organizer.
  2. Once students have created their rough draft, lead a discussion on each section and create a working plan to set up your recycling program. Make sure you have all stakeholders review and sign-off on the plan.

 

Part 3

Time
1 Class Period

Predict how your plan will impact the waste stream.

  1. Be sure to modify the criteria for evaluation to fit your needs.
  2. The product students create here are three behavior over time graphs that predict how they think their plan will impact parts of the waste stream. These graphs will help students think about what success will look like and help them in later parts of The Recycle Challenge when they decide on the specific types of graphs and charts they want to create to help them evaluate the data they have collected. Samples for each type of predictive graph and directions for their use can be accessed from the Process Page of this section. Samples of completed graphs can be explored by selecting from the following links:
  • Graph 1 - Impact of waste going to landfill with and without recycling. (complete_waste1.pdf)
  • Graph 2 - Impact of recycling on amount of garbage in a classroom for a four week period. (complete_waste2.pdf)
  • Graph 3 - Amount of recycled material per week for a three month period. (complete_waste3.pdf)
  1. Have students work in groups to create graphs or create an overhead of each graph to project and have students volunteer to draw their prediction. It is helpful to have a school calendar handy to help them think about what might be going on during certain weeks–like field trips and vacations.
  2. Discuss the predictions and decide on a best guess graph for each. Be sure to save the graphs for use in later Recycle Challenge activities.

Part 4

Time
Ongoing

Implement the plan and collect data.

  1. Implement the plan.
  2. Be sure to monitor and adjust as needed. At Black Mountain our original plan required the third graders to mass and take out their own recycling materials. It became clear very early that it was not working out so we let the recycling club take over. It's also important to check that people are following directions and understand how to mass and empty the bins. It doesn't hurt to spot check on a regular basis to make sure the plan is working.
  3. If you modify your plan significantly be sure you document your changes.