You get students actively involved in learning!
When the school embarked on a whole school theme of Sustainability in 2011 we wanted everyone to actively participate in further developing a sustainable school. The school decided it would have a whole school assembly once a fortnight to to talk about sustainability and participate in activities that would help them learn about sustainability.
One of those assemblies was about rubbish. Each class looked at the rubbish produced over a one week period, and sorted it in terms of recycling, reuse and land fill. As a result students initiated a weekly nude food day and encouraged each other to bring as little rubbish to school as was possible.
Another assembly had students taking part in the Amazing Race. Each Green team member became a leader and took 11 other students on a journey around the school to complete sustainability challenges. At each station a teacher guided them through the activity and when completed they were given a clue for their next location. They would also get a letter at each station at the end of the rotations they need to use the letters to complete a sentence.
The a Amazing Race challenges were: Transport - Use the available materials to create a walking school bus that all members of the team can use safely to complete the race. Resources: skipping ropes and hoola hoops.
Landfill - match pictures of waste products with labels that show how long each item takes to break down when put in landfill. Resources: CERES Biodegradable activity cards.
Reuse - Invent a practical way of reusing three objects. You must be able to show or describe that the new use can be used more than once. Resources: Objects from recycling bin.
Reduce - List 5 ways that we can reduce the carbon footprint of the school. You may need to consider our use of water, electricity, gas, paper, food, and gardens so that we can become more sustainable. Resources: paper and pencils.Energy - Create a wind turbine to capture the wind's energy. Each member is to keep this with them for the rest of the race. Resources: Windmill master sheet, straws, scissors, straws, glue and a hole punch.
Food - Give each of the displayed food a rating for taste, price, packaging and distance travelled and determine which food is most sustainable. Resources: Tiny Teddies in packets, Carrot and dip, chocolate bananas, pencils and paper.Compost - tip out the objects in the compost bucket to select which items would be needed to make good compost for the garden. Resources: Compost bucket and laminated cards with random objects printed on them.
Worms - in the garden find three living worms. Resources: garden, hand trowels, gloves and worms (hopefully already in garden)Household energy - play the interactive game to reduce the household energy use. Resources: computers with Internet access and website www.olliesworld.com/adventure/onlinegames/energy-saving-game.htm
Chickens - Observe the eggs in the incubator. Find out the temperature in the incubator, the number of eggs and how many days it takes to hatch a chicken. Resources: incubator, fertile eggs, pencils and observation sheet.
It was a great way for students to get active in sustainability and learning. It was also very fun.
To look at wise water usage students undertook the master chef challenge. Each Green Team member led their group through a challenge that required then to think carefully about the way they used water. This "Master Chef Challenge" required students to collect exactly 1 litre of water using a 1.25 litre container, one 750ml container and a bucket containing 2 litres of water.
Once they have accurately measured 1 litre the team trades that water for 700ml of milk. That milk was to be used in making an instant pudding.
Once they have made the pudding they had to use the remaining litre of water to complete the following:
All members wash hands
One member to brush their teeth
Water a plant
Wash the dishes
And one member is to have a drink
The team had to work out the order to complete these activities.
At the end each team was to present the remaining water to the judges. The judges would measure how much useable (judge will drink the cleanest) water is remaining. Team that have completed all tasks and has the most clean water left would be the winners.
This activity was quite a spectacle particularly watching the students when they realized that the person brushing their teeth spat back into the clean water ( obviously no one was going to drink that water!)Combined with the introductory stats about water use in Australia, the students were challenged to re-think their own water use.
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