Hosted by OSOS , contributed by Noel Harmsworth on 13 July 2018
The broad idea is to have students at my school discuss issues related to electronic waste. Since in the Maltese national curriculum framework, Education for Sustainable Development is listed as one of eight cross-curricular themes, the participation in this project can be open to all students as opposed to just those studying the sciences. My objective is to direct students to reflect on the 3 R’s concept with a focus on electronic waste. A concrete suggestion that I’d pass on to participating students would be to think about peripheral pieces of equipment supplied with a new smart phone (battery, headphones, charger), reflect on the usefulness/necessity of these pieces of equipment, identify any (environmental) issues being caused and come up with any solutions to minimize the negative impact of these issues. The main learning outcome would for all participating students to understand the importance of reusing where possible with the aim of reducing waste and to empower them to understand that as young people hailing from a small island state they can and should still aspire to become agents for change.
Learning Objectives
Students will understand the importance of reusing with the aim of reducing waste and feel empowered as youngsters hailing from a small state to aspire to become agents for change.
Feel
•Students are encouraged to think big and to believe that even as youngsters hailing from a small island state can make a difference to the global community. Therefore students will be given the opportunity to work on a project that can have an effect on the community in the widest possible sense.
•They are asked to reflect on electronic equipment they have at home. They will ask themselves whether they have any they do not use anymore, whether it was a good idea to buy it in the first place and how, whenever the equipment is not needed anymore, they dispose of it.
•They are asked to focus their reflection on smart phones and encourage them to brainstorm and come up with a list of components that one finds in the box of a new phone (phone itself, battery, headphones, charger).
•They are asked to research types of materials used to create these components and reflect on (a) from where these materials are being sourced; (b) whether all the components are needed and (c) what do people do with any equipment they do not need.
•Students are finally directed to reflect on what can be done to alleviate these issues.
Imagine
•Students can design and carry out a survey with the rest of their schoolmates (aged 13 to 16 most of which already have a smart phone) to collect, collate and analyse data that will help them start building an understanding of how real and big this issue is.
•Students can also consider their schoolmates as a sample and extrapolate numbers to European and global levels.
•They can extend reflection to research more numbers (how many phones a year are sold?; how many phones are bought by people who already had a phone previously?; how much material like plastics etc. are being used to produce peripherals like chargers and headphones that one might not need).
•Students are encouraged to draw their own conclusions from their findings.
•In groups students will discuss possible solutions for these issues. They will reflect critically on things they can do to solve these issues and also come up with suggestions to pass on to the school, local and global community (citizens, companies, state level legislation, EU level legislation) to help control this problem.
Create
•Students can take concrete measures by making a suggestion in the form of an e-mail sent to the biggest smart-phone producing companies (Apple, Samsung, Huawei etc.) to encourage them to start selling phones, chargers and headphones separately and give clients the option not to buy the charger (and headphones).
•They can keep Malta’s Ministry for Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change in copy and since the Ministry’s offices are actually walking distance from the school they can even think of a publicity stunt by walking to the Ministry to officially give a copy of the letter sent to the big companies to the Ministry officials (perhaps the Minister himself).
•Moreover, they can also keep the EU Commission in copy and suggest that this issue can be alleviated through appropriate legislation. (The offices of the EU commission representation in Malta are also within the catchment area of the college and so the students can also come up with some publicity stunt similar to the one described in the previous point.