Clean Up Australia - New From Old: Year 5 & 6

Activity Introduction

Quick summary: Students will collect and inspect the amount of litter found on the school grounds after lunchtime. They will analyse this waste and think of ways these resources can be reused.

Following this lesson plan is an ideal way for your school to take part in Schools Clean Up Day or a Clean Up on any day of the year. You’ll be joining thousands of amazing teachers in making a difference and creating positive environmental change.

Learning intentions:

Students understand the role and impacts of food packaging
Students begin to take responsibility for unwanted food packaging
Students will rethink the concept of waste and brainstorm ways to ‘close the loop’.

21st century skills:

Critical Thinking Problem Solving Team Work

Australian Curriculum Mapping

Content description:

Year 5 Science

Science involves testing predictions by gathering data and using evidence to develop explanations of events and phenomena (ACSHE081)
Scientific knowledge is used to inform personal and community decisions (ACSHE217)
Use equipment and materials safely, identifying potential risks (ACSIS088)

Year 6 Science

Science involves testing predictions by gathering data and using evidence to develop explanations of events and phenomena (ACSHE098)
Scientific knowledge is used to inform personal and community decisions (ACSHE220)
Use equipment and materials safely, identifying potential risks (ACSIS105)

Syllabus outcomes: ST3-6PW, ST3-4WS.

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.3, OI.8.

Topic: Waste, Clean Up.

Time required: 60 mins.

Resources required:

Device with internet access
Gloves and tongs for collecting waste
Printed Student Worksheets (or create your own).

Keywords: Food, packaging, waste, litter.

Safety: Ask students to review the Waste Safety Code for working with litter. Students should wear rubber gloves and/or tongs when collecting and handling litter.

Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.

Worksheets

Teacher Worksheet

Teacher Preparation

Learning intentions: Students will...

... understand the role and impacts of food packaging
... begin to take responsibility for unwanted food packaging
... will rethink the concept of waste and brainstorm ways to 'close the loop'.

Success criteria: Students can...

... know the impacts of food packaging on our environment and suggest ideas for closing the loop
... work safely with waste.

Teacher content information: Packaging is the name given to the containers in which products are bought, sold and transported. It is an important part of everything we buy. Most foods and drinks come in some type of packaging. Packaging is made from a variety of different materials, including paper, cardboard, glass, steel, plastics and aluminium.

There are four main reasons for packaging:

To preserve food
To contain objects so that they can be transported safely
To describe and identify the contents, so that customers can find out the contents, weig

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Student Worksheet

Thought Starter: Why would mining companies be buying tips and landfill sites?

What to do about lunchtime litter?

Your job is to discuss various ways in which waste can be:

Reused - means to use something again that you would normally throw away (e.g. glass jar for food or plastic bags for bin liners).
Recycled - means the product goes through a mechanical process to change its form. This is only recommended when reducing and reusing is not possible.
Reduced - to limit the amount of waste you create in the first place. This includes buying products with less packaging.
Recover - is to convert waste into resources (such as electricity, heat, compost and fuel) through thermal and biological means.

How can waste be...
Reused
Recycled
Reduced
Recovered

Why is it important that we think about waste differently?

What is the link between resources and waste?

Reflection

Work indep

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Activity: Clean Up Australia – New From Old: Year 5 & 6