Clean Up - Right To Repair - Years 7 to 9

Activity Introduction

Quick summary: Students explore e-waste, planned obsolescence, and the right to repair. They conduct research into an electronic product and write a letter to the company that makes this product to find out more about it.

Following this activity 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 and educators in making a difference and creating positive environmental change.

Learning intentions:

Students understand the impacts of e-waste
Students recognise the consequences of planned obsolescence
Students recognise that repairing products instead of upgrading them would positively contribute to a more sustainable future.

21st century skills:

Australian curriculum mapping

Content descriptions:

Year 7 Economics and Business:

The ways consumers and producers interact and respond to each other in the market (ACHEK017).
Develop questions about an economic or business issue or event, and plan and conduct an investigation or project (ACHES021).
Gather relevant data and information from a range of digital, online and print sources (ACHES022).

Year 8 Economics and Business:

The ways markets in Australia operate to enable the distribution of resources, and why they may be influenced by government (ACHEK027).
Develop questions about an economic or business issue or event, and plan and conduct an investigation or project (ACHES032).
Gather relevant data and information from a range of digital, online and print sources (ACHES033).

Year 9 Economics and Business:

The changing roles and responsibilities of participants in the Australian or global workplace (ACHEK042).
Develop questions and hypotheses about an economic or business issue or event, and plan and conduct an investigation (ACHES043).
Gather relevant and reliable data and information from a range of digital, online and print sources (ACHES044).

Syllabus outcomes: C4.2, C4.3, C4.4, C4.7, C4.9, C5.2, C5.3, C5.4, C5.7, C5.9.

General capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking, Literacy.

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.7, OI.9.

Relevant parts of Year 7 Economics and Business achievement standards: Students describe the interdependence of consumers and producers in the market. When researching, students develop questions and gather data and information from different sources to investigate an economic or business issue.

Relevant parts of Year 8 Economics and Business achievement standards: Students explain how markets operate and recognise why governments may influence the market’s operation. When researching, students develop questions and gather relevant data and information from different sources to investigate an economic or business issue.

Relevant parts of Year 9 Economics and Business achievement standards: Students explain the role of the Australian economy in allocating and distributing resources. When researching, students develop questions and simple hypotheses to frame an investigation of an economic or business issue. They gather and analyse relevant data and information from different sources to answer questions.

Topic: Clean Up, Waste, Recycling.

This lesson is part of the wider unit of work Clean Up Australia – Secondary Curriculum.

Time required: 60+ mins.

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – lead students in class discussion, oversee letter drafting before sending.

Resources required:

Devices with internet access
Generating Great Questions Factsheet
Letter Writing Tips
Planned Obsolescence Article
Right To Repair Article
Student Worksheet – one copy per student.

Keywords: Clean Up, e-waste, planned obsolescence, right to repair, sustainability, waste.

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 impacts of e-waste
… recognise the consequences of planned obsolescence
… recognise that repairing products instead of upgrading them would positively contribute to a more sustainable future.

Success criteria: Students can…

… explain planned obsolescence and right to repair
… draft and create a letter to send to companies
… think critically about the electronic products they use.

Content information: For a long time now we've thought of waste as something that should go in the bin. But it wasn't always this way. For many years and in many cultures, things people no longer wanted or needed were turned into something else, given to someone else to use, or repaired and used again. As the waste we currently create continues to harm our environment, it's time to shift our thinking around waste again—what if we thought of waste as a resource for creating new products? Can we rethink our relation

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Student Worksheet

Thought Starter: You bought it. You own it. You have the right to fix it.

Part A: Understanding right to repair

1. Complete the following THINK PAIR SHARE routine by working independently to record your answer to the questions in Column A of the table below:

Question	Column A. Your initial responses	Column B. Additional thoughts and ideas
What is e-waste?
What do you already know about e-waste and our environment?

You can team up with a classmate to share and discuss your answers, and you can add any new thoughts and ideas stemming from your discussion into Column B of the table.

Part B: Investigating a product

1. You now need to select an electronic product that you use every day (e.g. iPhone, Gaming console, Apple laptop).

Write down the product you have chosen here (include the type of product, the brand and the version):

You will now be conducting research on how often this brand releases new or updated versions of this product, and whether

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Activity: Clean Up – Right To Repair – Years 7 to 9