Activity Introduction

bbrw-people-photoframe-newQuick summary: Students work in groups to design a sustainable smartphone. They begin by exploring sustainability and how it could be applied to smartphones. They then look at a social enterprise – Fairphone – that is making sustainable smartphones, and use this as inspiration for their own smartphone.

This lesson supports students to inquire into the big idea of ‘real wealth’. Students develop an understanding of shared values, and build their sustainable and ethical financial knowledge, equipping them with the skills to make sound financial decisions based on social, environmental and economical merit.

We’ve taken elements of this lesson and adapted them for remote learning. You can find this activity here.

Learning goals:

  • Students understand sustainability and how it could be applied to smartphones.
  • Students recognise how products like smartphones impact on our environment and on people.
  • Students are able to work together to create their own sustainable smartphone solutions.

General capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking.

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.8.

Australian Curriculum content description:

Year 5 Humanities and Social Sciences

  • Types of resources (natural, human, capital) and the ways societies use them to satisfy the needs and wants of present and future generations (ACHASSK120)
  • Influences on consumer choices and methods that can be used to help make informed personal consumer and financial choices (ACHASSK121)
  • Develop appropriate questions to guide an inquiry about people, events, developments, places, systems and challenges (ACHASSI094)
  • Work in groups to generate responses to issues and challenges (ACHASSI102)
  • Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions (ACHASSI105)

Year 5 English

  • Navigate and read texts for specific purposes applying appropriate text processing strategies, for example predicting and confirming, monitoring meaning, skimming and scanning (ACELY1702)
  • Use comprehension strategies to analyse information, integrating and linking ideas from a variety of print and digital sources (ACELY1703)

Year 6 Humanities and Social Sciences

  • How the concept of opportunity cost involves choices about the alternative use of resources and the need to consider trade-offs (ACHASSK149)
  • The effect that consumer and financial decisions can have on the individual, the broader community and the environment (ACHASSK150)
  • The reasons businesses exist and the different ways they provide goods and services (ACHASSK151)
  • Develop appropriate questions to guide an inquiry about people, events, developments, places, systems and challenges (ACHASSI122)
  • Work in groups to generate responses to issues and challenges (ACHASSI130)
  • Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions (ACHASSI133)

Year 6 English

  • Select, navigate and read texts for a range of purposes, applying appropriate text processing strategies and interpreting structural features, for example table of contents, glossary, chapters, headings and subheadings (ACELY1712)
  • Use comprehension strategies to interpret and analyse information and ideas, comparing content from a variety of textual sources including media and digital texts (ACELY1713) 

Syllabus Outcomes: EN3-3A, HT3-5. 

Topic: Consumption

Unit of lessons: Real Wealth Year 5 & 6

Time required: 60 mins.

Level of teacher scaffolding: High – lead students in discussion, brainstorming and group activities.

Resources required: Student Worksheet – one copy per student OR computers/tablets to access the online worksheet. Butcher’s paper, pens. Real Wealth Cheat Sheet, Glossary Years 5 & 6, Sustainability – Primary, Definitions Of Sustainability.

Digital technology opportunities: Digital sharing capabilities.

Homework and extension opportunities: Includes opportunities for extension.

Keywords: Sustainability, smartphones, Fairphone. 

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

Worksheets

Teacher Worksheet

bbrw-smartphone-photoframe-newTeacher preparation

Overarching learning goal: By participating in this lesson, students will understand sustainability and how it can be applied to smartphones. Students recognise how business products impact on the environment and on people. Students are able to work together to create their own sustainable smartphone solutions.

Teacher content information: Sustainability is a big word and a big idea. People started talking about sustainability when they started to realise that the way humans were living was harming the environment. While people in the past often lived very closely with the environment, it has only been very recently that humans have begun to understand how important the environment is to all life on Earth, including us humans.

We now understand that humans need the environment for almost everything: for fresh air, clean water, food, medicine, and for everything we wear, live in, own and do. And future generations will need it for exactly the same things. How we t

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Student Worksheet

Thought starter: How sustainable is your phone?

Part 1. Colour, Symbol, Image

Pick one colour, one symbol and one image that describe sustainability to you. You can draw these in your workbook or find them on Google Images and save them to your desktop.

You will then share these with the class.

Part 2. What is Fairphone?

Fairphone is a social enterprise that designs and develops smartphones with minimal harm to people and the environment. Spend several minutes looking at the Fairphone website (https://www.fairphone.com/) and watching the following Fairphone video on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/fairphone

Part 3. Design your own sustainable smartphone

You will now work in groups to develop ideas for your own sustainable smartphone that has been designed in a safe, ethical and responsible way.

You will begin by brainstorming ideas and making notes in your workbooks or on a sheet of butcher's paper.

Once you have completed your brainstorming, it's time to develop your ideas for

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