Baylor College
Fuel for Living Things
During a three-part lesson, learners make a cabbage juice pH indicator and use it to analyze the waste products of yeast after feeding them with sugar. The intent is to demonstrate how living organisms produce carbon dioxide, which is...
Curated OER
How Do Our Attitudes Affect Waste?
Students conduct a survey of society's typical purchasing practices to determine the influence of packaging on consumer choices and to determine if consumers consider waste disposal and recycling when making purchasing decisions.
SF Environment
Waste-Less Lunch
Is it possible to have a waste-less lunch? Can your class become leaders in conservation? Discuss the importance of reducing waste during lunch time with a fun instructional activity that can be extended to everyday practices. First the...
Curated OER
The Waste-Free Lunch
Reusable packaging for school lunches seems like a wonderful and eco-friendly idea; however, some children are being chastised for not following one school's guidelines. This New York Times article engages learners in reading...
Curated OER
It's Not Easy Being Green
Young scholars complete a unit that focuses on their school's waste production. They conduct a litter survey, collect the waste produced in their classroom for a week and generate a waste-audit, and identify how their school can...
Curated OER
The Trash We Pass
Where does our garbage go? What is the difference between a recyclable and non-recyclable item? Pose these important, but often overlooked, questions to your class and invite them to consider the lasting and damaging effects of the...
Boys Town
More Tools for Teaching Social Skills in School
Put an end to wasted instructional time with this lesson on responsibility and preparedness. After completing this series of activities students will learn the importance of these social skills not only in the classroom, but at home and...
Curated OER
Landfills: A Solid Waste Management Plan
Middle schoolers are able to list the types of household waste that they produce daily. They are able to describe some other types of waste that are produced by industry or agriculture to help maintain their lifestyles. Students are...
Curated OER
School Yard Waste
Fourth graders examine the types of garbage that they collect on the playground. They collect the information in a spreadsheet and create a graph that displays the number of types of trash found. They design and monitor a playground...
Curated OER
Trash Talkin
Young scholars investigate recycling at several scales, including local, state, national and global. They become aware of recycling, re-use, reduce efforts and policies. Students read the article Where Does Your Garbage Go. They look up...
Beyond Benign
E-Factor: Environmental Impact Factor
Explore how chemical processes reduce production waste. The 19th lesson in a 24-part series has learners explore the impact of green chemistry techniques on waste in production scenarios. They consider petrochemicals, bulk chemicals,...
California Academy of Science
Rapid Brainstorming: How Can We Improve Our Global Food System?
In 2018, the average fast food burger cost $2.64 while a salad averaged $4.14. Does the price difference matter to public health? Scholars consider that question and others in a brainstorming session about improving our global food...
Curated OER
Product Packaging Conundrum
In this product packaging conundrum worksheet, students research product packaging to select materials and design for packaging a model of the school mascot. This page has numerous links to helpful web resources.
Curated OER
Adhesion of Caulks to Surface - Testing Product Quality
Learners investigate quality products. In this Physical Science lesson plan, students will test three different types of caulking. The learners are looking for the caulk with the best adhesion after two days of curing.
Curated OER
Economics Study Guide
Use this resource as a basic review of economic principles. There are six questions relating to the factors of production, opportunity costs, wants and needs, tangibles and intangibles, and more.
EduGAINs
Go H2O! Investigating Residential Water Systems
Before your learners excuse themselves to get a drink at the water fountain, prompt them to think about where that water comes from. A middle school science instructional activity encourages groups to research their community's source of...
Pace University
Grade 7 Earth Day Statistics with Circle and Bar Graphs
Take a tiered approach to studying waste. The lesson uses Earth Day to present differentiated instruction around using circle and bar graphs. Each group gets a cube based on their tiers and works collaboratively as well as individually...
Advocates for Human Rights
The Right to a Clean Environment in the United States
Even if a school has gone digital, chances are there's still plenty of paper being used. The three activities help scholars learn about the environmental impact of paper and another consumer products of their choosing, the issue of...
Curated OER
Redesigning Product Packaging
Young scholars apply the design process to solve a packaging problem. After examining the materials used in the packaging of everyday products, students gather and analyze information about a specific product. They create a new design...
Curated OER
Popular Paper
Students explore the benefits of recycling paper. In this recycling lesson, students use statistics to calculate the amount of paper that is thrown away each week and construct a graph. Students analyze the data and calculate the...
Curated OER
COMPOSTING: WHY BOTHER?
Students explore the composting process and participate in a contest to make the most compost the fastest from the school's kitchen and yard waste.
Curated OER
Collective Compromise
Students explore the concept of philanthropy. In this service learning instructional activity, students examine what to do with waste as they plan and implement a strategy for controlling their school's trash.
Curated OER
What's Up with Waste?
Fifth graders design a brochure that identifies types of solid waste that are often improperly disposed, explains the effects of this disposal and proposes a solution to the problem. The read humorous books, define vocabulary words and...
Curated OER
Waste and Our World Technology Project
Fourth graders recognize that human activity can lead to the production of waste, and identify alternatives for the responsible use and disposal of materials. They use technology to investigate and then present a multimedia presentation.