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11 REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE LESSON IDEAS FOR EVERY SUBJECT
Many of us remember hearing the maxim “reduce, reuse, recycle” in school. Now we may teach the next generation using these principles in the classroom. These exercises might assist students in discovering the various applications for this phrase.
The phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” can take on a whole new meaning if you apply it to a variety of subject areas. The majority of these practical project suggestions can be modified for any grade level.
1. Observe how organic and inorganic materials decompose
Teaching pupils the benefits of reducing, reusing, and recycling is crucial. The idea will be made more concrete through a hands-on experience that demonstrates the decomposition of several types of materials.
Select a few distinct organic and inorganic materials for your class to observe. Students should estimate the time it will take for each object to degrade and record their findings in a journal (here’s an example). Older children may write more in-depth descriptions of what they observe, while younger kids may draw the objects.
The purpose of this lesson is to demonstrate that only biological waste decomposes rapidly, while inorganic waste will remain in landfills for a very long period. Fortunately, it’s simple to recycle a lot of these items.
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2. Start a composting project
One method of recycling organic waste that may otherwise end up in a landfill is through composting.
You can either perform this project on a small size in your classroom or on the school grounds, or you can include it completely into how your school operates. Introduce concepts about how organic things degrade using this practical exercise. As they watch how your compost project evolves over time, pupils get yet another chance to record their thoughts in journals.
Science and English language arts
3. Make your own paper
Doing your own recycling is one of the finest methods to learn how it works. A few supplies and planning are needed in order for this project to go smoothly in the classroom when using scraps to create your own paper. For step-by-step instructions, use this manual or this no-cost activity. Create Your Own Paper from the PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide of Project Learning Tree. View a video of the technique used to create the paper for this project.
4. Calculate your impact
Everyone wants to feel as though their efforts are making a difference and are part of something greater than themselves. It’s useful to know what kind of impact cutting back on consumption can have. Here are some queries and suggestions to think about:
- Determine how much waste they produce each day, each week, each month, and each year.
- Determine the annual trash production of the person’s household, the school, the city or town, and the state.
- What options do they have to lessen their CO2 emissions? Determine how much emissions would be cut if your family changed to a vegetarian or vegan diet, utilised energy-efficient lightbulbs in your home and/or used public transportation to commute to and from work and school.
- What percent CO2 emissions reduction would they achieve? How much CO2 would they produce? How much CO2 do they expect to save?
You can create word problems that are acceptable for younger kids. You can start with some numbers from these CO2 emission estimates and this data on how much trash Americans produce. By asking older students to perform research on the various possibilities you suggest, you might turn it into a project all on its own.
5. Home energy audit
Make a list of every appliance and light bulb in each student’s home. When all the lights are on for 4 hours each day, how much energy does their home use? if the two hours every day that their appliances are on? If they upgraded to energy-efficient appliances or lightbulbs, how much energy could they save?
You can simplify the project by giving estimates of how much energy common household appliances consume to older or younger children. You might wish to demonstrate how to use a watt metre to older kids so they can assess their own energy consumption.
See PLT’s Energy Investigation and our list of questions for students and their families about saving energy at home for additional energy-saving suggestions and education.
6. Local business energy audit
By investigating the energy consumption of a nearby company, you can expand your home energy audit project to the neighbourhood level. Find out how many appliances they use each day and/or how much trash they produce. Do they have any options to cut back on their waste or CO2 emissions? If so, how many trees, how much garbage, or how much CO2 emissions could they save? Give an estimate of the amount of waste or CO2 emissions produced by a few nearby firms for a basic project. Older students can contact or go to a nearby company to perform an energy assessment with their own data.
7. Write proposals to companies and lawmakers
When we discuss “reduce, reuse, recycle,” we frequently concentrate on individual activities. We advise pupils to work on this with their families at home. However, rather than “human” actions like running the dishwasher or turning on the stove, industrial activities are the main cause of climate change. They might be able to have a greater effect on lowering CO2 emissions by getting in touch with local businesses or lawmakers. This second grader, for instance, persuaded fast food restaurants to utilise more recycled paper goods.
Find a local business or legislator that the kids would like to impact. Ask them to write a letter to their elected officials urging them to adopt a CO2 emission-reducing measure, such as using more recycled materials, composting their organic waste, or supporting legislation to preserve local forests. Encourage your children to consider the ideal person to receive their letter, the action they want businesses or legislators to do, and the reasons why that action is crucial.
You might wish to pick one company or legislator to write to with younger students. Older pupils might be able to conduct independent research on a business or legislator they wish to influence. Older kids could create a brief speech on the subject in addition to drafting a letter and delivering it to the class.
8. Interview family members
In terms of reducing, reusing, and recycling, parents and grandparents could have different experiences than your pupils do. Just a generation or two can bring about a lot of change!
Interview senior members of the family with your students. Here are some queries to think about:
- When they were younger, were they taught the concepts of reducing, reusing, and recycling?
- Why do they recycle, if they do? Who taught them to recycle, and where? Why not, if they don’t?
- How do they practise “reduce, reuse, and recycle” at work? What other suggestions do they have to minimise, reuse, or recycle things at work if they don’t already do this?
- Over the course of their lives, have they observed individuals practising reduce, reuse, and recycling more or less? Why?
- How do they minimise waste or recycle items around the house? How did their parents or grandparents conserve resources or repurpose household items?
- Do they have the skills necessary to fix household items like furniture, electronics, clothing, or anything else? If so, how did they find out? how to execute this? Why do people do it—is it for amusement, financial savings, environmental protection, or some other reason?
Additionally, older pupils are able to develop their own questions. You could include a technological element and ask them to create a PowerPoint presentation using the data they gathered from their interviews.
You may have kids create a timeline of their own experiences as well as those of their parents and grandparents as an extension of this activity. On their timeline, students could highlight significant historical events connected to the narrative. For illustration, suppose that during the interview, their parents or grandparents discuss the introduction of plastic bags to grocery stores. The student could look up the beginning and end dates of the use of plastic bags as well as the beginning and end dates of state-level bag bans.
9. Use recycled materials in art projects
Beautiful art creations made from recycled materials include jewellery, planters, and birdhouses. Your children can learn how to discover new applications for objects that might otherwise be thrown away by incorporating them into creative projects.
For starters, have a look at this Pinterest board.
10. Life cycle analysis
A life cycle analysis is one technique to demonstrate pupils what occurs when something is thrown away as opposed to recycled or reused. This flow chart illustrates how an object affects the environment from the time its raw materials are extracted until it decomposes and everything in between. The life cycle evaluation will reveal a greater environmental impact when something is discarded rather than reused or repurposed. The environmental impact is reduced when something is reused or recycled because no fresh raw materials need to be extracted.
You might wish to go over a very basic life cycle analysis as a class with younger kids. Older pupils might be able to conduct independent research on the extraction, production, distribution, and disposal of materials. By asking them to develop a flowchart of their life cycle analysis, you may include a technological element.
This activity on the life cycle of trees would be a good place to start before moving on to the life cycle assessment of paper products.
11. Research project
The research project and paper or presentation can be done by older pupils, who can also present their findings. Allowing students to use Prezi or PowerPoint to create their presentations allows you to integrate a technological element. Here are a few concepts:
- Look into a group that contributes to community recycling, reuse, or reduction in some form. What kind of services do they offer? How do they lessen the influence we have on the environment?
- What are some methods we may use to reuse or repair things rather than tossing them away?
- What significant historical events involved reducing, reusing, and recycling? For instance, regulations, customs, or creations.
- How are these three practises carried out in other nations?
What sort of projects have you carried out with your students to educate them the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling? Comment with your thoughts!