Garbage In,
Garbage Out
A WebQuest for
6th-8th Grade (Enviromental Science)
Designed by
Brian Enderle
and Lois Gatton
enderleb @clearfork.k12.oh.us
gattonl @clearfork.k12.oh.us
Introduction
| Task | Process | Evaluation
| Conclusion | Credits
Introduction
Did you know that each American citizen generates 4 pounds of garbage
per day? We throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial
airfleet every 3 months. We dispose of enough glass bottles
and jars to fill the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center every
two weeks. Every week 500,000 trees are used to produce the 2/3 of
the newspapers that are never recycled. There are 2.5 million plastic
bottles thrown away every hour. Enough iron and steel is disposed
of to continously supply all of the nation's automakers.
What can you do to help save our planet? Believe it or not there
many things that you can do at home that will greatly influence the enviroment.
The Task
-
You and your teammates
will investigate and make a list of at least 10 items that can be recycled
and at least 10 items that require special disposal.
-
Develop a list which
consists of 10 enviromentally friendly substances that you could use to
replace 10 commonly used household products that are harmful to the enviroment.
-
Using the information
you have gathered from your WebQuest you and your teammates will create
a public service announcement to encourage recycling.
The Process
You will be assigned to work in
a small group of students (3-5). As a team you will be required to
explore several web pages. Your group will be expected to answer
these questions.
1. What 10 items did you find
that can be recycled?
2. What are 10 items that require
special disposal?
3. What determines if a substance
is "environmentally friendly"?
4. What are some environmentally
friendly substances that can replace common hazardous household products?
(at least 10)
5. What is the purpose of a public
service announcement?
Your last assignment is to put
your new knowledge to use. As a team you will be required to create
a project that will inform people in your community about the benefits
of recycling. Your team will be divided into two groups. One
group will be informed recyclers the other group will be non-recyclers.
The informed recyclers must persuade the non-recyclers to begin recycling.
You will be assigned a specific role within your group. The roles
include:
-
a non-recycler who is apathetic about
the environment
-
a non-recycler who feels it is too
time-consuming to bother with recycling
-
a recycler who recycles everything
all the time
-
a recycler who recycles paper and
glass
Finally, your team will present your
public service announcement to the other members of your class.
| Resources
Additional Resources
|
 |
Evaluation
You will receive a group grade
for the following assignments:
-
list of 10 items that can be recycled
-
list of 10 items that require special
disposal
-
your group's own definition of what
constitutes an environmentally safe product
-
list of 10 environmentally safe alternative
substances and the hazardous household items they replace
-
statement of the purpose of a public
service announcement
-
group presentation of your public
service announcement to the classroom
Conclusion
Bravo! You
have a learned a great deal of information that can help save our planet.
You can also influence others about the benefits of recycling. You
have the power to make a difference. Remember that even though your
project is complete there is still work to be done. The choice is
yours.
Credits &
References
Last updated
on May 25,2000. Based
on a template from The
WebQuest Page
