What it's all about...
Earth Smart Students is a flexible
educational resource designed for primary school teachers. You
can use it as a stand alone program, or as an extensive source
of activities and lessons that can be used to expand your own
lessons and units on the environment, waste and recycling. The
activities and lessons are also great to use on school camps,
peer support/mentoring programs or in other extra-curricular
settings.
The pack includes hands-on lessons and activities, enrichment
ideas, journal writing assignments, and other educational tools
related to preventing and reducing waste. Its multidisciplinary
focus includes Maths, Science, Art, Society and the Environment,
English, and Health.
The lessons and activities will encourage your students to use
reading, writing, and problem-solving skills and help them
understand how they can "make a difference" in their home,
school, and community environment.
Because recycling and waste issues are intimately connected with
resource and energy use, global climate change, air pollution,
water pollution, and other concerns, lessons and activities from
the Earth Smart Students Resource Pack can easily be
incorporated into other environmental or ecological topics that
you will be focussing on with students in your class.
As well as saving you time...
The Earth Smart Students Resource Pack
will:
-
Stimulate your students to think
critically about their own actions, the results of their
actions, and to assess their own resource conservation and
waste prevention values.
-
Help your students understand
the connections among the use of natural resources, use of
products, waste disposal, and causes and effects of
environmental impacts.
-
Introduce and explain behaviours
that conserve resources, reduce environmental impacts, and
enhance sustainability such as source reduction, buying
recycled, buying with less packaging, and composting.
-
Help protect your students’
health through increased awareness and behavioural changes
related to the safe use, storage, and disposal of hazardous
household products, such as cleaners, pesticides, and
batteries.
-
Help your students understand
the concept of personal responsibility toward the
environment and to inspire them to make a positive
environmental impact in their home, school, and community.
-
Improve your students knowledge
in Maths, Science, Art, Society and the Environment,
English, and Health as skills from these subject areas are
continually used and expanded upon throughout the lessons
and activites.
-
Make recycling and waste
education interesting, fun, and an integral part of primary
school education.
Summary of Modules
There are three modules in Earth Smart Students. Each with
several chapters which include one or more fact sheets that
provide background information on a topic. There’s also indexes
showing the subject areas, and skills used for each activity.
Each activity includes a suggested duration, a list of materials
needed, and other information to make delivering the lessons as
easy and smooth as possible.
MODULE 1: Where Products Come
From, How They’re Made, and the Waste They Produce
In this module, your students will develop a foundation for
understanding the importance of managing waste properly. They
will learn where the products they use every day come from and
how much and what kind of waste these products create. Students
also will learn that waste is not only created by throwing
things away, but can also be produced by human activities such
as mining raw materials from the ground and manufacturing goods
in factories. This part of the resource will help students
understand why it is important to prevent waste in the first
place, recycle, compost, and reuse—activities they will learn
more about in the next module.
MODULE 2: Source Reduction,
Recycling, Composting, Land filling, or Combustion
In this unit, teachers and students will learn the basics of the
common waste management options used in Australia today. They
will learn how to prevent waste before it is even created (known
as source reduction), the mechanics and benefits of recycling
and buying recycled products, how to make and use compost, and
the realities of waste disposal through land filling and
combustion. By learning that rubbish doesn’t just “go away,”
students will gain an appreciation for how their everyday
actions and decisions affect the environment.
MODULE 3: Putting It All Together
- A Review of Lessons and Options
Once students understand the range of available recycling and
waste management options—including their different purposes,
benefits, and impacts—they are ready for a series of activities
that utilise and reinforce their accumulated knowledge. This
module allows students to integrate the key lessons learned from
previous sections and exercise decision-making and analytical
skills while having fun.
Everything you
need is included:
A Teachers Manual (200+ pages)
A
Quick Start Guide
Student Handouts & Worksheets
49
Lessons & Activity Plans
10 Fact Sheets
Grade/Subject/Skills Indexes
Glossary of Skills Used
A companion USB
Plus much more...
Please note: Earth Smart
Students includes the rights to photocopy or reproduce all the
handouts and worksheets for students at your school. No need to
purchase workbooks.
Supplementary Resources Available
Earth Smart Schools Report: Tools to Reduce Waste
Schools accumulate tons of waste—from paper and computers to
food and books. The low cost, and easy-to implement suggestions
in this report will help your school not only reduce
waste, but also ensure that waste generated is being handled in
the most environmentally friendly manner.
Networking License
A networking license to put the resources on your school’s
intranet or network.
How to Run an Earth Smart Students Day
This report provides advice, ideas, and inspiration to
teachers and school administrators for planning a hands-on
environmental awareness day at your school.
Resource Updates for 2 years
Adding updates for 2 years means there's no need to purchase new
editions for the next 2 years because as soon as new materials
are released they’ll be sent directly to you.
