Repair and Recycle Campaign

Objective:

In this module, students will discuss the value of repair and the importance of making products repairable and recyclable. Students will create guidelines for repairing and recycling products.

Deliverable:

Campaign materials such as posters, flyers, videos, announcements, etc.

Core Concepts:

  • Repair

  • Technical Communication

  • Recycling

  • Engineering Design

Standards Correlations:

This activity correlates to the following Next Generation Science Standards. These standards incorporate the Common Core Literacy Standards. This activity may correlate to other standards, but these are the best fit:

NGSS Engineering Design - Performance Expectations:

  • MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

  • MS-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.

Materials:

  • Computer to access the internet

  • Supplies to make campaign materials

Procedures:

Activity 1: Understanding Repair and Recycling

Watch iFixit’s mission video or read articles about electronics recycling (see resources below). Discuss the following things about repair and recycling:

  • What do you do with things that are broken?

  • What things do you think you should repair? What things do you think you should recycle?

  • How did you learn what things to throw away versus recycle?

Activity 2: Repairability Report

  • Have students research how complex things like electronics are recycled and repaired.

  • Have teams of students discuss what they feel should happen at the end of a device’s life, including reasons why. Have students brainstorm other options, such as donation.

  • Discuss the end-of-life plan (i.e. what should happen to a device when a user is finished with it, it is no longer useful, or broken) as a class. Decide on a protocol.

  • Create a repair and recycling plan for your school using the protocol. Have each student group be responsible for a piece of the campaign, including educating other students and faculty about repair and recycling. Create campaign materials (posters, collection bins, video, flyers, announcements, etc.) and share them with your school.

Discussion Topics:

  1. What types of things do we need to be aware of when we start education campaigns to be sensitive to the people we are educating?

  2. How do education campaigns affect our community? Our world?

  3. What can we do as a society to help people make informed decisions? What can we do as individuals to help?

Other Resources: