Project results
Activities
Be an eco- sculpture architect.
Building environmental awareness is a process that should be initiated at a young age.
Reusing raw materials has a huge impact on the environment. Recycling and upcycling save the energy and resources needed to make items, reduce landfill, and prevent further batches of materials from entering circulation. Upcycling used items can also inspire artists or fashion designers.
Duration: 2 hours
Interaction: Pairs / teams
Explain to the students the importance of protecting the environment and people’s influence on it.
Ask learners:
What kind of waste do you throw away?
How often do you take the rubbish out?
Do you segregate waste at home?
What to do to be eco friendly?
2. The teacher states the objectives of the lesson.
3. The teacher asks learners questions connected to recycling, upcycling and explains the terms ( it is useful to present short films about recycling and upcycling).
Recycling-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Fex-wvrOZf4
Upcycling-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsfG7i8Lyf8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jI27zb35_A
Waste separation. The most important principle is: separate raw materials from non-recyclable waste. Which raw materials do we separate? These are: plastics and metals, paper and glass packaging.
The learners have to classify this waste into different bins: newspapers and magazines, notebooks and books, unscrewed and crushed plastic drinks bottles, milk cartons, bottle tops and caps from jars, tree bark, grass cuttings, fruit peelings, yoghurt packaging, shampoo bottle, jam jar.
Tell some additional information.
What time in nature decomposes:
a paper handkerchief? (3 months)
a match? (6 months)
Chewing gum? (5 years)
a can? ( 200 years)
a plastic bottle? (100 to 1,000 years)
How long does it take to produce:
100 sheets of paper? (Cutting down a two-metre tree, energy of 50 light bulbs, 50 litres of water)
100 sheets of unbleached paper from recycled paper? (2 newspapers, 8 light bulbs, 8 litres of water)
What can be produced from:
One fleece jumper? (from 27 plastic bottles)
One car? (from 19 000 tin cans)
One bicycle? (from 670 fizzy drink cans)
Learners have to imagine they are architects who want to help to reduce the waste and their task is to build eco -sculptures.
Provide some video examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckUxqwwCKGk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00xeypmHMbg
Give instructions how to make a cardboard castle - students may not know what sculpture to make, so this is a perfect idea.
Video tutorial how to make a castle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vdO2Qm7q1w
Stages how to make a castle from a cardboard:
image source: https://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Castle-out-of-Cardboard-Boxes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vdO2Qm7q1w
Learners work in pairs or groups of 4 and create different sculptures made from materials brought earlier (cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, cans, bottle caps, rubber bands, etc.).
Teaching young learners about upcycling and recycling is the best way of building environmental awareness. Especially action learning like building sculptures helps to understand the importance of ecological behaviour.
image source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vdO2Qm7q1w
7. Exhibition of eco-sculptures - a way of encouraging the rest of the school students to be ECO.
Art: In art lessons, learners can use eco-sculptures as models for drawing or painting. They can prepare an exhibition of works based on museum exhibitions with explanations of used materials and how long it takes to decompose in nature. The teacher can show the learners examples of modern art using the internet. This activity promotes developing creativity.
Mathematics: In mathematics, learners can prepare the table and measure the sculptures - their length, width, height. They can count the number of ingredients used to build the sculptures and then compare the results. This activity promotes developing global awareness, social responsibility and mathematical skills.
From cardboard to art. Larger than life sculptures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckUxqwwCKGk
How to build the castle out of cardboard boxes.
https://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Castle-out-of-Cardboard-Boxes
How to make your own cardboard play castle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vdO2Qm7q1w
How long it takes 50 common items to decompose. https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/how-long-does-it-take-to-decompose#:~:text=According%20to%20Electronics%20Recyclers%20International,of%20computers%20and%20other%20electronics.
Make art using a cardboard box. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00xeypmHMbg
Recycling for kids. Learn how to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Fex-wvrOZf4
Rubbish Rebels video. Upcycling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jI27zb35_A
Upcycling: what is it and why it matters.
"The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein"
