STEAM education for plastic-free primary schools
In a circular economy, upstream innovation is about tracing a problem back to its root cause and tackling it there. It means that rather than working out how to deal with a pile of waste, we prevent it from being created in the first place.
Credits: Ellen MacArthur Foundation
This document presents the methodology behind the development of the upcoming educational material STEAM-Box, the pedagogies it applies and how it synergises with other project outcomes. It concludes with the proposed didactic activities to be included in the STEAM-Box.
A rather pessimistic article on plastic recycling, with a lot of arguments for why recycling doesn’t work today – and is not expected to work in the future. Although it stems from data in the USA, the situation and the challenges described stand for Europe and all over the world.
This tool which takes the form of an e-diary aims to monitor the plastic consumption within school and to raise awareness about the harmful impact of plastics, especially the Single Use Plastics (SUPs). The App provides green alternatives to commonly found SUPs, encouraging users’ creativity in achieving a plastic-free world.
Sign up to start monitoring and to change your consumption habits: Sign up here
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Curious to learn more? Watch the YouTube instruction videos:
Microplastics permeate the globe from the oceans’ depths to the highest mountaintop — and our bodies. Here’s everything you need to know.
Source: The Week
The 1.5 day long meeting that was organised on 31 March and 1st of April, in Piraeus, Greece back to back with the EU Seminar, was held in order to monitor progress and discuss the next steps within PLASTEAM. After the official announcement of the Plastic Footprint, that will from now on be applied in the Partner schools and beyond, the project will shift focus on its next important deliverables, that is the Contest and STEAM-Box.
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The Seminar officially launched the Plastic Footprint Application and announced the upcoming Contest and STEAM-Box. A total of 40 people from seven countries (Finland, Italy, Greece, Malta, Netherlands, Romania and Spain) and various backgrounds participated (39 face-to-face and 1 online).
During the event participants tried out the Footprint and discussed its potential use in various educational settings. Moreover, they discussed the challenges they face in their schools in phasing out plastics and proposed a series of educational interventions to start coping with this challenge.
As the next generation will lead the global transition to a circular economy, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has created a set of resources to engage primary and secondary level children with circular economy — inspiring them to redesign our ‘take, make, waste’ system to make things better for people and the planet.
The resources (videos, reading materials, lesson plans, and interactive projects) on topics including climate change, fashion, food, plastics, and cities, can be used at home or school.
Refill is an award-winning UK-based campaign from “City to Sea” to help people live with less plastic. Anyone can download the free app to tap into a global network of places to reduce, reuse and refill. From a coffee on your commute to drinking water on the go, or even shopping with less plastic.
How do you consider the role of art in transmitting powerful messages to the public? These “Plastic popsicles” are a great example how the visual arts can engage a broader public in issues of water pollution.
Students from New Taipei City collected samples from urban rivers, creeks and ports which they then froze in moulds and preserved in resin. ‘We hope when more people see this they can change their lifestyles,’ they said.
Credits: theguardian.com
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