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LSF's Reusable Bags Action Toolkit for Elementary and Middle Years Students
Action Toolkit
Elementary, Middle
Description
Reusable Bags is a series of interesting activities through which students become acquainted with the concept of reusing. The resource emphasizes reducing and reusing over recycling. Students take action to decrease the number of plastic bags in circulation by constructing their own reusable bags using old clothing items.
The resource includes an introduction and is divided into four parts: preparatory activities, a bag-making day, follow-up activities and further opportunities for promoting reuse. The resource also offers an appendix that provides background information and directions to several related resources. These activities can take place at any time during the year.
The resource also provides an activity allowing students to connect their learning to the SDGs and apply the knowledge they gained throughout this action toolkit to think critically about them. Through interactive activities and hands-on projects, teachers can help students understand the importance of the SDGs and how they can make a difference. By introducing students to the SDGs, they can better understand how their actions can help create a more sustainable world.
To access more LSF Action Projects click here
General Assessment
What skills does this resource explicitly teach?
With access to the toolbox on the r4r.ca website, cooperative learning and values clarification strategies would be explicitly taught. Through discussion and reflection students learn to build consensus.
Strengths
This Reusable Bags resource has succeeded in covering all of the issues and ideas to explore the importance of reducing and reusing over recycling. The activities are interesting and thought provoking. The students have many opportunities to be fully engaged in the activities which are inquiry based and integrate several curriculum areas. There is good background information provided and a good list of additional resources.
Weaknesses
No mention of inviting individuals to speak about waste management or artists who use recyclable materials in their work.
Relevant Curriculum Units
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- Language and text can be a source of creativity and joy
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- Grade 4
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- Arts: Visual Arts: To produce individual works in the visual arts
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- Arts
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- Arts Education: Dance, drama, music, and visual arts are each unique languages for creating and communicating.
- English/Language Arts
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- Compose and Create
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- Step 2Select a grade level
- Grade 4
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- Arts
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Arts Education: Dance, drama, music, and visual arts are each unique languages for creating and communicating.
- English/Language Arts
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Language and text can be a source of creativity and joy
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- Math
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Development of computational fluency and multiplicative thinking requires analysis of patterns and relations in multiplication and division
- Grade 5
- Step 3Select a subject
- English/Language Arts
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Language and text can be a source of creativity and joy
- Using language in creative and playful ways helps us understand how language works
- Math
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Numbers describe quantities that can be represented by equivalent fractions
- Science
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Science 5: Earth materials change as they move through the rock cycle and can be used as natural resources.
- Grade 6
- Step 3Select a subject
- Arts
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Arts Education: Dance, drama, music, and visual arts are each unique languages for creating and communicating.
- English/Language Arts
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Language and text can be a source of creativity and joy
- Questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens
- Math
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Properties of objects and shapes can be described, measured, and compared using volume, area, perimeter, and angles
- Grade 7
- Step 3Select a subject
- Arts
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Arts Education: Dance, drama, music, and visual arts are each unique languages for creating and communicating
- English/Language Arts
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Developing our understanding of how language works allows us to use it purposefully
- Language and text can be a source of creativity and joy
- Grade 8
- Step 3Select a subject
- Arts
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Arts Education: Artists often challenge the status quo and open us to new perspectives and experiences.
- Arts Education: Dance, drama, music, and visual arts are each unique languages for creating and communicating.
- English/Language Arts
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Language and text can be a source of creativity and joy
- Questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes to our ability to be educated and engaged citizens.
Themes Addressed
Citizenship (3)
- Community-Building and Participation
- General Guide to Taking Action
- Sustainable Consumption
Human Health & Environment (1)
- Environmental Contaminants & Health Hazards
Waste Management (1)
- Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Sustainability Education Principles
| Principle | Rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Consideration of Alternative Perspectives | Very Good | The resource provides a positive bias with well researched background information from many sources to support the importance of reusing over recycling. |
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives:
| ||
| Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions | Good | The resource includes the positive effect of reusable bags on the environment. Statistics and data are provided to explain the economic impact of using reusable bags. The impact of reusing demonstrates how to be more socially responsible. |
| Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions: Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.
| ||
| Respects Complexity | Good | The resource provides opportunities to analyze a life cycle of a bag. It includes a discovery of bio degradation. Several opportunities are presented for promoting reuse through three action plans. |
| Respects Complexity: The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected. | ||
| Acting on Learning | Very Good | In part D of the resource three activities are presented to involve the students in authentic action experiences. One is a clothing swap, another is emphasizing reuse, reuse and reuse. The third is organizing a campaign to promote reusing. |
| Acting on Learning: Learning moves from understanding issues to working towards positive change — in personal lifestyle, in school, in the community, or for the planet
| ||
| Values Education | Good | Through the open-ended activities and discussions and cooperative learning activities students have many opportunities to clarify and express their own beliefs and values. |
| Values Education: Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values. | ||
| Empathy & Respect for Humans | Poor/Not considered | This is not considered in this resource. |
| Empathy & Respect for Humans: Empathy and respect are fostered for diverse groups of humans (including different genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences, etc.). | ||
| Personal Affinity with Earth | Good | There is an opportunity within the resource for students to work outside and to collect data for the reusing project. Also the campaign to promote reuse can take place outside as well. Suggestions are made to promote the campaign by organizing a barbecue and showcasing reusable items and things made by the students from reusable materials. |
| Personal Affinity with Earth: Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.
| ||
| Locally-Focused Learning | Very Good | By researching the local school and community and using the information and materials to engage in the activities would be locally-focused and would be relevant to the lives of the learners. |
| Locally-Focused Learning: Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community.
| ||
| Past, Present & Future | Good | The research and information exploration as well as the background information would provide ample understanding of the past as well as the present. Engaging in activities in the present would provide the necessary impetus for further action and the action plans would create a positive vision for the future. |
| Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future. | ||
Pedagogical Approaches
| Principle | Rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Open-Ended Instruction | Very Good | The research, discussion and discovery learning activities provide students with opportunities to explore more than one 'right' answer. |
| Open-Ended Instruction
: Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer. | ||
| Integrated Learning | Very Good | The activities are structured to integrate core curriculum subjects as well as creative elements with sustainable principles. |
| Integrated Learning: Learning brings together content and skills from more than one subject area
| ||
| Inquiry Learning | Good | The activities are structured to allow students to discover and build knowledge for themselves. This is provided by the surveys they can conduct, the experiments, the life cycle analysis and reflection. |
| Inquiry Learning: Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.
| ||
| Differentiated Instruction | Good | The cooperative learning strategies and adaptation of some of the activities are all for a range of learning styles. Peer teaching and working with partners would help students with learning difficulties. |
| Differentiated Instruction: Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.
| ||
| Experiential Learning | Good | The theme, activities, and action plans facilitate direct and authentic experiences. |
| Experiential Learning: Authentic learning experiences are provided
| ||
| Cooperative Learning | Good | Reference is made to the toolbox provided on the r4r.ca website where cooperative learning skills and strategies are available for teaching and practicing. |
| Cooperative Learning: Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.
| ||
| Assessment & Evaluation | Very Good | Assessment options are stated where applicable with reference to monitoring student's pair share work, progress of the school reuse/waste audit worksheet, reflections in the green journal, life cycle analysis, rubrics and trivia quizzes. |
| Assessment & Evaluation: Tools are provided that help students and teachers to capture formative and summative information about students' learning and performance. These tools may include reflection questions, checklists, rubrics, etc. | ||
| Peer Teaching | Good | Students have opportunities to present information to each other, to their teachers and the community when organizing their campaign. |
| Peer Teaching: Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.
| ||
| Case Studies | Good | Case studies are embedded in the references to websites as well as in the background information in Appendix A. |
| Case Studies: Relevant case studies are included. Case studies are thorough descriptions of real events from real situations that students use to explore concepts in an authentic context. | ||
| Locus of Control | Good | As these activities are for a range of the learner's ages there is choice available for them to delve deeper into the subject matter. Also if the unit is presented as an inquiry-based project then it provides more opportunities for expansion. |
| Locus of Control: Meaningful opportunities are provided for students to choose elements of program content, the medium in which they wish to work, and/or to go deeper into a chosen issue. | ||
