Teaching sustainability through play and storytelling. The 3D-printer is a tool to stimulate this.
Our world is subject to big changes. People change and we will inherit the problems of the past. As consumption increases the paper and plastic packaging of these goods becomes rubbish. There are many methods to recycle plastic and paper. Most of them are known but some of these are unknown. Plastic is a common material and is everywhere in our houses, in the garden and in our towns and cities. However when this plastic becomes rubbish it takes many years to break down in our environment.
On Vlieland we are developing lesson plans to stimulate a sustainable society. Through play and storytelling we are teaching the children to thinking sustainable. The 3D-printer is a tool to stimulate this. In the lessons we look at how to recycle the waste plastic by being able to make new things with the 3D printer.
With a group of 25 children you have to take two months to complete all the lessons.
Cees Visser
Study group 3D-Vlie©
Lesson 1: What is sustainability
Length: 60 minutes
Necessaires: The environment around school and the search form (attachment 1)
Organisation: Activity outside, child-observation, conversation with the group.
Grade: 6, 7 en 8 (10-13 years)
Goal: At the end of the lesson the children know what sustainability is, how they can help with thinking sustainable and the know something about sustainable energy.
Lesson:
Introduction
Tell the children about sustainability. Everything what sustainable is, is correct. You will see that they know much about energy.
Bring the conversation to recycling. Children know examples with paper and glass. Ask the children or they know what happened with waste plastics and how the recycle it. Ask them also or they have ideas to recycle plastics.
Main part
Tell the children that they gone make a walk in the surroundings of the school. In groups from two or three children they have to look to some sustainable aspects of the surrounding. They use the search form from attachment 1. The orders on the search form are for the conversation in the classroom after the walk. A walk of an half our should be enough to see things.
Evaluation
Discuss with the children what they have seen in the environment and what they miss in the surrounding. What’s the best way to put it in the environment. The waste plastic they have seen in the surrounding is the base for the next lesson.
Lesson 2: Learning think and work sustainable
Length: 90 minutes
Necessaires: The surroundings around school, bag, knowledge about sustainable materials
Organisation: The children searching on the beach for materials we can recycle.
Grade: 6, 7 en 8 (10-13 years)
Goal: The children knows what materials they can en can’t recycle. The children also know what materials can be nocuous for them self of the environment. The children learn also to think creative with materials they have found in the surroundings around school.
Lesson:
Introduction
The introduction in the lesson before this lesson was about sustainability. This lesson is the next lesson in the series. With the knowledge that the children have about the subject we are looking for good examples from sustainable and recyclable materials.
Tell the children that plastic not always usable is. In the next lesson you will show how the 3D-printer can play a role in it. So they shouldn’t look only for wood, rope and bottles, they have to look for plastic to.
Main part
The children search on the beach and surroundings for recyclable goods. Everything what they think that’s useable can they pick up and bring it back to school. What they can’t use can they put in the waste box.
Evaluation
At the end you can have a conversation with the children about what they have found, what they can use, and what they can’t use. Dirty materials can be cleaned before the can be used in the next lesson.
Lesson 3: designing with waste materials
Length: 120 minutes
Necessaires: Collected material from the last lesson
Organisation: In the classroom. The children use their own collected material. Make a simple example
Grade: 6, 7 en 8 (10-13 years)
Goal: At the end of the lesson the children know how they can make their found and waste material functional.
Lesson:
Introduction
Show the children your simple example and tell them that you have made it from waste material. They see that the can make it functional to reuse the rough material. Be sure that your example is very simple so there is no influence on the creative mind of the children.
Main part
The children create a own conceived shape from waste material. They can make art or something functional. Every child can make his own choice.
Evaluation
Talk with the children about what they have created and let them see that it’s possible to build something functional with wasted material.
Lesson 4: Printing
Length: 180 minutes (for about 5/6 students)
Necessaires: The products from the last lesson, 3D- printer, laptop
Organisation: In the classroom. The children use their own collected material. Make a simple example
Grade: 6, 7 en 8 (10-13 years)
Goal: At the end of the lesson the children can make the link between waste materials and 3D printing. They can design something creative and functional.
Lessons:
Introduction
Tell the children that it’s possible to use the waste materials for 3D-printing. Show them the movie of a shredder for plastic scrap. Let them think about the possibilities what a shredder and a filamaker can do with the plastic problem.
Main part
Let the children design what they want. There are a few goals. It should be a creative and functional solution for the plastic problem. So they aren’t allowed to print a gadget. When the gadget is functional and it can be used in the daily life then it is allowed.
Evaluation
Discuss with the children about what they have designed and let them tell the story. The story is a strong part from the design. If there is a good story than you know that they have thinking about solution, designing, creativity and functionality.
Lesson 5: Endless future dreams
Length: 180 minutes (for about 5/6 students)
Necessaires: The products from the last lesson, 3D- printer, laptop with TinkerCad, Blender
Organisation: In the classroom. The children use their own collected material. Make a simple example
Grade: 6, 7 en 8 (10-13 years)
Goal: Children can make their own functional products from scrap materials.
Lessons:
Introduction
The children are looking for their own materials on the beach, surroundings around the school and the environment. They have to use plastic materials to put into the shredder.
Main part
Children design for themselves for others by request products from wasted material. They are able to use the shredder, filamaker and the printer to design functional and creative products.
Evaluation
At the end of every lesson you can discuss with the pupils about what they have produced, what was there goal and worked it well.
You can do this lesson as many times as you want.
Lesson plan 6: Good and bad practice
Good practice
Enthusiastic children
Positive reactions from the community
New openings for the future
Children who think about complete other things than a year ago
The community tells the children about their ideas and the children think about solutions
Many contacts with external organisations
Learning thinking in solutions
Learn to make things better
They learned that the printer is not the most important part of the project
Making sustainability concrete
Bad practice
Not working printers
Not working software
It costs lots of time because things don’t work
When you have to work with 27 pupils you can’t do the whole project
Lesson 5 isn’t feasible because the shredder hasn’t arrived