Jenny Hellstrom, Rachel Kohl, Kristin Letrich, Karen Martin, Kim Stange

The learner will create a graph on Excel. The learner will create a presentation on PowerPoint. The learner will conduct research about material waste in a specific city using the Internet. The learner will complete a Thinksheet. The learner will complete material waste activity log sheet.

Make a graph based on their class’ production of waste and garbage – Excel Conduct research and record information about material waste in a specific city - Internet Create a PowerPoint presentation – PowerPoint

The topic of material waste, garbage and litter is important to students because it is something that affects their everyday lives and something that they encounter on a daily basis. It is also something that they have first hand experience with and will be able to easily relate to because of its prevalence in their lives. Through the use of the Internet, making graphs on Excel and creating a PowerPoint presentation about the effects of material waste on our everyday lives, the students will be able to more accurately understand how much material waste is produced by people like them each day. They will be able to relate their experiences and findings by making a graph of how much material waste was used by their class and communicate this to others. The PowerPoint presentations will also be used to gather the information learned about material waste and communicate it to the rest of the class.

Students will be assigned homework to keep a log of everything they throw away for one day (over the weekend). They will have a handout that contains five different types of garbage (paper, plastic, glass, aluminum and other) and they will categorize what they throw away into these groups. Upon returning to class, the teacher will gather all this data on the board in these categories and record it for students to use to make a graph.

Make a graph of all different types of garbage the class threw away (Excel) Research amount of waste in one city (Internet) Make a presentation with a partner to share with the rest of the class about the problem of material waste (PowerPoint)

Students will make a graph of the entire class’ data from their homework where they kept a log of everything they threw away for one day.

Students will complete a Thinksheet with questions from Bloom’s Taxonomy about the topic of material waste.

Students will present their PowerPoints to the rest of the class

Go outside school and observe and record litter that they find Create posters to hang around school that advocate proper removal of waste products and how to reduce the amount of waste each person produces Write a letter to a city official advocating the appropriate removal of waste and the importance of not littering in our cities

Rubric for PowerPoint presentation that students create Completion of garbage waste worksheet Completion of Thinksheet Completion of graph