(Plastic Water Bottles, Google Images, 2013)
The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle by Alison Inches and Pete Whitehead is great way to introduce students to the product's life cycle. This book follows the diary of a spunky plastic bottle as he journeys from the refinery plant, to the manufacturing line, to the store shelf, to a garbage can, and ultimately to a recycling plant where he is reborn as a fleece jacket. This book provides students an inside perspective of the life cycle of a plastic bottle, and the ecological significance behind each product and the resources required to make it. This book is available at most major book retailers.
The Bottle Schools page on the Inspiration Green website provides chronological photos and a three minute video of a project in which plastic bottles were used in the construction of a school house in San Pablo, Philippines and Guatemala. The projects are completed by volunteers and community members, including children. Step-by-step instructions are also included. This project is a great example of a way to reuse plastic bottles.
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"The Story of Bottled Water", a video presented on The Story of Stuff website, is a resource for teachers to become familiar with the relationship between manufactured demand and bottled water. While this video can be biased, the information provided is interesting and worth viewing. It can help you to prepare yourself to tackle the topic of tap water vs. bottled water. It may even be a good resource for high school students.
This New York Times article is about the squelching of the proposed "water bottle ban" at the Grand Canyon National Park after conversations between park officials and Coca-Cola, a major donor to the park. While Coca-Cola was against the ban of bottled water, they were willing to help fund a recycling program for the park. This article should be used to help teachers familiarize themselves with the influence large corporations hold in the life cycle of plastic bottles. It could also be a great research resource for high school students.
The Back2Tap Program is designed to educate others and reduce waste. The main missions of the program are to "reduce the use of disposable plastic and raise awareness of the global water crisis"(2013). This site includes teacher resources and an option to sign your school up to become a "Bottle Free School". Although slightly off topic, the Facts page connects you to experts at the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) to answer the question "Is my tap water safe to drink?".
This Beverage Container Survey could be used to survey the beverage containers your students use through out the school day, including snack, lunch, and sports activities. The survey collects data about the type of container used (bottled water, other disposable plastic bottle, aluminum can, tetra pack bag, paperboard cartons, and reusable container), whether it was brought from home or purchased at school, and if it was recycled or thrown away. It is also suggested that this information could be graphed and/or charted (bar or pie) and used to calculate fractions, decimals, and/or percentages. This is a great tool to include mathematics in the exploration of this science topic.
This Steps in the Life Cycle of a Disposable Plastic Water Bottle worksheet is a great activity for elementary students. The activity makes the information accessible to all learners by cutting, rearranging, and pasting pictures while discussing the cycle with a partner (visual, tactile, kinesthetic, and auditory). This activity could be used as an introduction for older students or an assessment for younger students.
This Back2Tap School Video is designed to be informative for students, teachers, and parents alike. The video provides information about where tap comes from, a small quiz about plastics, information on the life cycle of a plastic bottle, and why it is important to choose tap water over bottled water. This video is about 9 minutes long. Another great introduction to the topic. Unfortunately, the video must be downloaded as it is no longer available on YouTube.
"What is the life cycle of a plastic bottle?" is a good blog article to help teachers familiarize themselves with the product life cycle. It provides specific information about the materials plastic bottles can be made of and what can happen to them if they are thrown out or recycled. The author seems to have a negative bias toward to the production and use of plastic bottles. It is suggested this article be read objectively.
"Inside the life of a plastic bottle" is another good blog article to help teachers familiarize themselves with the product life cycle. Instead of referring to the production, consumption, and disposal of plastic bottles, it refers to them as birth, life, and death of the product. Some really good facts and statistics are provided through out the article, as well. This could also be a great resource for high school students.
Recycling Facts, Games and Crafts is a great workbook style packet for grades 3-6 to explore the topic of recycling. Designed by the Department of Conservation Division of Recycling, this workbook includes crosswords, word searches, coloring pages, and craft ideas related to reducing, reusing, and recycling. It is broken down into sections about aluminum, glass, and plastic. I suggest using this workbook as an additive element, rather than supplemental. It is a great way to explore the big idea and practice key terms and phrases, a possible extension activity for those who work faster than others.
"Recycling Empty Plastic Bottles" is wonderful 15 minute video about what happens to plastic bottles after you put them in recycle bins. In this video we visit a recycle factory and follow empty plastic bottles as they are recycled into other products. This is a great way for students and teachers alike to visually experience the recycling process. Besides, how many people know that their water bottle could become a jacket?
"Plastic Bottle Awareness" is a short video about how some PSU students used plastic bottles to create awareness on their campus. They created a giant plastic bottle made of plastic bottles and displayed it, along with a poster of statics and facts, on their campus. This is an annual project. This video is a great way to show students how creativity can play a part in bringing awareness to their community.
"The Life Cycle of Plastic Bottle" is a handout providing more focus on the amount of energy used in the product's life cycle. A second sheet is included, providing facts about water bottles in a "did you know?" format. This is a great reference sheet for middle and high school students.
This "Plastic Bottles" lesson plan is designed for a 5th grade reading class. It allows students to apply targeted reading strategies using real world context. It helps students to build upon their background knowledge in science while exploring a sustainability topic. This lesson plan includes reading samples, activities, and assessments, including a PowerPoint quiz. It also includes some additional resources, such as videos that explore the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
This "Journey of a Plastic Bottle" lesson plan is designed for intermediate to high-level English Language Learners. It was developed by an ESL Instructor at City College of San Francisco for adult ELL students, however, it can be easily adapted to a middle/high school social studies class. This lesson plan requires students to "examine the use of bottled water and its connection to the problem of plastic pollution in our oceans. As a culminating experience, students develop a project to raise awareness in the community about the problem of plastic waste" (Holsten). This is a great lesson plan for middle/high school students to explore civic engagement and responsibility.
"Our Water, Our Planet" is a lesson plan developed by Scholastic and Brita designed for grades 3-5 to explore environmental issues through language arts, science, and mathematics. This lesson plan is a three day lesson that examines how everything is connected, the life cycle of bottle, and the community's tap water. It includes free printables, extension activities, and family activities. This is just another great way to explore the sustainability topic of plastic production, consumption, and disposal.
"Water Bottle Life Cycle: Break the Cycle" is a lesson plan developed by Anne Marie Raymondi of the Sustainability Science for Sustainable Schools program at Arizona State University. This is a 50 minute lesson that explores the life cycle of a water bottle. It can be easily adapted to be appropriate for grades 4-12, based on assignments and expansions available. This is a great introduction to the concept of reduce, reuse, and recycle. This lesson allows students to explore the topic in a personal manner.
Arizona State University's Sustainability Science Education for Teachers website is a must have resource for teachers seeking to include the four ways of thinking (futures, values, systems, strategic) in their classroom. This site provides definitions and examples of each way of thinking, as well as additional resources for the classroom, including technology tools such as Gapminder. One can also find research about the importance of sustainability science in education and news about sustainability topics. This site is a great way to stay up-to-date on the status of sustainability science in education.
This Environmental Magazine article researches the specific key competencies essential to sustainability science education and problem solving. Since sustainability science has become a more popular concept in schools, identifying these key competencies is important to program design and teaching. This article can help educators better understand the concept and its competencies in order to appropriately include and explore the concept in their classrooms. It is full of sustainability topics and issues, as well as additional resources.