Learning to Give, Philanthropy education resources that teach giving and civic engagement
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Purpose:
The purpose of this lesson is to help learners understand what happens to trash that is generated.
Duration:
Two 45 Minute Class Periods
Objectives:
The learner will:
- identify and explain the different ways we dispose of trash.
- describe what happens in a landfill.
- create an edible landfill.
- identify the Core Democratic Values of individual freedom and responsibility for the common good and the role they play in determining the opportunity costs of proper trash disposal.
Materials:
- Plastic gloves for all learners
- Individual size pie tin or plastic bowl, one for each learner
- An overhead transparency of a cross section of a landfill (these are available on many web sites. One example: http://people.howstuffworks.com/landfill6.htm)
- Landfill materials: (Teacher's Note: Be aware of any food allergies that students may have.)
- Peanut butter (You can also use butterscotch pudding to avoid peanut butter allergies)
- Finely chopped walnuts
- Jelly-type fruit strips - two per learner. (You can also make small circles of finger gelatin as a substitute or flatten taffy.)
- String-like pieces of licorice (You can use multiple flavors of licorice, i.e. black, red, etc. to form a twist.)
- Crushed chocolate cookies
- Vanilla favored wafers or honeyed crackers - crushed
- Hard rock-like candy or suckers
- Plastic straws
- White chocolate chips
- Bite size black licorice
- Green cake decorating sprinkles (A small amount of green tinted applesauce may be substituted)
- Box of plain rice cereal
- Silver balls used for cake decorating
- The Trash Trail (Attachment One)
- Conscientious Engineering (Attachment Two)
- Filling Up (Attachment Three)
- Definitions of terms (Attachment Four)
Instructional Procedure(s):
Anticipatory Set:
Ask the learners to explain what happens to the unwanted materials; packaging, clothing, building materials, furniture, appliances, computers, food left-overs/scraps, grass clippings, etc. when people want to get rid of them? Have them guess what percentage of the whole is recovered and recycled, what percentage of the whole is burned, and what percentage of the whole is placed in landfills. After they have reached some sort of a consensus of opinion, share with them that 30 percent is recovered and recycled or composted, 14 percent is burned at combustion facilities, and the remaining 56 percent is disposed of in landfills.
Day One:
- Distribute a copy of the Trash Trail Recording Sheet (Attachment One) to each learner. Ask them what they think it means to reuse unwanted materials. Explain that this means that the discarded item remains the same with the same purpose, but is used again, often times by someone else. Ask learners to share examples of items that they think would be reusable. Ask if they know someone who has donated clothing or other items to charitable organizations or donated something to a disaster relief fund or shelter or family in their community.
- After a few minutes of discussion ask them to write a definition in the square for reuse and then write some examples. Follow the same procedure with each of the other terms. Students may work independently or with a partner to complete the Trash Trail Recording Sheet. (Teacher Note: Make a copy of the definitions contained in (Attachment Four) or give each learner or group of learners a copy to use while they work)
Day Two:
- Show an overhead, poster, or model of a cross-section of a landfill. Be sure to point out these components:
clay liner, drainage pipes, sand and gravel filters, alternating layers of dirt and trash, and a thick layer of dirt over top covered with grass.- Explain the function of each component:
- clay liner is used to prevent liquids from seeping into the groundwater supply. This is known as leaching the drainage pipes carry the liquids away from the bottom of the landfil
- sand and gravel layers act as filters. The sand and gravel hold the solid particles and allow the liquid to drain through -after the trash is put into the landfill; dirt is placed over that trash
- dirt layer contains microbes which can decompose the organic trash. After this layer of dirt is placed in the landfill, another layer of trash is placed over the dirt, then soil, trash, soil, etc. The alternating layers also prevent scavenging animals from picking at the trash. The layers also help control odors.
- thick layer of dirt covered with grass over the top of the landfill helps to make the land usable again.
- Distribute a copy of Conscientious Engineering (Attachment Two), and Filling Up (Attachment Three) to each learner and the materials listed for creating the landfill.
- Display an overhead transparency of a cross section of a landfill created as suggested in “Materials”. Instruct learners to use the landfill materials to construct a representation of the various components of a landfill.
- To conclude this lesson, ask learners to reflect on whether or not people should have the right to do whatever they choose with their waste materials. Be sure to discuss the Core Democratic Values as they pertain to individual freedoms vs. community responsibilities and the common good.
- As a journal entry, have learners summarize the making of a landfill as discussed in class, including a short paragraph representing their point of view about the relationship between individual freedoms vs. community responsibilities and the common good when dealing with issues of trash disposal.
- Have the learners enjoy eating their landfill.
Assessment:
The learner’s involvement in the class discussion, the successful completion of The Trash Trail Recording Sheet (see Attachment One), the construction of a landfill and the Journal Entry summarizing the class discussion and reflection on individual freedoms vs. community responsibilities as they pertain to trash disposal form the basis for the assessment of this lesson.
Bibliographical References:
- http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/facts.htm
- http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ChristmasCountdown/
story?id=1425139 - http://www.epa.gov/learners/waste.htm
- www.pca.state.mn.us/gloss/glossary.cfm
- http://people.howstuffworks.com/landfill6.htm
- http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/landfill.htm
- http://www.epa.gov/region7/education_resources/teachers/
activities/wasteactivity4.htm - http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/1845.html
- http://www.scoutingweb.com/scoutingweb/
Program/Science.html
Lesson Developed By:
Cheryl LarkinPontiac School District
Madison Middle School
Pontiac, MI 48340
Handouts:
Handout 1Print Handout 1
Trash Trail
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Method Used |
Definition |
Examples |
Advantages |
Problems Associated with this Method |
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Reuse |
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Recycle |
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Combustion |
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Landfill |
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Handout 2Print Handout 2
Conscientious Engineering
Look at the diagram displayed of the land fill. The cross-section drawing shows the structure of a municipal solid waste landfill. The arrows indicate the flow of leach ate.
- Bottom liner system – The job of a landfill is to stop waste from creating environmental problems. The bottom liner, generally made of a synthetic material (plastic) and is sometimes combined with a clay lining or surrounded on either side by fabric to protect it from anything in the earth that may puncture the liner. This separates garbage and its run-off from getting into the ground water.
- Cells (old and new) – Garbage is divided into sections and stored within the landfill. These cells are designed to separate sections of trash for easier compacting.
- Storm water drainage system – It would be very dangerous for liquid to escape from the landfill into the soil. Rain water needs to be captured or collected so that it does not get into the garbage and create a run-off. Methods for being sure waste does not have a great amount of liquid are also used to keep the waste materials as dry as possible.
- Leachate collection system – Leachate is the liquid that does end up becoming run-off as it is impossible to keep the landfill totally dry. This liquid filters through the landfill and picks up contaminants (or pollutants). Special drain pipes are put in place in order to direct the liquid to a “holding tank” or specially monitored pond.
- Methane collection system – Materials in these airtight landfills break down due to landfill gasses, about 50% carbon dioxide and 50% methane. Since methane is combustible (or burns easily) it needs to be removed. To prevent an explosion the methane is piped out and burned or used elsewhere to provide energy.
- Covering or cap – Most landfills are covered with 6 inches of soil to protect the materials from “getting out”, as well as keeping animals and rodents from getting into the landfill. Scientists are trying to find alternative materials to cover the landfill that will not require 6 inches of space.
Handout 3Print Handout 3
Filling Up
Making your edible landfill: Assemble the following materials: (Teacher Note: Be aware of any possible food allergies that your students might have.)
Layer 1: Individual size pie tin or plastic bowl (representing ground water at the very bottom)
Layer 2: Peanut butter or butterscotch pudding (to represent the compacted clay)
Layer 3: Jelly-like fruit strips (or small circles of finger gelatin as a or taffy) two per learner. (flattened out to represent the plastic liner). Place individual string-like pieces of licorice into the landfill to represent Leachate collection pipes.
Layer 4: Finely chopped walnuts (to represent the gravel layer)
Layer 5: Vanilla favored wafers or honeyed crackers –(crushed to represent the sand layer)
Layer 6: Trash:
- Hard rock-like candy or suckers (to represent glass)
- Green sprinkles or green tinted applesauce (to represent organic waste such as food or cut grass)
- White chocolate chips (to represent plastics)
- One cup of rice cereal (to represent paper and cardboard which makes up 40 percent of landfill contents.
- Little candied silver ball (to represent metals);
- Bite size black licorice (to represent tires).
(Almost all of this layer could be recycled to save space in the landfills!)
Layer 7: Top with a layer of crushed chocolate cookies and sprinkle over with green sprinkles (to represent the top layer of soil and grass)
Punch in 2 straws to represent Methane gas collectors.
Handout 4Print Handout 4
Definitions
Lesson Two: Breaking It Down
Definitions
Reuse: Consuming and throwing away less. It includes: purchasing durable, long-lasting goods; seeking products and packaging that are as free of toxics as possible; redesigning products to use less raw material in production, have a longer life, or be used again after its original use.
Recyclable: Turns materials that would otherwise become trash into valuable resources. A product is broken down and re-manufactured into a new product. This may be the same type of product or may be an entirely new product. Ask them what products they have had or seen that they know have been recycled. Find out what kind of recycling they do at their home. How easy is the recycling; does the city provide pick up for items that they want to recycle? Ask if they have ever seen a playground with ground-up tires on the ground, rather than sand. Why might this use of old tires be an advantage? (both for depletion of trash materials, as well as safety issues) Advantages: Recycling is one of the best environmental success stories of the late 20th century. Recycling, including composting, diverted 72 million tons of material away from landfills and incinerators in 2003, up from 34 million tons in 1990. By 2002, almost 9,000 curbside collection programs served roughly half of the American population. Curbside programs, along with drop-off and buy-back centers, resulted in a diversion of about 30 percent of the nation's solid trash in 2001.
Composting: Another form of recycling is composting. Composting is the controlled biological decomposition of organic matter, such as food and yard trash, into humus, a soil-like material. Composting is nature's way of recycling organic trash into new soil, which can be used in vegetable and flower gardens, landscaping, and many other applications. Advantages: keeps organic trash out of landfills, provides nutrients to the soil, increases beneficial soil organisms (e.g., worms and centipedes, suppresses certain plant diseases, reduces the need for fertilizers and pesticides, and protects soils from erosion.
Combustion: The process of burning trash materials. Explain that burning materials not only lessens the amount that is discarded, but also creates energy. Problems arise when the materials produce too much pollution or toxic chemicals when burning. For this reason, not all materials can be burned.
Landfills: A landfill is an area for disposing of solid trash on land. Its purpose is to dispose of trash materials in a safe way. Landfills have a special design using several layers of materials and drainage systems to keep the pollutants inside and contain the trash in the most effective way. Advantages: a place to safely store trash materials until they are broken down. Disadvantages: they take a great deal of space and potential accidents could cause the release of toxins. How long does it take for materials to break down in a landfill? (Paper: 2-4 weeks, glass jar: unknown length of time, banana peel: 4-5 weeks, aluminum can: 100 yrs)
Unit Contents:
Overview:One Person's Trash Summary
Lessons:
- 1.
- Molehill or Mountain
- 2.
- Breaking It Down
- 3.
- Another Person's Treasure
- 4.
- Trash to Treasure
- 5.
- Treasuring a Trash-less Tomorrow
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to freely use this information for nonprofit (noncommercial), educational purposes only. Copyright must be acknowledged on all copies.
