Unit Plan Overview: Waste and Our Earth. Can We Help?

Unit key learning area: Science

Unit duration: x7 lessons across 7 weeks (lessons may be split)
Year level: 4
Class diversity:
Differentiation overview:
A brief overview of how a teacher may choose to differentiate for
students, other strategies that individual teachers feel appropriate
may be used.
Contracts for individual students who need extending or simplified
work to achieve objectives. Outline what is expected of that
student or small group of students (Churchill et al., 2011).
Individual contracts may include:
- Altered assessment tasks
- Differentiated grouping/partnering (teacher discretion)
- Allocated teacher/aid time
- Extra planned work

Unit Outcomes taken from The Australian Curriculum: Science

(ACARA, 2014a)
By the end of this unit students can:
1. Describe common materials and explain why the
properties of such materials influence waste management
and can lead to pollution (ACSSU074).
2. Describe methods of waste management covered during
the unit and articulate their benefit or detriment to the
environment (ACSHE062).
3. Effectively communicate scientific ideas and
understandings in a variety of ways including posters,
answering questions and written and oral reports
(ACSIS071).
4. Articulate how well predictions matched results and
explain proposed reasons for findings. Explain reasoning
(ACSIS216).
Underpinning cross-curricular priority: Sustainability
Cross-curriculum links:
Mathematics
Geography
English
(ACMSP096)

(ACHGK025)

(ACELY1694)
(ACELY1689)

Resources required to effectively implement whole unit:

Interactive whiteboard or similar with internet access
Computer/internet access for students

Unit Plan Skeleton

Lesson one: Waste. An Introduction.
Duration: 60 - 90 minutes
Stage of the 5Es: Explore

Resources:
- Collected materials ie: glass
bottle/jar, plastic bag, milk carton,
egg box, newspaper, aluminium
can
- Required collected resources for
experiment (Appendix B).

Learning outcomes engaged: LO1, LO2, LO4,

General capabilities and cross-curricular priorities engaged:

Teaching/Learning Specifics:
Class brainstorm:
- What is waste?
- What types of rubbish/waste do we create?
Show class rubbish items made from different materials:
Ask children to identify.
Children conduct a survey of their own personal lunch waste (Appendix A).
Predict what they think will show the most/least.
Teacher models bar graph/ students create their own regarding the whole class findings,
discuss observations, finding vs predictions, reasoning.
Fill out remaining part of worksheet.
Class Discussion
- Is rubbish really rubbish? (discuss reuse)
- Where does rubbish go?
Show Landfill from ABCs Behind The News:
http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3953606.htm
Discuss rubbish dumps/landfills and associated problems/benefits from video.
Class activity in pairs:
Create a mini landfill experiment (Appendix B)
Assessment of learning:
- Prior learning uncovered (note taking)
- Questioning
- Active observation
- Collection of work samples

Lesson two: A Plastic Ocean.

Duration: 60 minutes
Stage of the 5Es: Explore, Explain

Resources:
- Milk, Vinegar, Pan, Hot Plate,
Moulds, Sink

Learning outcomes engaged: LO1, LO3

General capabilities and cross-curricular priorities engaged:

Teaching/Learning Specifics:
Class discussion:
We live in a throwaway culture
Children write a few sentences on their view of the statement and keep to revisit later.
Show The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw
Small group brainstorm about environmental issues conveyed in film.
Discuss plastic:
- Is it natural or man-made?
- What do we do with it?
- Why do we use plastic?
- How does plastic affect the environment?
Make your own plastic experiment:
Access experiment here: http://www.kidspot.com.au/kids-activities-andgames/Science-experiments+10/Plastic-milk-experiment+11739.htm
Show the video Plastic Oceans from ABCs Behind the News:
http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3591476.htm
Students answer questions on worksheet (Appendix C)
Worksheet are discussed as a class/scaffolded by teacher.
Assessment of learning:
- Note taking
- Active observation
- Questioning
- Collection of work samples
Lesson three: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Duration: 60 - 90 minutes
Stage of the 5Es: Explain, Elaborate

Learning outcomes engaged: LO1, LO2, LO3

General capabilities and cross-curricular priorities engaged:

Teaching/Learning Specifics:
Introduce/scaffold concepts (multi-modal presentation of information):
- Great Pacific Garbage Patch
- Gyres
Note: Ask the children to recall videos/re-visit their worksheets. Re-show videos if
necessary.
In pairs students research aspects/answer questions of new concepts given to them by
teacher (questions should address learning outcomes sufficiently).
Multi-modal research sources to be used (internet provide website links to save time,
books, posters, media etc)
Students present their findings orally to the class in short presentations, they may include
printed images/poster if time allows.
Assessment of learning:
- Assessment of short presentation (take notes and question)
- Observation of group/partner work
- Questioning throughout lesson
Lesson Four: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Resources:
Recycle! The 4Rs
- 4 large boxes to decorate and 1
Duration: 60 90 minutes
plastic bin
Stage of the 5Es: Explore, Explain
Learning outcomes engaged: LO1, LO2
General capabilities and cross-curricular priorities engaged:

Teaching/Learning Specifics:
Introduce new concept: The 4Rs (Sustainability Victoria, 2007)
- Refuse

Reduce
Reuse
Recycle

Students predict what each might mean.

Teacher defines each aspect on the board.
Ask for examples of each scaffold ideas.
Students play Clean Up and Recycle game in pairs. Screen shots for game seen in
Figure 2. Access game from this link: http://cleanup.noco2.com.au/

Figure 2: Clean Up and Recycle game from http://www.cleanup.org.au/

Class/small group discussion, write down ways they:
- Could refuse, reduce or reuse items at home or at school?
- What can they do in the classroom to help reduce, reuse and recycle their
waste?
The class creates/decorates own recycling bin in groups:
- Paper bin
- Plastic bin
- Lets reuse it bin
- Just food scraps
- Other items

Note: Most schools have large bins to put different materials in outside job for class
monitors or teacher.
Discuss what can go into each bin write lists as a class and attach.
Expectations are set out (potential hygiene hazards).
Assessment of learning:
- Checklist used (Appendix D)
- Active observation and note taking
- Questioning
Lesson five: Worm Farms/Compost Bins Resources:
and the Community
- Worm farm or compost bin
Duration: 90 minutes
Stage of the 5Es: Explain, Elaborate
Learning outcomes: LO1, LO2, LO3
General capabilities and cross-curricular priorities engaged:

Teaching/Learning Specifics:
Class discussion:
- What can they do with the food scraps their bin?
Introduce - Worm Farm/Compost Bin:
- What it does
- Why it is used
- How it helps the environment
Note: Obtain permission to have a worm farm/compost bin outside.
Class discussion:
- What happens to their food scraps at home?
- How could they encourage people others to have a worm farm/compost bin?
Individually or in groups the students research and design posters to display in the local
community that convince others to start their own worm farm/compost bin and how it
helps the environment.
Assessment of learning:
- Active observation and note taking
- Questioning
- Assessment of posters to check for understanding

Lesson six: Paper, Paper Everywhere!

Resources:
Duration: 90 minutes or 2x 60 minute
- Collected resources required for
lessons depending on length of paper
paper making (Appendix E)
making
Stage of the 5Es: Elaborate, Evaluate
Learning outcomes engaged: LO1, LO2, LO3
General capabilities and cross-curricular priorities engaged:

Teaching/Learning Specifics:
Introduction video: How Paper is Made see a screenshot from the video below in Figure
2.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IP0Ch1Va44

Figure 2: Image taken from the video How Paper is Made.

Class discussion:
- Where does paper come from?
- What could we do with paper in our scrap paper bin?
- Why is it a good idea to re-cycle paper?
- How does it help the environment? (saves trees, pollution from manufacturing
etc)
Ask the students for some solutions regarding each of the 4Rs.
Remind/scaffold.
Class activity: Making Paper (Appendix E)
Students write a journal entry in their book:
- About the paper making process
- What they liked/disliked about it
- How recycling paper helps the environment

Students revisit and discuss their original responses to:

We live in a throwaway culture
Rewrite responses in light of their new knowledge learned in the unit.

Assessment of learning:
- Active observation and note taking
- Questioning
- Collection of work samples
Lesson seven: Lets Convince Others
Resources:
Duration: Timing will vary - guide: 2x 60
- Plastic gloves for looking through
minute lessons
mini landfills
Stage of the 5Es: Evaluate
Learning outcomes: LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
General capabilities and cross-curricular priorities engaged:

Teaching/Learning Specifics:
Examination of landfill experiment from lesson one.
Discuss/record:
- Predictions vs results
- How, what and why the results occurred. Explain their thinking.
- What they predict would happen if they left their landfills alone for a whole
year? Why?
Persuasive Writing Task:
Students create a piece of persuasive writing to convince the community to use one or
more of the 4Rs in order to help the environment (Appendix F).
Teacher models a short persuasive text on a different subject.
Their final good copy is written on their recycled paper they made in class.
Note: (ACELY1671) (ACELY1682) These codes taken from The Australian
Curriculum: English (ACARA, 2014b) demonstrate that students should have sufficient
prior knowledge about the construction of a persuasive writing piece.
Assessment of learning:
- Final assessment rubric (Appendix G)
- Overview of work samples
- Observe and question.
- Question/take notes to fill any gaps in assessment for individual students.

Improving My Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Throughout the unit it is imperative that I reflect on the teaching and learning process
in order to continue to improve practice and deepen my PCK. During the unit I would
take the time to adopt observational strategies and record behaviours which would
provide significant insight into my science teaching and learners engagement (Gibbs,
2006). Reflection in action and on action is important to continue to grow my
scientific PCK. Reflecting in action involves considering my own thinking, feelings
and theories, therefore creating new understandings from these to inform practice
during a teaching sequence (Schon, 1983). Reflecting on action would take place
after a teaching/learning sequence. This offers me a chance to explore how successful
the teaching/learning sequence was and what could be altered or built on (Schon,
1983). There are several ways to document and record successful or unsuccessful
teaching and learning behaviours. These include: anecdotal, frequency, time-duration
and interval recording. These methods would provide me with solid evidence of what
the students do and how my teaching is connected with their performance (Gibbs,
2006).

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2015a). The

Australian Curriculum: Science (Version 7.4). Retrieved from
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download/f10

ACARA. (2015b). The Australian Curriculum: English (Version 7.4). Retrieved from
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/download/f10

Board of Studies for Teaching and Educational Standards New South Wales. (n.d.).
Planning for Effective Learning and Assessment. Retrieved from
http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/support-materials/planning-programming/

Churchill, R., Ferguson, P., Godinho, S., Johnson, N., Keddie, A., Letts, W., Vick,
(2011). Teaching: Making a Difference. Milton, QLD: John Wiley & Sons

M.

Australia,

Ltd.

Gibbs. C. (2006). To be a teacher. Journey towards authenticity. New Zealand: Pearson

Education.

Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (Eds.). (2014). Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences:
History, Geography, Economics & Citizenship (5th ed). Southbank, VIC: Cengage
Learning.

Fahey, C. (2012). Planning for Teaching and Learning in Geography and History. In
Taylor, T., Fahey, C., Kriewalt, J., & Boon, D. (Eds), Place and Time:
Explorations in Teaching Geography and History (pp. 165-176). Frenchs Forest,
NSW: Pearson Australia.

Full Cycle. (2009). What is waste and why is it a problem? Retrieved from
http://www.fullcycle.co.za/index.php/what-is-waste-and-why-is-it-aproblem.html

Queensland Studies Authority [QSA]. (2011). Planning for Implementing: Australian

Curriculum P-10 Draft. Retrieved from https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.a
u/downloads/p_10/ac_plan_implementing.pdf

Redman, E., & Redman, A. (2014). Transforming sustainable food and waste behaviors by
realigning domains of knowledge in our education system. Journal Of Cleaner
Production, (64) 147-157. Doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.09.016

Schn, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. New
York: Basic Books. Retrieved from http://smeduquedecaxias.rj.gov.br/nead
/Biblioteca/Forma%C3%A7%C3%A3o%20Continuada/Artigos%20Diversos/ref
lective%20practitioner%20-%20schon.pdf

Sustainability Victoria. (2007). How to reduce, reuse and recycle waste in schools.
Retrieved from http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/~/media/resources/docum
ents/services%20and%20advice/schools/5star%20sustainability%20certification/
waste%20module/waste%20module%20resources/sv%20rs%20reducereuserecyc
le1.pdf

Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005) Planning a unit of work: a sequence of lessons. In

Churchill, R., Ferguson, P., Godinho, S., Johnson, N., Keddie, A., Letts, W.,
Vick, M. (Eds.). Teaching: Making a Difference (pp. 216-217). Milton, QLD:
John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Appendix A
This worksheet was created/adapted from Discovery Education (2009): What is in Our
Trash?

Lunch Time Trash and Graph Observations

Name:__________________
What is the main type of waste you think the class will make at
lunch time? __________________________________________
Why? ______________________________________________
____________________________________________________
When you finish eating your lunch look at the waste left over.
Record the types of waste you have before throwing it away.
Plastic
How many?

Paper

How many?

Glass

How many?

Other (describe)

How many?

Look at your bar graph created using everyones results and

answer the following questions:
What was the main type of waste created? _________________
How do you know? ___________________________________
___________________________________________________
Which type of waste was seen least? ______________________
How does this compare to your prediction? _________________
____________________________________________________

Appendix B
This experiment is adapted from curriculum materials at
http://5gyres.org/education_and_exhibits/

MINI LANDFILL EXPERIMENT

Using items collected by the teacher or students from home students create their own
mini landfills to observe over the course of their unit on waste.
Resources required:
- 2 litre milk bottle or similar per pair/group
- Paper bags
- Dirt
- Newspaper to cover the tables
- Spray bottle with water
- Pieces of waste (i.e. aluminum, plastic, paper, food scraps, plastic bag, straw)
Instructions:
- Cut the tops off the bottle
- Students layer different items and dirt in their mini landfill bottle
- The bottle is put into a paper bag to eliminate light (just the surface gets the
sunlight)

Using a spray bottle spray the surface of the mini landfills to make the dirt
moist (repeat over the coming days/weeks as necessary must not dry out)
Mini landfills are put in a sunny spot either inside or outside (out of the rain)

Children predict what they think will happen to the items in their mini landfills.
What might happen to the items, dirt or bottle?
What effect might the sun have?

During the unit children can observe their landfills and spray as necessary (with
teacher supervision)

Appendix C
Original worksheet created for students to use during lesson two.

Name__________________

Behind The News Quiz

Answer these questions while watching Plastic Oceans

1. How many new pieces plastic enter our oceans each day?
Hundreds
Thousands
Millions
2. Almost half of the plastic used by humans is only used once and then is
thrown away
True
False
3. Why do thousands of marine animals die each year?
They swallow or get caught in plastic
They play with plastic
They use plastic as a shelter
4. How does plastic travel to the ocean?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
5. What are two ways shown that can reduce the amount of plastic in the
ocean?
- ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
- ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
6. Which state in Australia is not showing as much plastic and aluminium waste?
_____________________________________________________________
Why not?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Appendix D
Checklist created for lesson four.

Students can
define the 4Rs
in their own
language

Students can
provide
scenarios
where each
of the 4Rs
would be
used

Students can
articulate why
the 4Rs are
important to the
environment

Annabelle

Tim

Struggles to
define and
explain

Offers
recycling
scenario only

Solid
understanding.
Able to help
others.
Limited
understanding

More
scaffolding
needed.
Satisfactory
understanding.

Josh

Notes

Students names
cont

Appendix E
Paper making activity for lesson six sourced from
http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/fun_n_games/printables/activities/assets/science_nature/paper_ma
king.pdf

Appendix F
Original task sheet created for final lessons persuasive writing piece.

Help!

People in your community are throwing everything away into the

rubbish bin!
They dont think that their rubbish has anything to do with the
health of the Earths environment.
Its up to you to convince them to start using the 4Rs!
YOUR TASK:
You must create a piece of persuasive writing addressing the editor
of the local paper to convince the community to start using one or
more of the 4Rs.
Choose one of the following topics:
- Plastic in the oceans
- Landfills
- Recycling paper
You must:
1. Convince the local community to use the 4Rs (Why are their
actions effecting the environment?)
2. An argument to support (why should the community do what
you ask?)
3. Strengthen your argument by backing it up further in a few
sentences
Your final good copy will be written on the recycled paper you made
in class and displayed in the hall.
Appendix G
Final rubric to assess unit outcomes/science knowledge and understanding.
Describe common
materials and
explain why the
properties of such
materials
influence waste

Beginning
Can list a small
number of
materials
addressed
throughout unit.

Consolidating
Can list most
materials
addressed in unit
Limited
explanation of why

Proficient
Lists all materials
addressed in unit.

Exemplary
Lists all materials
addressed in unit.

Provides
acceptable
explanations of

Provides rounded
explanations as to
why these effect

management and
can lead to
pollution
(ACSSU074).

Little or no
explanation of why
these effect waste
management can
lead to pollution.

these effect waste

management and
can lead to
pollution.

Can describe
methods of waste
management
covered during the
unit and articulate
their benefit or
detriment to the
environment
(ACSHE062).

Can recall one or

two waste
management
solutions from
unit.

Can recall three or

more waste
management
methods from unit.

Can effectively
communicate
scientific ideas and
understandings in
a variety of ways
including posters,
answering
questions,
worsheets and
written and oral
reports
(ACSIS071).
Can articulate how
well predictions
matched results
and explain
proposed reasons
for findings.
Explain reasoning
(ACSIS216).

Limited
explanation as to
why these are
beneficial/detrime
ntal to the
environment.
Is able to
communicate
scientific ideas in a
limited fashion.

Explains
satisfactorily some
of their
benefits/detriment
s to the
environment.
Can communicate
scientific ideas
through various
means.

why these
materials effect
waste
management and
can lead to
pollution.
Can recall all waste
management
methods
addressed in unit.

waste
management and
can lead to
pollution.

Competently
explains their
benefits/detriment
s to the
environment.
Limited reasoning
provided.
Can communicate
scientific ideas
through all
expected means.

Competently
explains their
benefits/detriment
s to the
environment and
provides
reasoning.
Can communicate
scientific ideas
through all
expected means.
No work during
unit incomplete.

Two or more
pieces of work
during unit
incomplete.

Less than two

pieces of work
during unit
incomplete.

No work during
unit incomplete

Can verbalise the

difference
between the
predictions and
results.

Can articulate how

well predictions
matched results.

Can explain how

well predictions
matched results.

Offers limited
proposed reasons
for findings.

Articulates
proposed reason
for findings and
backs up with
personal
reasoning.

Does not offer

explanations for
findings.
Explain reasoning
(N/A).

Reasoning
explanation limited

Can recall all waste

management
methods
addressed in unit.

Extra work
completed during
unit.
Can explain in a
sophisticated
fashion how well
predictions
matched results.
Articulates more
than one proposed
reasons for
findings and backs
up with personal
reasoning.