DRIVING QUESTION:

How can we improve the recycling program at our school?

Project Overview:

God has given us a huge responsibility to take care of the earth He has created. One of the ways we can do this individually and as a school community is to recycle. We saw a need in our school and discovered ways we could improve it through the purchase of easy to use recycling bins. The class spent time educating the school through chapel, a recycle game and presenting on Presentations of Learning (POL) night.

I really enjoyed working with this group of grade 9 students who totally bought into the project after sorting garbage and realizing how much the school was throwing away instead of recycling. They were creative and shared many different ideas/suggestions on how the project should go and signed up where they felt they could contribute the most effectively. The majority of the students really stepped up and the results were amazing. I had the students participate in several self reflections along the way which was helpful to me so I could come along side them and help out where needed.

The majority of the students worked hard to create this program and I could see that they were passionate about making a difference in the school. They even came on their lunch hours to put the bins together and set them up around the school.

Pamela Jenks: ACS Teacher & Project Designer

Product/Presentation:

Creating a sustainable, easy to use recycling program.

How has this engaged students in ACS’ mission and vision?

Engaging Minds:  The class connected the information they learned during the sustainability unit to a non-functioning recycling program at the school. They worked diligently to solve the problem and then looked for ways to communicate their ideas/knowledge to the rest of the school and their parents. 

Nurturing Hearts: They successfully led a recycling chapel for the school and had a great POL evening where they taught their families what they had learned.

Shaping God’s World: As believers of the Bible and stewards of God’s creation, we are called to put our faith into action. Taking care of the world has many different aspects and the one the grade 9 class chose to look more closely at was the recycling program at our school.

How has this learning experience served or connected to our community?

The class participated in a variety of roles: researched the current program at our school, spoke with people at the school and in the community about the types of materials that can be recycle, they looked at the financial and environmental costs, they compared different types of bins/their costs and applied to deeper learning fund to obtain the money they needed to purchase the bins they felt would suit our school and make recycling easier and more accessible. They created posters and presented their findings to the school through chapel and on POL night. They chose which portion of the project they wanted to work on based on their preference and gifts.

Their dedication to the project was evident in how hard they worked and how excited they were to share the information with the school.

“Something that stood out to me during the project was how committed and involved our class became after going to the depot and sorting the six garbage bags. Once we got going on our projects, posters and presentations all we wanted to do was make a change. I am most proud of the way we got others involved in our program through our chapel and POL presentations. The reward for us students in the end was seeing our peers use the bins and have a better understanding of what our program was like before and how far we have come.”

Grade 9 Student