In Humanities we explored questions
about how the school uses its current resources and
asked how they could use these better for the school
and better for the planet. We worked in groups brainstorming
and doing research.
1: How much energy is used in school each week / month?
How much does it cost? How much is that per pupil? What
simple savings can the school make? What could we buy
if we made savings for a week / month?
2: How much rain falls onteh school site each month
(on average)? How much water does the school use ove
rthe same period? Is there anything we can do to use
water mores ensibly? What would the pros and cons of
implementing them be?
3: How much money does damage via vandalism cost eh
school per month / year? What things could we possibly
do to improve the school if we had that money to spend
elsewhere?
4: How many bags of cans do pop do pupils at this school
drinik in a week? How lare would the pile be? What could
they be recycled into? How could we recycle beter in
the school?
Steps to success.
Use your imagination. The tasks are quite open. Be creative!
Work in partnership. Everybody needs to be used.
Watch the time. Plan carefully. Use time wisely. Meet
deadlines.
Use staff and resources wisely. Think about the range
of places you might find information and support.
Thank about which methods will be most effective, quick,
possible.
Elements to your work.
Hypotheses – what do you think the results will
look like before you start? What can you think of to
help do the task?
Resources / materials / personnel / info – what
or who will you need to go forward? How will you find
what you need?
Editing / Compromise ¬¬– what can you
really do in the time? What is possible? What is most
important?
Method – how are you finding your answer?
Results – what have you learnt?
Presentation – how are you going to show what
you have learnt?
What’s next?
Energy Use
To save electricity turn off the lights unless you really
need them on – we’ve got sunlight! This
sunlight could be used to generate solar power through
solar panels on the roof. By changing all lights to
energy saving bulbs maybe we could save £200 each
month enough to buy chairs for a whole class. We remembered
the article on Poo Power we read in science and considered
using this.
With extra money we save we could by better equipment
and facilities, new exercise books, reading books and
text books.
Recycling
The school currently pays £14,000 each year for
its rubbish to be taken away. The charge is per bin
per collection. We drew up a list of materials that
could be recycled: glass, paper, wood, plastic, metal
and vegetable matter. Then we conducted a survey of
the bins. We found lots of wood and paper in the bins
as well as some metal and empty printer cartridges that
could be given to charity.
If we had a boiler that generated both heat and electricity
by burning our waste we could easily reduce our rubbish
bill by £7,000 as well as saving on our gas and
electricity bill. If we filtered the emissions from
our boiler carefully our neighbours wouldn’t complain
and if our boiler needed more fuel than we could provide
the school could take rubbish from local business, the
Church and Mosque as well as houses nearby. If we generated
more electricity than we could use it could be sold
and added to the National Grid.
We decided there should be recycling monitors, currently
if the normal bin is closer than the recycling bag people
often can’t be bothered to use it. We talked about
fining people if they failed to recycle, but decided
this would cause arguments, instead we thought we could
reward the best recyclers and pay for the rewards out
of the money we are saving on rubbish collection.
Recycling is good because it saves natural resources
and could save money.
Water
All taps could be made so they switch off after a limited
period, this would stop taps being left on accidentally
and wasting water. We could save rainwater that falls
on the roof and use it for jobs other than drinking,
like washing down the outside of the school to make
it look clean.
Vandalism
It costs £20 to replace a normal window, £6
to buy a bottle of solvent for removing graffiti (the
caretaker uses two bottles each term and it takes him
lots of precious time). It costs £200 to replace
a broken door. Exam desks cost £25 each and this
year 40 got covered in graffiti. If the school lived
more symbiotically all this money could be saved and
spend on bringing professional sports people or artists
in to work with the students.
Commentary for teachers
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