“Be a Food Waste Warrior” is a three-part science and math lesson that can be adjusted in complexity depending on grade level. It includes food waste audit log sheets, discussion questions, a companion PowerPoint, and additional teacher resources and materials.
Students will learn about the ways in which food impacts the environment by recording data from a student food waste audit during their lunch period.The audit will engage basic science and math skills to (1) convert food waste weights to water used and GHGs emitted, and (2) calculate the difference in GHG emissions depending on whether food waste is landfilled or composted. Participating students will ultimately understand how to reduce food waste and why reducing food waste is important to conserving natural resources and wildlife habitat.
This module is designed to have students use the data, insights, and knowledge they gathered throughout the STEMhero unit and communicate it in a meaningful way. Project options range from the more traditional to the more experimental, but all projects require students to think critically and creatively about their learning and findings and present it professionally. A video bot will assist students to create a short video. Resources and examples are also available if students wish to create a lab report or presentation board ready for a community "STEM night".
Students will design an experiment testing how a change in behavior may affect the impact of energy/water consumption. Students will apply scientific design methods to plan a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment by choosing one efficiency action or technology that they are going to implement and measure its effect. Students will formulate hypothesis about (1) how water, natural gas, and/or electricity are uniquely used at their home and/or school and, (2) what might be smart opportunities to use water, natural gas, and/or electricity more efficiently.
Students will integrate qualitative and quantitative observations into a written narrative of water/energy consumption at their home and/or school.
Data begins to tell us stories when it is put in context and when we begin to compare data against other variables. Students will interpret their home’s utility consumption by modeling it against relevant independent variables. Students will organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information about their home’s utility consumption by modeling it against relevant independent variables. Students will identify patterns to better understand how efficiently their home or school already operates. Optional variables to be investigated include: number of occupants, day of the week, time of day, age of the building, outside temperature, and typical use in the region.
Career and Technical Education (CTE): STEM, Professional Learning
Students will investigate real STEM heroes and evaluate how they relate to their favorite hero. Students will then use a writing prompt to answer questions on common traits and characteristics of the people who use utility data for their jobs/profession and how those characteristics relate to themselves.
Students begin to understand about how energy and water affects the world and how their behaviors of energy and water can make an impact on the environment. After a discussion of the world’s energy problems, students will complete a self-assessment of their knowledge, attitudes, and actions related to energy and water.
Once students complete their self-assessment, they will discuss how they can create a change in energy consumption by changing personal behaviors and by a community efforts. The discussion will end by having students consider how they could successfully approach their community to change their energy consumption and if successful, how they could measure the impact of the changes.
Career and Technical Education (CTE): Architecture & Construction, Economics
This lesson introduces students to “green businesses” and “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)”. We break down the types of businesses and products to identify and categorize the service and ratings of how “green” they are. The lesson includes identifying potential greenwashing practices to attract consumers. Students are then encouraged to explore their neighborhood for local businesses and identify any green practices, and then collect and identify local green businesses, services, and products.
Students will discover how technology can affect an ecosystem positively and negatively. Students will watch how the Colorado river was depleted through farming and then the restoration of the river through modern technology. Students will see how the restoration of the Colorado river affects the local communities in a positive way. By learning the positive impacts of technology on water conservation, students will be able to understand an appreciation of how water affects their community.
