Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: The big numbers

20 minutes

Find Out: Sorting out fact from fiction

20+ minutes

Take Action: Presenting the facts

10 minutes

Reflection

Tune In: The big numbers

Step 1

Present students with some of the big numbers associated with environmental damage and the clothing industry. Choose 3 or 4 stats from the list below to start the students thinking.

The fashion industry is the second highest consumer of water. It uses 79 billion cubic metres of fresh water annually (source)
It emits about 10% of the total global amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (source)
Australia produces 38 million units of clothing every year (source)
Australians are the second largest consumers of textiles globally, behind the US (source)
Australians buy 14.8kg of clothing every year - equating to 56 new items per person per year (source)
Australians dispose of, on average, 93% of the textiles they purchase each year, of which only 7% is recycled (source)
The textiles industry consumes 215 trillion litres of water per year (source)
The fashion industry consumes 79 trillion litres of water per year in production processes (source)
More than 150 million trees are logged annually for the production of human-made cellulose fibres (source)

Step 2

Pose the following questions:

What facts are most interesting or surprising?
What do students want to know more about?

Find Out: Sorting out fact from fiction

Step 1

Explain to students that the environmental damage and impact on people caused by the clothing and fast fashion industry is very topical. There is a lot of information available to them.

Introduce students to the resource Online Search Strategies, and remind them to keep their research REAL

Read the URL - does it end with .gov (government), .org (organisation), .edu (education) or .com (business)

Examine the content - skim read text, graphs, images to ensure it is what you are looking for.

Ask who wrote this information. Ask if the source is reliable. The URL will also give you clues about this.

Look at the links - do not click on any at this stage.

Invite students to consider:

Can you trust this website?
Do you believe that the information presented is reliable and accurate?

Step 2

Using an electronic whiteboard or similar, demonstrate keep it REAL method using the links below:

Note: In the final link, you will see this interesting grab: ONLY ONE OUT OF THE DOZEN OR SO MOST COMMONLY CITED FACTS ABOUT THE FASHION INDUSTRY’S FOOTPRINT IS BASED ON SCIENCE.

Step 3

Remind students that images can also contribute to their understanding of the impacts on our environments caused by this industry; students should be trying to validate the reliability of these also.

Take Action: Presenting the facts

Step 1

Explain to students that they will be creating an infographic that represents the information they gather about the environmental impacts of the fashion industry.

Ask students what they know about infographics or if they have ever created an infographic. Ensure that the class understands that an infographic is simply a visual representation of data. They are often creative in nature, but the aim of an infographic is always to represent more complex information in an easily understandable way.

Share some good examples of infographics (e.g. here or here).

Take a few minutes to discuss the ways that these infographics are effective: how well do they balance visual appearance with conveying important information?

Step 2

In pairs or small groups, students conduct a deep dive to discover statistics demonstrating the impacts of the fashion industry. Use the list of possible research areas below to discuss what they might be looking for prior to conducting the research.

Depending on the size and make-up of your class, you might divide the research areas up across the class so small groups become experts in specific areas. If using this method, students would need to be given the time to share their new knowledge with their peers.

Students should use the Student Worksheet to record their findings.

Possible research topics - Students should consider how, at all stages of the supply chain (growing/manufacturing the materials, garment design, garment manufacture, transportation, retailing the garments, shoppers using/laundering the garments, disposal of the garment), the fashion industry:

causes damage to our environment through textile waste, the use of pesticides and chemicals in growing and preparing materials, waste and carbon emissions
uses natural resources such as water, energy and trees to create materials
creates a human toll through the use of ‘sweatshops’, working in unregulated and dangerous conditions and underpaying workers
releases microplastics through the production and laundering of polyester and synthetic materials
promotes over-consumption.

Some websites they could use might be:

Step 3

Introduce students to an infographic creation tool such as Piktochart or Canva. Demonstrate how to begin by showing them the following steps:

Logging into the program and pressing 'create new' followed by 'infographic'.

Select a template that would be appropriate.

Note: You may choose to show students the following clip to further their Piktochart skills, Piktochart Tutorial: A Simple Guide to Piktochart.

Step 4

Use the rubric to guide students in the requirements of the task.

Step 5

Students can now create a free Piktochart account and begin creating their infographics. Depending on students' familiarity with the subject and software, you may want to hold a brief peer feedback session.

Step 6

To finish this lesson, ask students to share their infographics with the class. This sharing can be done digitally or by printing off each infographic for the classroom walls and conducting a gallery walk. Invite students to talk the class through the key features of their infographic and the information it contains.

Reflection

Students could reflect on this lesson through written responses or discussion using the following questions:

How has your thinking about fast fashion and your relationship to fast fashion changed during the course of this lesson?
What new thoughts or ideas have you taken from this lesson?
What questions do you still have about the topics addressed in this lesson?

Fast Fashion and its Impacts

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Summary

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