Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Hot potato!

20 minutes

Find Out: How does a phone come together?

25 minutes

Take Action: What are sustainable alternatives?

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

understand the components and manufacturing processes of mobile phones
evaluate the environmental impact and sustainability of different mobile phone usage and disposal practices.

Success criteria

Students can:

describe the process and materials involved in making a mobile phone
construct a model of a mobile phone from its components
evaluate the environmental impact of mobile phone production and propose sustainable alternatives.

Tune In: Hot potato!

Step 1

Explain to the class that they will be taking part in a 'hot potato' activity to explore what they already know about how mobile phones are made. If you have completed the previous lesson in this Unit, The Impacts of Mining: Resource Extraction Game with your class, students can remain in the same groups. Otherwise, divide your students into groups of approximately four.

Tell students that in this 'hot potato' activity, each group will get one question to start with. Groups will have one minute to answer the question by writing their answer on the piece of paper. After the minute is up, each group needs to pass their sheet quickly to the next group. The next group will then have one minute to add to each answer on the question sheets until all groups have had an opportunity to answer all the questions.

If your students did not complete the previous lesson in this Unit, you might like to show them this MobileMuster video, ‘What’s Inside Your Mobile Phone?’ (vimeo.com/263456775).

Step 2

Provide each group with one of the Hot Potato Question Sheets and set a time for one minute. Start the timer and invite groups to record their answers. Call out stop once the timer runs out. Repeat until each group has answered each question.

Step 3

When the question reaches the last group or when the groups have run out of ideas, invite one person from each group to report back on the answers on their question sheet.

Find Out: How does a phone come together?

Preparation

In this lesson, students will be looking at the various components of mobile phones in more detail. This can be done using the Make Your Own Mobile Phone Worksheet. If you can source them, you could also get students to look into these components by collecting old phones from your school community and bringing them into class. By collecting old mobile phones from your community, you will be turning these otherwise wasted items into learning resources. And, best of all, once your students have explored these items they can all be recycled at a MobileMuster drop-off point.

Step 1

In the same groups of four, hand out a copy of the Make Your Own Mobile Phone Worksheet. Students need to make a mobile phone from its components by cutting out the various parts and assembling them according to the instructions. Explain that each group will be awarded points for how well they work as a team and how quickly they get the task completed.

Step 2

Time the students and get them to call out ‘FINISHED’ when their phones are completed. Call out the time for them to write down, then check their work is complete. Observe students during the process and consider the time taken. Allocate points to each group based on the amount of time taken i.e. the first group to finish could receive 200 points, the second 150, the third 100, and then each other group could receive 90, 80, 70, etc, in the order of finishing.

If you are completing the next lesson in this unit, How are Mobile Phones Recycled? keep your paper mobile phones assembled somewhere safe as students will be using them again!

Step 3

Once students have completed making their phones, display the components on the board using the attached visual explainer and ask students if the materials look like the ones that were mined in the last lesson. If you didn’t complete the last lesson in this Unit, ask students what they think had to happen to those materials to get them to be ‘usable’ in a mobile phone.

Step 4

Explain to students that there are a lot of processes that need to be used to take the raw materials from mines and make them into something usable. Materials are rarely found in the state we need them on Earth, so scientists need to work out complex ways of turning them into the materials we want!

Display the following picture storybook called When We Mine (oresomeresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Publication-When-we-Mine-1.pdf) and read pages 12-17 to your students to explain how some of the materials that are mined get processed so that they can be turned into mobile phone components.

You might also like to watch the following clip up until 2.20 minutes to explain how the crude oil for the plastic used in phones is obtained and processed.

From Oil To Plastic - Nate Ivy (youtube.com/watch?v=IwdUwffecsM)

Step 5

Ask your students: why is it important to recycle our old mobile phones when we no longer need them?

Suggested answer: There are billions of devices in the world that are made using these materials, some non-renewable sources, that cause damage to the environment when they are mined, processed, and transported. They use enormous amounts of energy to produce and they also contribute to landfill at the end of their lives. If we recycle these components, we can alleviate the pressure on natural resources and the environment, and prevent these precious materials from ending up in landfill.

Take Action: What are sustainable alternatives?

Step 1

Watch the following video with your students which shows an incredibly detailed look into the inside of a smartphone.

What's Inside a Smartphone? - Branch Education (youtube.com/watch?v=fCS8jGc3log)

Once students have finished watching the video, prompt a discussion by asking

what did you notice about the number of components in the phone?
what happens when a smartphone like this breaks? Can you fix it yourself?
can you replace the parts inside this phone easily?
what does that mean for sustainability?

Step 2

Watch the following video with your students until 3:25 mins, which shows the Fairphone 4. The Fairphone is a sustainable smartphone that is built to be modular (made up of distinct parts that can be taken apart and put back together), and repairable with recycled and sustainable materials.

This Smartphone is Built Different… - Marques Brownlee (youtube.com/watch?v=gkmzDwgvqQM)

Once students have finished watching the video, conduct a class discussion using the same questions as before to compare the two types of phones they have just seen.

What did you notice about the number of components in the phone?
What happens when a smartphone like this breaks? Can you fix it yourself?
Can you replace the parts inside this phone easily?
What does that mean for sustainability?

Step 3

Explain to your students that the average smartphone is replaced too early and too often, creating a huge environmental impact. Most of the carbon emissions associated with a smartphone take place during the production stages, meaning the more often we replace smartphones with new models, the higher the environmental impact!

Brainstorm with the class some ways that people can reduce the impact associated with their smartphones.

Suggested answer: Reuse their current phone for longer, repair it instead of throwing it out, recycle it properly when disposing, resell or donate it; and use a phone like Fairphone which can be updated, repaired and made from recyclable materials.

Step 4

Divide your students into the same groups of four from the beginning of the lesson. Allocate each group to one of the topics they brainstormed above. Their task is to create a piece of communication to persuade people about the importance of rethinking the way they use and dispose of their mobile phones, in consideration of how they are manufactured. This communication could be a poster, an advertisement, a podcast segment, a mock conversation or any other method you deem appropriate.

Encourage students to include information about how the different parts of phones are manufactured to show the importance of sustainable use of mobile phones and how the traditional model fails to consider sustainability.

Topics could include:

recycling
reusing for longer
repairing
using alternatives like Fairphone

Some resources students could use include:

Fairphone - Longevity (fairphone.com/en/impact/long-lasting-design/)
MobileMuster - Recycling (mobilemuster.com.au/recycling/)
iBOLIT (ibolit.mobi/blog/maintenance-and-repair/the-benefits-of-repairing-your-device)

Step 5

Once students have finished creating their communication pieces, bring the class back together and allow each group to share their work, gallery style.

Reflection

Invite each group to complete a PMI to reflect on the lesson and their project.

Plus What is positive about your project?	Minus What could be better about your project?	Interesting What is the most interesting thing about your project?

How are Mobile Phones Made?

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Summary

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