Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune in: What is materials extraction and how can it impact our environment?

5 minutes

Find out: What is the impact of extraction?

15 minutes

Take action: Pipe assessment

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune in: What is materials extraction and how can it impact our environment?

Step 1. Hold up a wooden pencil and pose the following question:

where does this come from?

They may initially suggest answers such as 'from a pencil case' or 'or from a packet' or 'from a supermarket'. Push students to identify the materials the pencil is made from, such as wood and the colour on the inside, which may be wax or oil-based (both materials are made from petroleum products).

Push students a bit more and ask them:

Where does this wood come from?
Suggested answer: Wood is grown in plantation forests; the trees in plantation forests are grown to be cut down and used to make things like furniture, house frames and pencils.
Where does the colour come from?
Teacher notes: The grey 'lead' in a pencil is made from graphite, which is a form of carbon. In grey lead pencils, the graphite is mixed with clay. The colour in coloured pencils can be made of either wax or oil-based products. Both of these are made from oil. Crude oil is a naturally occurring substance formed from the remains of ancient plants and animals. Crude oil can be found underground or below the ocean floor. It is a black, sticky, smelly substance that needs to be extracted by drilling and pumping out of the earth. It is then processed into products we can use at a refinery. In addition to the colour in pencils, oil is used to make products, including petrol, asphalt for roads and plastic.

Step 2. Share the following image:

The Lifecycle of a Pencil

You can then explain:

Every product that we use has to come from somewhere and something. Many of the materials used to make our products need to be extracted from the ground or natural environment (like oil or wood). It is worth considering the environmental impacts of this extraction process because this impact is significant for some materials. Oil extraction requires drilling - often in marine environments - which may cause spills that harm wildlife, habitats, and human livelihoods. For wood, natural vegetation may be cleared to create space for plantation forests, which means fewer habitats for native animals. Then there are emissions and pollution related to extraction (the machines that drill the oil and cut the trees often emit greenhouse gases). And then there are the emissions and pollution related to transportation and turning these raw materials into products that we can use (processing). All these steps contribute to how sustainable a product is.

Step 3. Explain to students that in this lesson, they will be looking at the materials that are required to for different pipe materials and making an assessment about which material is the best in terms of the impacts relating to resource extraction.

Find out: What is the impact of extraction?

Step 1. Place students into 5 groups (or a number of groups that is divisible by 5). Assign each student a different pipe material from the list below. Make sure each material is assigned to a group.

Note: Where students have completed this lesson or this lesson, try to ensure they are either in different groups or are assigned to a different material.

Pipe materials:

metal (let's stick with steel)
leather (like the Romans used!)
wood
clay (like what cups and plates are made from)
heavy-duty fabric

Step 2. Each group needs to conduct research in order to answer the questions below. Students could work together to answer the questions, or they could divide the questions between them (*suitable for supported students). The questions are available on the Student Worksheet:

how is this material extracted from the environment?*
what are the costs of this extraction in terms of money, labour, and time?
what are the costs of this extraction in terms of carbon emissions?
what impact does this method have on the environment in the short term?
what impact does this method have on the environment in the long term?
is this material renewable? Why or why not?*

Extension: There might be some other things students want to know or test about these materials. Students should be encouraged to negotiate and agree upon their own questions.

Some resources that could be useful for research include:

Metal (steel)

Leather

Wood

Clay

Heavy duty fabric

If groups have divided up the work of researching and recording answers between them, allow them some time to share and clarify their answers with their group.

Step 3. Ask students to imagine they are working for a government agency that wants to create sustainable pipe materials for the building industry. In their groups, they should answer the following question (also available on the Student Worksheet):

what ideas do you have to help reduce the impact of extracting this material from the environment?

For example, fabrics could be sourced from plants grown sustainably, and steel can be produced in a way that emits less carbon.

Step 4. Each group will now explore another pipe material and assess the environmental impact of its extraction process. The material they will be looking at is recycled plastic.

Groups should review these sources and answer the questions below (also available on the Student Worksheet):

where does this material come from?
can you identify any environmental impacts relating to sourcing this material?
what are the costs of sourcing this material for money, labour and time?
what are the costs of sourcing this material in terms of carbon emissions?
what are the options for using recycled content in this material? (i.e., can you recycle plastic into new products?)

Websites:

Take action: Use the rubric to evaluate the suitability of materials

Step 1. As a small group, students will assess and compare the environmental impacts of extraction of the two materials they looked at.

When students have completed this lesson, they can use the rubric they created in that lesson.

Otherwise, each group should make a list of pros and cons for each material. The list could look something like this:

	Material	PRO	CON
Water use	Steel	Can use recycled water	Lots of water use
	Plastic	No water use
Carbon emissions	Steel
	Plastic
Impact on biodiversity	Steel
	Plastic
Etc.

Students might disagree with their evaluations of their teammates, and it may be that students can't find something to put in every box. Although the aim here is to try and present a balanced view of the impacts of extraction for each material, students should understand that this is a challenging task that even the best engineers and designers would struggle with.

Step 2. Based on their analysis, invite each group to develop an infographic or poster that compares the extraction impact of the two materials. The poster or infographic should include the results of their research from earlier and should include a recommendation about which material has the least impact in terms of extraction.

Step 3. Students can share their posters or infographics with the class and discuss.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently on the following task (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Through the research that your group did into the proposed pipe materials, did you find out anything about either material that was surprising or interesting to you? Explain why you found this surprising or interesting.

Differentiation

We trust that teachers are the best equipped to know how to cater to the diversity in their classes. At Cool Australia, we incorporate a variety of differentiation strategies into each lesson. Firstly, each lesson in this unit appeals to an array of different learning preferences. Learning activities can be completed in a number of different ways - if a student feels more comfortable speaking rather than writing, there are opportunities to accommodate this. In lessons that feature group work or learning stations, we trust that teachers will use their discretion in knowing how to best organise their students in accordance to positive working relationships and ability. Graphic organisers and scaffolds are often included so students can ‘visually think’ and keep a record of their work. While our lessons are designed to be 55 - 60 minutes in length, we trust that teachers will manipulate lesson and segment times according to the needs of their students.

In addition, students requiring extension could be encouraged to conduct an analysis of more than one material or choose a different material altogether.

The Impacts of Materials Extraction

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