Where does our garbage go? What is the difference between a recyclable and non-recyclable item? Pose these important, but often overlooked, questions to your class and invite them to consider the lasting and damaging effects of the...

Four different activities focus on the amount of trash generated and how humans can better manage waste. Learners analyze two days' worth of household garbage, test materials for biodegradability, and rate recyclability of various...

Students define trash, garbage, or solid waste, discuss ways of disposing of trash, list examples of biodegradable materials, and have trash relay race in order to sort trash into appropriate containers labeled biodegradable, reusable,...

Students explore the topic of waste management. They define key vocabulary words, take a pre-quiz, complete a questionnaire, evaluate their own waste reduction habits, and write a short summary.

Second graders study recycling. In this environment lesson, 2nd graders discuss how to sort trash, sort actual trash labeling it, and explore the trash writing new uses of each item of trash instead of throwing the...

Students discuss the "junk mail nuisance" with the teacher and share their opinions on the problem. Students collect a week's worth of junk mail, bring to class and complete a chart about the amount and weight. Students then complete an...

Students work in cooperative groups to estimate how long trash lasts in a landfill. They study environmental consequences of not recycling and use graph-making software to create a graph that illustrates the lifespan of trash items...

Fourth graders examine how to deal with the amount of trash in their community. They discover alternate ways of managing waste. They develop their own solutions to the problem.

Students engage in a study of trash and how it is disposed of in the environment. They also research the impact of recycling and its effects upon the disposal amounts. Students calculate the advantages of recycling using real world...

Young scholars discuss the topic of recycling. They identify items that can and cannot be recycled. They practice using their newspaper to make other items.

Students identify pollution around their local community. They discuss the sources of polution and categorize objects based on their properties. They discover ways to make changes to the environment and how to inform the public.

Students conduct a lunch waste audit by recording each item they throw away at lunch. They graph class lunch waste. They use this information to devise a plan of action to reduce lunch waste. There is also an activity to make paper.

Students perform experiments to examine whether trash can float, blow around, or wash away. The effects of these characteristics on the presence of marine debris in the environment are then discussed.

Young scholars determine the weight of paper waste generated by the class. They brainstorm ways to reduce and recycle. They make their own paper to demonstrate recycling. This instructional activity is very effective in demonstrating how...

In this classroom activity, students discuss how people and pollution affect the environment. Then they demonstrate ways to recycle, reduce, and reuse.