INTRODUCING SUSTAINABILITY TO STUDENTS

This section is intended to provide a range of activities to introduce ideas of sustainability to students. They are based on activities used in training days.
All activities are in the same format, indicating how and when they can be used. Teachers are likely to be more familiar with some activities than others. We suggest you use those with which you feel comfortable.

The activities will give an insight into how our decisions as consumers impact on the lives of other people, both now and in the future. They will help students understand how our lifestyles may be unsustainable - and how they may be making life more difficult for other people elsewhere. They will also encourage students to think about future generations - will our current lifestyles mean that people in the future will not be able to enjoy the same way of life because we are using up too many resources?

They will also encourage students to think about their approach as designers and makers. Some argue that consumers consume what producers produce and that producers produce what designers design. It may not be as simple as that, but certainly designers must take some responsibility for whether or not we have a sustainable future.

"Design and technology prepares pupils to participate in tomorrow's rapidly changing technologies. They learn to think and intervene creatively to improve quality of life. The subject calls for pupils to become autonomous and creative problem solvers, as individuals and members of a team. They must look for needs, wants and opportunities and respond to them by developing a range of ideas and making products and systems. They combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetics, social and environmental issues, function and industrial practices. As they do so, they reflect on and evaluate present and past design and technology, its uses and effects. Through design and technology, all pupils can become discriminating and informed users of products, and become innovators."      ( National Curriculum for England)

SA 1: WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE WORLD?

ACTIVITY PURPOSE
To help the students to get a perspective on sustainable development.

SUITABILITY FOR AS AND A2 STUDENTS
Fine for both.

WHEN TO USE THE ACTIVITY
Suitable for use at the very beginning of the work but could be used later, possibly when students understand the links between their choices and problems like pollution and malnutrition.

IS IT FOR GROUPS OR INDIVIDUALS?
Groups - it works best through discussion between students.

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES CONSIDERED
Any and all.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
It will help their understanding of sustainable development and of the role of environmental, social and economic issues.

THE ACTIVITY AND HINTS ON HOW TO ORGANISE IT
• Print out the list of words provided on thin card (preferable recycled and enough for each group to have one list). Cut them up (or get them to do it).
• Provide them with a sheet of blank card so that they can add their own ideas. The given list is deliberately not comprehensive.
• Ask students to brainstorm what’s wrong with the world, what they think the really big problems in the world are, the things that they would like to change if they had three wishes. Using the “three wishes” always seems to work. Point out that it is issues resulting from human behaviour that we are looking at - not natural disasters.
• Divide them into small groups (3-5 in a group) and give them the words and blank card. Tell them to put these issues into an order of priority, using the blank card to add others that they feel are important.
• Decide whether you want students to put them into a particular form (e.g. a linear list or a diamond or pyramid shape) or one they choose themselves. A particular form puts a lot of pressure on people to discuss things in depth. It puts them in the position of making difficult choices, particularly if they have to put one issue as the most significant one.
• Give them a time limit for this discussion (10 minutes) but then be flexible about stopping them. If every group is absorbed in an interesting discussion at the end of 10 minutes let them carry on.
• Get each group to feed back their conclusions and the reasons for them at the end.
• There are no right or wrong answers to this but there are points to consider about problems that are local and those that are global in their impacts and those that have a temporary impact as opposed to a very long term or permanent one.

It is important to pursue a discussion of what emerges as the biggest problems and then to see how those things fit into a bigger picture.
Sometimes students will say ‘crime’ or ‘smoking’. All responses provide the opportunity to talk about how a particular issue fits into sustainability.

You can then select the most ‘popular’ problems and construct a definition of sustainability which starts with those problems and turns them on their heads. So, for example, if the problem is hunger, one would say:
In a sustainable world the whole of the world’s population would:
have enough healthy food etc.

You will probably end up with a list that is very worthy and relates closely to people’s needs. It is worth throwing in at the end the question of fun and beauty. (What would be the point of preserving the existence of people on this planet if we did not enjoy it?)

Sustainable development is, of course, about ensuring that we can go on providing for the needs of the world’s population into the future, not only now.

You can pursue the discussion by looking at what we do that adds to the problems and what we could do to move towards sustainability. Inevitably it leads you into talking about prioritising, into the relative significance of the actions we can take to improve the world.

SA 2: BELIEF CIRCLES

ACTIVITY PURPOSE
To help students to think about their own ideas and understand other possible viewpoints on sustainability issues as an ordinary teenager.

SUITABILITY FOR AS and A2 STUDENTS
This activity can be used with both AS and A2 level students, though the statements should be simpler for AS level as suggested below.

WHEN TO USE THE ACTIVITY
It’s likely to be most useful when students are dealing with sustainability for the first time at AS or, less likely at A2. It’s intended to make them think as ordinary consumers, not as designers. At A2 you may wish to use it as a reminder to students embarking on major coursework that we all bring values into our designing and making decisions.

IS IT FOR GROUPS OR INDIVIDUALS?
It can be used with a small group or a whole class.

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES CONSIDERED
The activity can be tailored to meet your own requirements at the time you use it. You can use only environmental, only social/cultural, only economic or all three. Teachers can make up additional statements as needed - those given are suggestions only.

ASSESSMENT CRITIERIA
As a starter activity, this may not be anything more than something that sows seeds but students should become more aware of themselves as consumers whose decisions impact on lives and livelihoods elsewhere as a result of completing the activity.

THE ACTIVITY AND HINTS ON HOW TO ORGANISE IT
• Prepare a number of statements in advance dealing with the sustainability issues you want students to consider. Print them in bold, large print on cards so students can read them from a few feet away.
• Give each student a card to write his/her name on, also bold and large.
• Organise students on chairs in a circle, and include yourself in the circle, participating if you wish.
• Explain to the group that you are going to place a card on the floor in the centre of the circle on which is written a statement. Tell them you will ask them to think about their opinion about the statement. You will then ask them to place their name card as near to or as far away from the statement as their opinion is near to or far away from the statement itself. The limits are the front of their chairs and next to the statement card.
• Explain that they must only put down their name card when you say so, not when they’ve made up their mind. This avoids everyone following the ‘leader’ in the group and should ensure everyone thinks about the issue.
• Read out the first statement, put it in the centre, read it again and allow about 30 seconds thought, then ask students to put their cards down. Include your own if you wish.
• Ask one student to explain why they have put their card in a particular position. It may help to choose an extreme view. Ask others to explain their positions and debate for as long as appropriate.
• Do the same thing with further cards until you are happy that issues have been raised. If you wish, ask students to write down the values they have at the moment about the issues highlighted.
• Draw some conclusions about how our values affect our choices as consumers and designers.

AS Environmental
• I believe it’s the government’s job to make sure waste is disposed of properly, not mine.

• I believe people who use cars should have to pay high taxes to pay for the damage they cause to the environment.

• I believe we don’t need to bother about using up resources. There will always be plenty for everyone.

Social
• I believe people in other countries should learn to look after themselves. They’re not our responsibility.

• I believe women are exploited far more than men in the world.

• I believe it’s more important to be trendy than environmentally friendly.

Economic
• I believe that what I buy in the shops is my business and doesn’t affect anyone else in any way.

• I believe people should always get a fair wage for the work they do.

• I believe the most important thing in choosing what we buy is value for money.

A2 Environmental
• I believe we’ll always find new resources even if we use up those we’ve got now.

• I believe it’s just not possible to produce something without it doing a bit of environmental damage.

• I believe that wherever possible producers should try to use renewable materials and sources of energy.

• I believe it makes sense to try to design all products in such a way that they can be reused or recycled.

Social
• I believe it’s much more important to be able to get a product easily than to be bothered about where it has come from or who made it.

• I believe that people have a free choice about where they live. If they choose to live where there’s a danger from pollution then that’s their problem.

• I believe that when children are used to make products, their families will be better off because there’s another income.

Economic
• I believe there’s poverty in every country. We should be bothered about our own poor people, not those in other countries.

• I believe people who make products have a much harder job than those who sell them so they should get more of the profits.

• I believe it doesn’t really matter whether something is needed or not - making new products always creates jobs for people.

SA 3: LINE-UPS

ACTIVITY PURPOSE

SUITABILITY FOR AS AND A2 STUDENTS
Use in the same way with both.

WHEN TO USE THE ACTIVITY
Line-ups is best suited for use when first discussing sustainability but could be used as a revision activity later if students have forgotten how integral it should be to their thinking.

IS IT FOR GROUPS OR INDIVIDUALS?
Use in groups, probably no more than 10 being involved at a time - you can ask some students to be involved in one line-up then involve others in the next.

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES CONSIDERED
Although an introductory activity, it can be used to bring out any and all issues, depending on the topics you choose.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
The activity is not intended to meet specific criteria but will certainly help students understand fundamental issues of sustainability (AS - F1 and F2; A2 - F1, 2, 3.)

THE ACTIVITY AND HINTS ON HOW TO ORGANISE IT

What’s it got to do with sustainability? It’s an example of how we should try to reduce the amount of scarce resources we use in any activity, especially when we are designing something.

Disposing of waste at home

Think about how you dispose of waste in your house and how much of it you think about recycling.

What’s it got to do with sustainability? It’s important to think about what will happen to a product when we’ve finished with it when it’s being designed.

The last article of clothing you bought
Think about the last article you bought and whether or not you thought about any of the following things before you bought it. Who made it and what did they get paid for making it out of the total price? Which country was it made in and how much did transport cost to get it to you? Which materials is it made from, what sort of dyes were used?

What’s it got to do with sustainability? Our decisions as designers and consumers have all sorts of impacts. They create jobs for some people but do they get a fair deal? Energy consumption may be increased because we want cheap clothes mass-produced in China. Environmental damage may be increased through the use of chemicals.

SA 4: PRODUCT PAIRS

ACTIVITY PURPOSE
To help students start thinking about the values that lie behind their choices as consumers when they go shopping for anything and have to decide which of a number of different products to buy.

SUITABILITY FOR AS AND A2 STUDENTS
More suitable for AS students, though worth using as a thought-provoking activity with A2 level students in a new school year.

WHEN TO USE THE ACTIVITY
As an introduction to sustainability at AS level or as a revision activity at the start of an A2 year. It can also be used as an introduction to a product study or product analysis, especially where a comparison is required.

IS IT FOR GROUPS OR INDIVIDUALS?
Better done in groups to encourage discussion.

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES CONSIDERED
Teachers can tailor this to meet their own requirements by the products they choose to use. It is possible to consider all aspects of sustainability or it may be easier (especially where A2 students are involved) to try to look at environmental, economic and social issues separately.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
This is an awareness raising activity as a result of which students should become more aware of themselves as consumers whose decisions impact on lives and livelihoods elsewhere. It is therefore helpful in thinking about fundamental issues (AS - F1, 2, A2 - F1, 2, 3.)

THE ACTIVITY AND HINTS ON HOW TO ORGANISE IT

However, if you want to look for more extreme items to identify specific issues as clearly as possible, the following ideas may be useful starting points. The ideas are suggested by Edwin Datschefski.

Environmental issues
Pens/pencils
Remarkable recycled plastic cup pen, from www.remarkable.co.uk, tel. 0208 741 1234 (10 for £4.25) compared with a cheap biro sourced locally.

Issues to consider
• What is the barrel made from?
• How long does the ink last?
• Can old pens be reused in any way?

Socks
Organic cotton socks from http://www.naturalcollection.com compared with locally sourced synthetic socks.

Issues to consider
• Use of fertilisers and pesticides
• Use of synthetic dyes compared with natural colours
• Energy use

Toothbrushes
Compare the finger toothbrush with an electric toothbrush sourced locally.
For details of the finger toothbrush see www.no-shank.com

Issues to consider
• Energy in use
• Materials needed in manufacture
• Possibility of disassembly
• Packaging

Shopping Bags
Compare the Fair trade Sisal Durable Shopping bag £12.95
http://www.naturalcollection.com/ with any conventional shopping or plastic bag.

Issues to consider
• Durability
• Litter
• Waste

Social issues
Dolls
Compare a Razanne doll (http://www.islam4children.com/razanne.htm
Razanne Dolls £12.50 each inc p&p) with a Barbie.

For more details of Razanne, see Barbie Converts to Islam
http://www.islamicgarden.com/barbie.html

Issues
• Do toys encourage awareness of other cultures or reinforce stereotypes?
• Use of materials to make toys - recycled textiles.
• Barbie to be made from recycled plastics?

Chicken soup
Compare a ‘standard’ chicken soup and kosher Jewish soup.
The Jewish religion includes dietary laws. These laws determine which food is acceptable and in conformity with Jewish Law. The word kosher is an adaptation of the Hebrew word meaning fit or proper. It refers to foodstuffs that meet the dietary requirements of Jewish Law.
Notes:
http://www.kosherbasket.co.uk/reviews/?disp_feature=PMLyjP
http://www.kosherbasket.co.uk/shop/display_item/?category_id=70&item_id=507
Telma Chicken Parve Soup Mix £2.59

Issues
• What is the social and cultural impact of choosing certain products?
• Is it important to conserve culturally different ways of doing things?

Economic issues
Chocolate
Compare a locally sourced product made by, for example, Mars or Nestle with Green & Black or Divine Chocolate, both available locally or from www.goodnessdirect.co.uk.

An article by the Daily Telegraph's Rachel Baird warns, ‘Up to 40 per cent of the chocolate we eat may be contaminated by slavery.’

Ivory Coast is the world's biggest producer of cocoa beans with over a million cocoa farms and plantations. A British TV documentary, ‘Slavery,’ claimed that 90 per cent of Ivory Coast cocoa plantations use slave labour. Most are young men and boys from impoverished areas in Benin, Togo and Mali. They are enticed by traffickers who promise them paid work, housing and an education. Instead, they are sold to Ivory Coast cocoa plantation owners who beat them into submission and offer no pay for gruelling, 18-hour days.

Big companies like Nestle purchase their cocoa on international exchanges where cocoa from Ivory Coast is mixed with cocoa from other countries and loses its identity as a slave-made product.

Cola
Compare Qibla Cola www.qibla-cola.com,
(Email: [email protected],
Qibla Cola Company Ltd
PO BOX 6440
Derby DE1 9NE
Tel: 01332 371 001 Call for details of your local distributor)
with a locally sourced coke.

The boycotting of major brands, such as Coca-Cola, across the Muslim world, has highlighted the anger felt by consumers towards such companies. Increasingly Muslims are questioning the role these brands play in their societies, and are seeking out alternatives - brands that don’t use the revenues they earn to support injustices.

Questions that Qibla Cola ask of other brands of cola:
1. Do your products contain any alcohol or animal extracts?
2. Does your company contribute towards the state of Israel or any other states that oppress Muslims?
3. Does your company contribute to third world causes?
4. Does your company exploit the work force in the third world?

SA 5: THE BIGGER PICTURE

ACTIVITY PURPOSE
To show how our choices as consumers (and therefore the initial choices of designers and producers) can impact on the lives of other people now and in the future. It should also help students to see how choices have economic and social impacts on people now, and in future generations.

SUITABILITY FOR AS AND A2 STUDENTS
Probably better for use at A2 level where students have greater understanding of issues, but could be used as an introductory activity for AS as well.

WHEN TO USE
When you are trying to help students understand that their decisions have implications for others.

IS IT FOR GROUPS OR INDIVIDUALS?
Any size group. However, with very small groups, ask students to take it in turns to read out different statements until all have been covered.

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES CONSIDERED
Teachers can choose statements to bring out different aspects of sustainability, though the statements included are mostly related to environmental issues.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
As with all introductory activities, this is most relevant to AS - F1 and 2; A2 - F1, 2 and 3.

THE ACTIVITY AND HINTS ON HOW TO USE IT
• Have a series of statements prepared which illustrate the impact on the planet of current lifestyles. These are put in envelopes and distributed.
• When asked, each participant reads out the statement and makes an immediate response to it. Some suggestions as to the statements are given on the separate sheet, ‘The Bigger Picture.’
• Discuss why we need to consider sustainability issues in D&T. Ensure that a link is made between issues such as climate change, deforestation, overuse of resources and our decisions as designers/consumers.

Downloadable PDF
THE BIGGER PICTURE

• About 1000 million people in the world (approximately one in five) don’t get enough food each day to be able to lead productive lives.

• More than 1 in 10 people on our planet cannot access the critical minimum diet necessary to stay healthy and maintain body weight.

• 25,000 people die each day from using dirty water.

• The people of Europe consume three times their share of the world’s resources compared with an equal share for everyone.

• Recycling 1 kg of aluminium saves 8 kg of bauxite, 4 kg of chemical products and 14 kw of electricity.

• Only 11per cent of our rubbish is recycled in the UK. Switzerland, Holland and Germany recycle half their waste, so why can't we?

• In 1999 we bought 654 million batteries. The current rate for recycling consumer rechargeables is just 5 per cent and virtually no consumer disposable batteries are recycled. Most batteries in the UK end up in landfill sites where heavy metals may leak from them and pollute the environment as the outer coating corrodes.

• It is estimated that an average of ten tonnes of resources are used to manufacture every tonne of product that we buy.

• The average person in the UK throws out their body weight in rubbish every three months. Most of this could be reprocessed but instead it is sent to incinerators or landfill.

• Half of all UK fruit and vegetables contain pesticide residues. Removing pesticides from UK drinking water costs us £120m a year.

• Friends of the Earth calculate that to live within our environmental limits and allow a fair distribution of the earth’s resources, by 2050 the UK needs to consume 73 per cent less timber, 15 per cent less water and 50-88 per cent less virgin minerals than we do now.

• Over six million electrical items are thrown away every year in the UK. It is estimated that over half of them are still working or could easily be repaired.

• People buy and consume what producers make. Producers make what designers design. Designers are therefore the most important decision makers in determining how we use the earth’s scarce resources.

SA 6: FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS

ACTIVITY PURPOSE
Footprint analysis is a useful tool for getting students to think about the environmental impact of their lifestyles. It is developed much more fully in this section.

SUITABILITY FOR AS AND A2 STUDENTS
This introductory activity can be used at either level. It is particularly useful in making students think about their own behaviour as consumers and the impact they have as individuals.

WHEN TO USE THE ACTIVITY
Early on, when trying to make a link between consumption patterns, lifestyles and sustainability.

IS IT FOR GROUPS OR INDIVIDUALS?
The website activity is intended for use as individuals but discussion can take place in groups afterwards.

SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES CONSIDERED
It brings out the environmental impact of our lifestyles particularly forcefully.
Footprinting gives a measure that is easy to understand - how much of the earth’s surface we need to continue with our existing lifestyles.

HOW TO USE THE ACTIVITY
• Go to www.bestfootforward.com. Scroll down the home page until you find

• Click on test. A new window comes up.

• Click on Estimate your footprint
You are asked a number of questions about your lifestyle. As you give the answers, you can see how many planets are needed to support the way you live - if everyone lived the same way. You can see what you might do to bring down the environmental impact.

The SDA website develops foot printing analysis further, as well as offering some introductory activities to help students understand the ideas behind it. It will also include an activity enabling students to use footprint analysis to assess their own product designs.