Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Introduction

This Webquest is used to help students understand the importance of recycling, help them develop their opinions and ideas about recycling, and encourages them to convince others of the importance.

How Well Does Our School Recycle?

Is It Important To Recycle?

Develop a Plan to Make Recycling More Powerful At Our School?

Task

Task:

Your job in this WebQuest is to learn about the different types of plastics and how they can be recycled. You will explore the history of plastics and find out what properties make a material a plastic. You will identify the seven different classes of plastics, and discover what each class is normally used for. You will also learn what kinds of items can be made from recycled plastics. Finally, you will fill out a table that lists all of the information you have learned about recycling plastics.

Process

Step 1:

Look at the Web sites given here to find the information that will enable you to complete the table on recycling plastics.

Hands On Plastics: Background Information for Students.

Visit this site by the American Plastics Council to learn about the history of plastics and polymers and about the chemistry of the polymers that make up plastics. This is an excellent site to begin your exploration of plastics.

Recycling Plastics – Is the Chemistry Right?

Visit this site to read about how changes in the chemistry of plastics could make recycling a much easier process.

Cleaning Up the Waste Stream – Recycling Plastics.

Visit this site for a brief discussion of the difficulties inherent in recycling plastics. Scroll down to see a chart of the plastic container code system and a description of each type of plastic that can be recycled.

Recycling Plastics.

Go to this site by Ecology Action to read about the code numbers used on the bottoms of plastic containers that identify how each container should be handled in the recycling process.

Recycling Plastics is as easy as …1, 2, 3 (4, 5, 6, 7)!

Go to this New York State Department of Environmental Conservation site to see another list of the codes used to identify types of plastic for recycling. The site also describes two methods by which plastic containers are made – blow-molding and injection molding.

Recycling Plastics.

At this Colorado School of Mines site you can read a brief discussion of how plastics are made, and about the chemistry of plastics. You can also read about the benefits of using plastic packaging here.

Step 2:

Now that you have found plenty of new information about recycling you're ready to make your poster!

Get into groups and share the information you have found. Brainstorm for ideas you can use for your poster. Now might be a good time to pick people for certain tasks.

Step 3:

Now is the time that your group needs to take your assigned tasks and put your poster together. Make sure you use persuasive language and the interesting information you have learned about recycling. Be neat and use many pictures and lots of color to attract people visually.

Evaluation

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Proficent 3	Excellent 4
How nice does your poster look?	The poster is distractingly messy or very poorly designed. It is not attractive.	The poster is acceptably attractive though it may be a bit messy.	The poster is attractive in terms of design, layout and neatness.	The poster is exceptionally attractive in terms of design, layout, and neatness.
Content and accuracy	Less than 3 accurate facts are displayed on the poster.	3-4 accurate facts are displayed on the poster. .	5-6 accurate facts are displayed on the poster.	At least 7 accurate facts are displayed on the poster.
Does your poster have any grammatical errors?	There are more than 2 grammatical mistakes on the poster.	There are 2 grammatical mistakes on the poster.	There is 1 grammatical mistake on the poster.	There are no grammatical mistakes on the poster.
Stated Objective or Performance	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of performance.
Stated Objective or Performance	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of performance.
Stated Objective or Performance	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of performance.
Stated Objective or Performance	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of performance.

Conclusion

In the process of completing this WebQuest, you’ve become informed about what plastics are, what types of plastics exist, and how each of these can be recycled. You have learned a little about the history of plastics, and about the chemistry behind the plastics that you use every day. Finally, you have completed a table that lists each type of plastic, what each is normally used for, and what items each type of plastic can be recycled into. How does recycling plastics compare to recycling of materials such as glass, paper, and aluminum?