Your city is very committed to its recycling program. It provides curbside recycling for all its residents and businesses. It has reduced the amount of trash going to its landfill by 30%. The state is requiring a 50% reduction. A member of the city council has recently read that the amount of plastic, aluminum and glass containers being recycled is actually going down. He also read that the only reason 60% of new aluminum cans in the USA are made from recycled aluminum is that the aluminum industry buys used cans from other countries! (www.grn.com/faq/0431.html ; http://www.container-recycling.org/calculate.html ; www.grn.com/faq/0119.html ) Mr. Councilman has proposed that the City Council form a committee to study this problem and plan an educational campaign. The council members agree that all the stakeholders must be represented on this committee and the final campaign must include material acceptable to each one.

Task:

Prepare a presentation to the City Council (your class) which will be used to increase the amount of containers recycled in your community. Take into account the points of view of several different stake holders.

Procedure:

1. Chose a secretary who will keep notes during group discussions. These notes must be turned in to the teacher with your final project and will be part of your grade.

2. Record who will take each of the following roles: You must each remember when doing your research that you are the representative of this group of people. The viewpoint you present must be their viewpoint:

a. environmental activist (Time to be allowed for research: 3 class periods)

b. the owner of a recycling business (Time to be allowed for research: 2 class periods)

c. a representative of the Coca Cola bottling company (who will represent all users of plastic, aluminum and glass containers for products they sell) (Time to be allowed for research: 1 class period)

d. a representative of the makers of containers made from aluminum, glass and plastic. (Time to be allowed for research: 1 class period)

e. a researcher who will collect information about the recycling habits and attitudes of community members. (Time to be allowed for survey and research: a week)

3. Each group member has a week to finish his/her research. Each person must make a list of at least 5 reasons for recycling and 5 problems with (or barriers to) recycling from his/her group's point of view. Each person must also write a paragraph of at least 5 sentences summarizing the point of view of his/her role. Note: This list and paragraph must be turned in with your report. Each item must be supported by a specific reference on or off line. When each member is ready meet as a group.

The agenda for your meeting is:

a. Each person presents his/her points to the group.

b. Compare and contrast the viewpoints.

c. Identify at least five reasons to recycle that all viewpoints can agree upon.

d. Identify five problems or barriers which your group will attempt to resolve. Some general problems.

e. Come up with solutions for these problems that everyone agrees to. A solution?

Time to be allowed for meeting and discussion: 1 class period. (You may spend extra time outside of class if needed.) The secretary must take detailed notes which will be used to determine part of your grade.

4. Design your presentation to the class as though it will be used as an educational commercial to be shown on local TV. (It is possible that it will be used on the school's cable TV.) You can use HyperStudio or PowerPoint or ?. The actual presentation to the class will be videotaped. Time to be allowed to work on presentation: 2 class periods.

5. Present to class as though you were filming an educational video encouraging more recycling of containers. Time to be allowed: 5-10 minutes.

6. Respond to questions from the class such as: What did you expect the results of your investigation would show? Were there any surprises with the data? How certain are you that your answer is correct? How do you account for other answers? Is there enough evidence to prove your answer? Is more research needed?

Grade:

25% individual work (list, paragraph and notes of the secretary indicating participation of each member)

25% group work, ability to come to consensus, meeting deadlines, sharing information, staying on task

50% presentation to class (research supported information presented in an interesting manner, evidence of practice)

Standards: Language Arts 2.4 (multimedia presentations);

Science grades 9-12: Content Standard A (Science as Inquiry), Content Standard D (Earth and Space Sciences), Content Standard E (Science and Technology: identify problems and needed solutions and communicate possible solutions), Content Standard F (Science in Social and Personal Perspective),

K-12 Program Standard C (Correlation with Mathematics to collect, organize and analyze data) http://books.nap.edu/html/nses/html/6e.html#csa912

Montgomery High School ESLERS: Collaborative Workers, Effective Communicators, Quality Producers, Critical and Creative Thinkers, World Citizens, Self Directed Learners, Healthy Individuals