Green Chemistry

Activities

Introductory Activities

1. Shock Value - Prior to unit start, and throughout, students will collect various (empty & clean) plastic materials from home and bring them to class. Students will view real life photographs (with statistics) of everyday materials that are collected on a daily basis in the United States (See Appendix A for example photos).
2. Environmental Justice Videos - Videos I will show in my class highlight young African American leaders in the climate justice movement. Two web sites in particular are:
• The Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative Web site: http://www.ejcc.org/ which offers several videos and articles pertaining to young students taking action in their communities and other national efforts being done to raise awareness about environmental justice. Teachers must preview for their preference of material to be shown in class. The video that I will show my class is called, 1000 Voices by Illai Kenney.
• The Goldman Environmental Prize Web site: http://www.goldmanprize.org/ which also offers several videos and information pertaining to activists around the globe who have fought environmental injustice within their own communities and won. The video that I will show my class is about the Goldman Prize winner, Margie Eugene-Richard, of Norco, Louisiana and her battle with toxic and nuclear contamination in her neighborhood.
3. Carbon Footprint - Students must realize what their contribution is to the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. The Nature Conservancy Web site has a carbon footprint calculator that will measure your impact on the climate. It estimates how many tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases your daily choices create each year. Footprints can be created for one person or for an entire household! This could be done in a computer lab with the entire class or individually for homework. Students will print and share results with the class. The Web site is: http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/.
4. Scavenger Hunt - Students will learn the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources by completing a scavenger hunt in the classroom. Teacher may have to create a chart (T-Chart will work well) contrasting the difference between the two resources prior to the hunt (See Appendix A for example worksheet). The knowledge learned from this activity will be built upon and utilized later in the unit during classroom debates.

Hands-On/Minds-On Activities

1. Green Chemistry Principal #1, No Waste Necessary - Students will simulate the old way Ibuprofen was created and compare it to the new (no waste) way it is being created. This activity will illustrate that as we gain new knowledge, we should not use old techniques if newer ones are more practical and better for the environment. (See Appendix A for syntheses)
2. Green Chemistry Principal #10, Days of Our Lives - Students will participate in an entire class activity using M&M's^® to illustrate the issue of chemical bioaccumulation in living organisms. Go to http://www.osee.org/lessonplans/19-1_oct_06_bioaccumulation.pdf for a more specific lesson that can be altered to your liking.
3. #1-7 Plastic Types - Using molecule kits (or students can draw molecules with colored pencils), students will construct the 7 major types of plastic to observe how elements are bonded together to form complex molecules (See Appendix A for molecule diagrams). They will also create a foldable in which students will describe the characteristics of each type of plastic. This foldable will be utilized later in the unit during a classroom debate. A great place to get creative ideas to personalize your foldable for your class is at Dinah Zike's Web site: http://www.dinah.com/index.php. Information to go on the foldable can be found under the Types of Plastics subheading. Students can also make Nylon^® to see how chemicals combine to form a plastic polymer. Specific lesson plan available at: http://pslc.ws/macrog/lab/lab01.htm and for those that are weary about using chemicals with your students, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y479OXBzCBQ and watch a video instead.
4. Tap vs. Bottled - This lab will, hopefully, prove to your students that tap water is just as good, if not better, than bottled water. With this proof in mind, they may be more apt to purchase a reusable (stainless steel) bottle and refill it with water instead of purchasing packages of plastic water bottles and throwing them away or recycling them into another plastic product. You want them to walk away with the knowledge that no waste is better than new waste! As an extension, students could graph the costs of different bottles of water over a week, month or year and compare it with costs of refilling a reusable water bottle with tap water. This would be a good time to practice a whole class debate (see specific directions for Feedback Discussion under the Strategies heading) by posing the question: "What in your opinion, is better for the environment, reusable or recyclable bottles and why?"

Discussion Activities

1. RIC Categorizing - Preview facts from hip new Web site: http://takeourplanetback.dipdive.com/blog/525 hosted by the well-known music group, The Black Eyed Peas. Then, in 7 small groups, students will find plastic items that correspond with their group number from the pile of collected items from students' homes. Using their knowledge gained (and their plastics foldable) students will collaboratively explain in writing, illustrations, etc., why their particular plastic items are recyclable or not and what could be done with them. Plastic items with information can be fastened to poster board and used for debate and display.
2. Local Climate Justice - Before researching local environmental issues within your city, I will show will.i.am's (Black Eyed Peas) recently released music video Take Our Planet Back based on Al Gore's 2008 Repower America speech: http://www.wecansolveit.org/page/s/williamvideo. A first action step for students will be to sign up to Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years. Inspire your students with an awesome website for music, arts, action and more called Take Our Planet Back at: http://takeourplanetback.dipdive.com/. Once they become motivated, find local environmental issues off the Internet. This research can be done by the teacher for regular education classes or by the students of an honors class. Feedback Discussion groups can debate how to be active and campaign for an environmental issue that is meaningful to them in their school or neighborhood. Discussing local issues can lead to letter writing to local government officials about student concerns.
3. That's What's Up - This debate could take place at any time during the unit after facts about renewable and non-renewable resources, bottled vs. tap water have been given and understood. A discussion surrounding this question can be debated: What is ultimately better for the environment, plastic, glass or stainless steel water bottles and why? Back up your opinion with facts by telling the pros and cons of each type of material.
4. Research Extension - Using the library and Internet, have students research what happens during the recycling process? Where does the material go and what does it turn into? What are the harmful effects of the recycling process on the environment? What does your community do and how could their current process be improved in your opinion?