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Environmental Activities for the Classroom: Product Life-Cycle Analysis

Environmental Activities for the Classroom: Product Life-Cycle Analysis
Contributors
Laura Barnes
Sustainability Information Curator | Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC)
Learning Objets
Summary
Consumption of products drives an array of extraction, manufacturing, processing, transportation, and disposal operations. An analysis of these operations, called life-cycle or cradle-to-grave analysis, documents the inputs (water, energy, raw materials) and outputs (products and wastes), for these various steps. The objective of this lesson is to have students become aware that the products they buy have an impact on the environment beyond that of disposal of the packaging or other wastes generated from use. Dissecting a consumer product into all the various processes that contribute to its production and disposal can help us better understand how our consumer habits affect the environment. In this lesson, students analyze the product life cycle of a sneaker.

This lesson plan was developed and written by Laurie Case, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (formerly Illinois Waste Management and Research Center)
Keywords
Life Cycle Assessment
Pollution Prevention
Sustainable Design

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Moderation state
Published
Object Type
Activities/Technology (e.g., in-class activities, online games, hands-on activities/manipulatives, outreach, virtual tools, etc.)
Audience
Middle School
High School (Secondary School)
Published on
Green Chemistry Principles
Waste Prevention
U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Responsible Consumption and Production
NGSS Standards, if applicable
Engineering Design MS-ETS1-1: Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem
Engineering Design MS-ETS1-2: Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
Engineering Design MS-PS1-3: Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society
Engineering Design HS-ETS1-3: Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
Learning Goals/Student Objectives
The objective of this lesson is to have students become aware that the products they buy have an impact on the environment beyond that of disposal of the packaging or other wastes generated from use. Dissecting a consumer product into all the various processes that contribute to its production and disposal can help us better understand how our consumer habits affect the environment. In this lesson, students analyze the product life cycle of a sneaker.
Common pedagogies covered
Problem-based learning
Time required (if applicable)
2 hours

Submitted by

Laura Barnes
Safety Precautions, Hazards, and Risk Assessment
n/a
Link to external
Download from IDEALS, the University of Illinois' institutional repository

Comments

Cintia Milagre
Sun, 10/01/2023 - 14:54 Permalink

Thank you for this fantastic activity. I did it last week (29th Sep 2023), during my lecture in the Sustainable Chemistry course for Bachelor in Chemistry / Chemical Engineering undergrad students and it was a huge success. The students got involved, and a vibrant discussion came across. I am 100% positive it gave them food for thought and they will be more conscious consumers. 

Activities for the Classroom: Product Life-Cycle Analysis Sneakers - UNESP (Brazil)
Cintia Milagre
Mon, 10/09/2023 - 09:44 Permalink

Hi Jonathon,

It is an elective course for undergraduate students from chemistry (bachelor's, technological bachelor's, and License degrees) and chemical engineering. It is 15 weeks, 4 hours per week course and the main topics are:
1. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda;
2. Sustainability: myths and truths, sustainability in society, economy, and the environment, business sustainability, applying green chemistry in project management and chemical industries;
3. The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry: presentation, definitions, and discussion of case studies, industrial examples of the adoption of green chemistry, the market for green chemistry;
4. Metrics in green chemistry;
5. Assessment of the product life cycle;
6. Introduction to toxicology: definition of different toxicology terms, types of toxic compounds and factors that influence toxicity, risk components: danger, exposure, dosage, and how green chemistry minimizes the threat, which ultimately leads to minimization of risk;
7. Case studies and examples of self-sustainable chemistry/technology that have been developed covering the areas of Chemistry, including Organic, Inorganic, Analytical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Industrial Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, and Biochemistry.
The assessments involve one of the traditional individual tests covering the six first topics and a team project proposal (each team must have at least one student enrolled in a different degree).
We usually have 20 to 30 students per year. Last year we had 65 interested students but we opened spots for 30 students maximum, otherwise, the active learning methods proposed during the classes would suffer.
Prof. Humberto Milagre (who shares lecturing this course with me) and I are pretty excited about the output from students.