Sustainable Invention: An Exploration of Bioplastics - Module 1
Contributors
Summary
*This is Module 1 of a 4 Module, multi-lesson unit. Sustainable Invention: An Exploration of Bioplastics is a unit that has been developed to introduce middle school students and educators to sustainable invention and green chemistry principles. The Sustainable Invention unit seeks to address the challenges of integrating invention education into middle school science curricula and advance STEM pedagogy.
The unit is centered on two key questions relevant to sustainability and invention education, and three enduring understandings relevant to green chemistry and invention.
Unit Essential Questions:
How can we make a product that is good for people and the environment?
Why should inventors care about sustainable materials?
Unit Enduring Understandings:
Green Chemistry allows us to create products that are safer for us and the environment, contributing to a sustainable future.
Inventing a new technology involves coming up with an idea, developing that idea with the use of peer feedback, and re-designing based on testing.
Bioplastics can be used to create novel products and/or better versions of already existing products.
To achieve these goals, the unit takes an active approach to learning, with students engaged in labs, design challenges, and presentations. Four curricular practices, in particular, may be less familiar to educators who have not previously engaged in a sustainable invention unit:
Context-based on phenomena
Development of empathy
Engagement in iteration
Focus on student explanation
The unit is centered on two key questions relevant to sustainability and invention education, and three enduring understandings relevant to green chemistry and invention.
Unit Essential Questions:
How can we make a product that is good for people and the environment?
Why should inventors care about sustainable materials?
Unit Enduring Understandings:
Green Chemistry allows us to create products that are safer for us and the environment, contributing to a sustainable future.
Inventing a new technology involves coming up with an idea, developing that idea with the use of peer feedback, and re-designing based on testing.
Bioplastics can be used to create novel products and/or better versions of already existing products.
To achieve these goals, the unit takes an active approach to learning, with students engaged in labs, design challenges, and presentations. Four curricular practices, in particular, may be less familiar to educators who have not previously engaged in a sustainable invention unit:
Context-based on phenomena
Development of empathy
Engagement in iteration
Focus on student explanation
Safety Precautions, Hazards, and Risk Assessment
N/A
Teacher Recommendations or Piloting Data (if available)
N/A
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.59877/AZAS5041
File (PDF, PPT, image, etc)
File (PDF, PPT, image, etc)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.