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kathryn-sander · 6 years

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Young Scientists

Every year I find another way to be stunned by the ability of the kids I teach. Last Wednesday, I took my entire class to compete in the University of Wollongong Science Fair. These 10 projects represent 10 hard weeks of work by my students. In groups of 3, they devised a scientific question that could be tested, placed the question within a real world purpose and wrote an aim, used background research to guide their hypothesis, designed a fair method including controlled, independent and dependent variables, observed and recorded their results in tables and graphs, discussed any anomalies in their data, challenges they faced and attempted to explain their results and finally drew conclusions based on their investigation. On the day of the Science Fair, each group had to present their project by talking to 5 different judges. Not only that but all the students collaborated using shared Google Docs within folders on Google Drive which they managed.

It was the first time taking kids from my current school to the Science Fair and the competition was incredibly high. One of my groups walked away with a Highly Commended. That group of girls just blew away every expectation of what I had imagined a group could achieve in 10 weeks. They had researched two different environmental campaigns; Return and Earn and the Last Straw. They were interested to know why people chose to recycle as both successful campaigns were driven by two different motivators. To investigate their question, they set up 6 soft plastic recycling buckets in 6 classrooms. Two of the classes were only given the instructions, the next two classes were given the instructions and shown photos of ocean pollution and videos of turtles with straws fixed in their noses and the final two classes were promised a pizza party if they collected the most rubbish to be recycled.

The girls collected and counted the recycling everyday for two weeks and at the end found that kids motivated by self-gain will overwhelmingly recycle more than others. Interestingly, they took their research further by conducting a survey which asked the students involved why they chose to recycle. The majority of kids, even in the reward groups, said they did it to help the animals which lead the girls to question whether young children are able to admit they completed a task for self-gain rather than a more noble cause. The girls will now take their findings to a discussion meeting with the principal and P&C about how to motivate students to return their bottles to the new recycling system being set up next year at the school.

Across the class we had a wide variety of topics, none of which I came up with. One experiment proved that a plant’s roots work to filter water whilst another experiment found that a teacher's laptop key board has a higher level of bacteria than the school toilets. One group tested whether changing the distance between dominoes in a line will affect the speed at which they fall over. Another group investigated whether changing the weight of a ball will affect the speed at which it rolls down a ramp and one of the groups mixed powdered vitamins into the soil of potted plants to test whether certain types of vitamins would improve plant growth.

All of this from kids that are only 9 and 10! Believe me when I say, the younger generation know a lot more than we as a society often give them credit for. These kids have 8 more years of education before they turn 18 and many decisions will be made on their behalf by politicians before that time. I never once stopped to question whether kids standing up for the future of this world were being disadvantaged by missing a day of school. Instead, I saw kids who have learnt a hell of a lot already and are just trying to work out how they can be heard in a world that seems determined to tell them they shouldn't be.

#uowsciencefair #youngscientists #climatechange #the next generation #recycling #thelaststraw #returnandearn #publiceducation #teacherfunded

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angelmaison · 5 years

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مجموعه مدهایی که با زباله های ساحلی ساخته شده اند به گفته مارینا دبریس هنرمند استرالیایی “هدف از این مجموعه عکس ها هوشیاری مردم نسبت به زباله ها و آلودگی های ساحلی است” تمام این لباس ها از زباله های جمع آوری شده از سواحل لس آنجلس، سیدنی و استرالیا ساخته شده اند و از آن ها در میان انبوهی از زباله های بدبو و متعفن که پر از موش و خرده شیشه های شکسته است عکاسی شده است. Amazing shot of the beautiful @iamlaurawells at Maroubra beach, wearing a ‘Mermaid dress’ handmade by @marinadebris entirely from discarded litter that she has found on beaches in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs • . 📸 @snappleyard and has been featured in @southern_courier @dailytelegraph • . This incredible ‘trashion’ design aiming to highlight the very real problem of litter in NSW. This photo shoot took place on Global Recycling Day • Final spread in @junkies_magazine photos by @lisabevisphoto hair by @ninapaskowitz & makeup by @slayedbyandrew modelled by Aria Love & @kellikickham Left is “Rags to Itches” made of washed up fabrics from Gordons Bay, right is “Rescued” made of chewed up tennis balls & dog poop bags found washed up, in dog parks courtesy of @davidgrainger or on the street.. #planetorplastic #wearableart #trashion #hautecouture #fashionblogger #repair #reuse #davidattenborough #sylviaearle @leonardodicaprio @adriangrenier @emmawatson @parley.tv @moby #princecharles #royals #princeharry #meghanmarkle “The ones that got away” by Marina De Bris • #lifewithoutlitter #thecleanestloop #globalrecyclingday #recycle #trashion #wasteintoresource #mermaid #maroubra #maroubrabeach #model #fashion #photoshoot #doingmybit #returnandearn #tomra #beautiful #take3forthesea #marinadebris (at Sidny Australia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuglI3JAz9t/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=53dwdx75sobc

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