Example Final Assignments—Grades
9-12
Below are samples of final assignments. Final assignment formats change from year to year;
these are assignments from 2012. The following teachers have granted permission to reprint
and share their assignments: Benjamin Bode and Brian Martz.
Part I & Part II Assignments
Part I: Mini­Unit
Check one:
_X_Peterson course __Iowa City course
Subject:
Grade Level:
Name: Benjamin Bode (Beany)
School: Bishop Garrigan (Algona)
Projected dates taught:
Aug 30­Sept. 7
Course Challenge: Help your students understand why waste reduction is preferable to recycling. As
you plan your unit, consider structuring it so students review definitions/concepts they already
understand: What is waste? What is litter? What is recycling, and what is reuse? That context will help
them better understand waste reduction and its focus on prevention. Who Polluted the Potomac? is
one lesson that may be able to help you make the distinction and get those light bulbs going off!
1)Explain what you want your students to know or do as a result of the mini­unit. (Limit this to
one to three outcomes. See page 3 of Teacher Notebook for ideas.)
This mini­unit will be taught as part of my ecology curriculum, which already has a unit on pollution, so it
will weave nicely into the existing concepts. I will use this mini­unit particularly as a way to invoke
interest.
1. Students will evaluate their own “landfill footprint” and create an action plan to reduce their personal
waste by the end of the semester.
2. Students will assess the long­term ecological impacts of discarded waste in our local environment.
3. Students will examine the civil engineering and environmental considerations/regulations that are used
in the Landfill of North Iowa.
2)Mini­unit plan (daily activities)
● Complete your mini­unit plan, below, for as many days as you anticipate your unit will last, with
a minimum of 5 days.
● Clearly state what new­to­you resources introduced through the Waste Reduction Workshop
will be used in your mini­unit. Resources include DVDs, textbooks, books, lessons, websites,
etc. You must use at least two of the newly introduced resources.
● Describe the formative assessments you will include in your plan to assess whether students are
learning what you want them to know or do.
Day 1 (Aug. 30) Activities:
● Invoke challenge to students to collect as many plastic bags as possible from their homes.
Students will create and organize a way to involve the other 250 students that aren’t in the
ecology class, with the intent of involving the whole school in a plastic bag collection.
Leadership skills encouraged.
● Show clips from “Bag It” for emphasis. Students will note plastic bag stats during the viewing to
share with others later.
● Finalize plan for bag collection, and nominate student to make the announcement and challenge
over the intercom at the end of the day.
Resources to be used: Bag It film.
Formative assessments (how teacher will monitor whether the students are learning what teacher wants
them to know or do) will include: Students will use my Google Calendar to schedule their proposed
plan. Each student in class will be accountable for some aspect of the challenge.
Day 2 (Aug 31) Activities:
● Open with a student­by­student explanation of what their particular family does with their
garbage. Different waste companies, recycling, and burning will all be mentioned.
● Continue with questions to lead students toward thinking of outcomes of each of these different
garbage treatments.
● Discuss the perceived pros and cons of the different ways their garbage is dealt with. Share with
students the landfill, burning dilemma, and recycling misunderstandings as they present
themselves during discussion. Use the Story of Stuff videos about bottled water and recycling.
● Assign reading excerpts from “Stuff: the Secret Lives of Everyday Things.
● Assign the “72 Hours of Garbage Collection Handout” The students will be going into the 3­day
Labor Day weekend, which should produce a generous supply of single­use garbage to
emphasize upon their return.
Resources to be used: “72 Hours of Trash” handout, Story of Stuff video, Stuff: The Secret Lives of
Everyday Things.
Formative assessments will include:
● Review handouts to assess if their collected garbage has been accurately assessed as
recyclable, reusable or (my addition) AVOIDABLE!
● Quiz on the assigned reading from the “Stuff” book.
● Student Checkoff during discussion (each student must contribute a relevant and worthwhile
comment during discussion to receive participation points.)
Day 3 (Sept. 4) Activities:
Present Garbage! Each student will display their 72 days of garbage on a table in the lab, and the rest
of the class will assess the items as recyclable, reusable, avoidable, biodegradable.
Using the computer lab, students will make pie charts of the categories of garbage they collected.
Formative assessments will include:
The computer generated chart will be graded.
Day 4 Daily Activities and Resources to be used:
Students will “build” a landfill. In addition the students will put the collected garbage from Labor Day
into their theoretical landfill, and assess how the objects will change over time and interact with each
other.
Secondly, the students will predict what impacts the landfill may have in the ecosystem based on what
they learned from a previous ecology unit.
Finally, an excerpt from “The World According to Larry” will be read aloud to the class. The excerpt is
the one in which Larry makes a list of the essential items he needs. The students will be assigned (as
homework) to complete a list of 20 things that they can’t live without.
Formative assessments will include:
Participation will be assessed, as well as the completion of the list.
Day 5 Daily Activities and Resources to be used:
This day will be the trip to the North Iowa Landfill.
Formative assessments will include:
3) What is the name, position and school of the teacher/administrator who gave input on this draft unit?
David Burrow
PART II Assignment: Reflection
What changes did you make on your mini­unit, either before or during the teaching of the
unit?
In general, I ended up reducing a lot of the workload that I intended for the students during the teaching
of the unit. For logistical and time­constraint reasons, some of what was intended was not possible.
1)
Reflect on your daily lesson plans below.
Day 1 Reflection: What worked? What would you do differently next time?
The students truly enjoyed the Bag It clip that I showed. In fact, when I cut the clip in order to
move on, they were upset and wanted to watch more. Plus, they launched into a series of questions
about plastic bags, and it was hard to get back to the lesson plan.
The students were not interested in doing a school­wide plastic bag collection. That was
disappointing, as it showed a lack of leadership. I’m sure the project would have gone well, but without
students to organize the bag collection, it would not go well. Instead, students agreed to go home that
evening and bring back the plastic bags they had in their house at that given time. That worked well.
Day 2 Reflection: What worked? What would you do differently next time?
The discussion of what each family did with their garbage was excellent. Unfortunately, the
students who burned their garbage seemed to take pride in their resourcefulness, and that prompted a
lot of students to start asking why we can’t just burn all of the garbage. That lead to some teaching I had
not planned for. Also, I was hoping that some students would have examples of how their family takes
care of their garbage, but many had no examples. They simply threw everything into the rubbish bin, and
took out the garbage to a company they couldn’t name. At least there was a lot to disucss and learn.
About half of the class was interested to collect their garbage for three days. I did not force the
students who did not want to.
The students read the “Stuff” excerpt, but were not shocked. However, watching Story of Stuff:
Plastic online sparked their curiosity.
Day 3 Reflection: What worked? What would you do differently next time?
Coincidentally, the seniors had a camp­out at school before the first day, and they had left a
garbage can outside school. It was still there, and I brought that in to go through, along with the garbage
they had collected. The amount of plastic was surprising to most, as well as the amount of food they had
thrown away. There was even unopened bags of candy, which some of my students gladly ate! One
student brought in at least 20 Gatorade bottles that he had drunk over the weekend. They enjoyed this
activity, but the chance to turn it into a learning moment is fleeting, as you have to be careful to avoid
them taking pride in their quantity of refuse.
Next time, I will make the time for them to make graphs of the different categories of trash they
collected.
Day 4 Reflection: What worked? What would you do differently next time?
I thought many of the students would think that a landfill was “overbuilt,” but many of the remarks were
concerned that the landfill regulations were too few. On the other hand, about a fourth of the students
felt that the landfill was the wrong way to dispose trash, preferring to burn it or let it degrade on it’s
own. I used paper and sheets, and whatever I could use to build the landfill in class, but what was really
helpful was the video, that I could pause at certain moments and point out how the video correlates to
the class model.
Day 5 Reflection: What worked? What would you do differently next time?
We were not able to schedule the field trip to the North Iowa Landfill, but we were able to visit our
local transfer station, as well as out local compost dump. Students loved it, and many commented how
they never knew it was there, even though they had driven past it many times.
2)
Refer to Part I, Question 1: By the end of the unit, did your students know what you
wanted them to know, or do what you wanted them to do? Explain.
The students definitely were more aware of their “garbage footprint” at the end of the class. In all,
they were less concerned with the ecological impact of waste than I was hoping. However, they did
marvel at the amount of waste that each had produced, and seemed to have hope that engineers at
the landfill would come to their rescue. Still, several students have stopped me throughout the year
to point out how they are carrying their own water bottle rather than buying new every time.
3)
Did the unit fit the goals and objectives of your class? Yes No Please explain.
The objective of my class is to apply scientific concepts to our local community. The unit
certainly connects the students to the community, but in order to better meet their standards for
science literacy, I need to fold more data interpretation and processes into the unit. For
example, the chemistry of decomposition, the part garbage plays in our biogeochemical cycles,
and groundwater chemistry could all easily be worked into the unit. However, it needs to span
more than the time I planned for this year.
Optional: Include a copy of one to three samples of completed student assignments, one­three
teacher­generated handouts, and/or other materials that could be shared with future participants in the
Waste Reduction course.
________
PART I Assignment: Mini­Unit
Subject: Intro to Engineering Design
Grade Level: 9­12
Name: Brian Martz
School: Iowa City West HS
Projected dates the
mini­unit will be taught:
8­22 to 8­31
Waste Reduction Mini­Unit Objectives
● Students will demonstrate awareness of consumer impacts on society, the economy and the
environment and methods used to reduce waste.
● Students will demonstrate the ability to trace the lifecycle and processes used to create common
products and identify the resources used to produce them.
● Students will demonstrate awareness of engineering ethics and design considerations used to
reduce consumer waste through thoughtful planning and consideration of the product life and its
afterlife.
Day 1 Daily Activities and Resources to be used: 8/20
● Class Discussion of what makes us happy.
● Review Prologue of: Stuff; The Secret Lives of Every Day Things. Assign; Coffee &
Newspaper chapters.
● Issue Mini­Unit Key Terms Study Guide
● Presentation of Global, Human & Ethical Impacts. Dialogue with students on how products can
provide positive and negative impacts.
Formative assessments:
● Students will record notes, small group discussion points etc… in their engineers’ notebook &
on large sheet for gallery walk/class discussions.
● Questionnaire for Stuff chapters will be issued and collected before next class.
Day 2 Daily Activities and Resources to be used: 8/21
● Group discussion on Stuff: Coffee & Newspaper Chapters. Assign T­Shirt & Shoes
● Review the 7 Technological Resources, Renewable & Non­Renewable Resources, Primary &
Secondary manufacturing processes.
● Review Product Lifecycle Activity & Expectations: Study former student presentation example
& Life of a Hamburger Poster
Formative assessments will include:
● Oral feedback & submitted questionnaire for assigned Stuff chapters
● Class discussion, recording notes/lists in Engineer’s notebook
● Q&A on Product Lifecycle Activity/Rubric
Day 3 & 4 Daily Activities and Resources to be used: 8/22 & 23
● Brief Group Discussion on Stuff: T­Shirt & Shoes chapters. Assign: Bike/Car & Computer
chapters.
● Students (in groups of two) will create & present Product Lifecycle Projects
Formative assessments will include:
● Oral feedback & submitted questionnaire for Stuff chapters
● Students will present their Power Point presentations to the class.
Day 5 Daily Activities and Resources to be used: 8/25
● Brief Group Discussion on Stuff: Bike/Car & Computer chapters. Assign: Hamburgers, French
Fries & Cola chapters
● Review: Bag It Video
● Preview of Johnson Co. Landfill Tour
Formative assessments will include:
● Small group discussion & student reactions to waste created by consumers as outlined in the
Bag It Video
● Oral feedback & submitted questionnaire for assigned Stuff chapters
Day 6 Daily Activities and Resources to be used: 8/27
● Tour of Johnson Co. Landfill
Formative assessments will include:
● Q&A with Tour Guide
Day 7 Daily Activities and Resources to be used: 8/28
● Class Debrief of Landfill Tour
● Group Conclusion Discussion of Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things
● Introduction to Waste Reduction
● Review & Assign 72 (24, 48) Hours of Trash Lesson
● Review: No Impact Man Video
Formative assessments will include:
● Oral feedback of tour findings
● Oral feedback of assigned book Stuff
● Small Group Brainstorming of Waste Reduction Processes
● Group reactions to No Impact Man Video
Day 8 Daily Activities and Resources to be used: 8/29
● Record 72 hours of Trash Data on Chart. Review findings.
● Class Visit by West HS Environmental Club
● Preview Tour of Iowa City East Side Recycle Center
Formative assessments will include:
● Students will fill out 72 Hours Data Sheet
● Q&A with Environmental Club
Day 9 Daily Activities and Resources to be used: 8/30
● Tour of Iowa City East Side Recycle Center
Formative assessments will include:
● Q & A with Tour Guide
Day 10­12 Daily Activities and Resources to be used: 8/31, 9/4 & 5
● Introduction to Engineering Ethics Presentation
● Environmental & Safety related Government Agencies
● Engineering Disasters & Miracles by Design Activity. Students in groups of 2 will research and
create presentations for one engineering disaster that impacted the environment and one
example of conservative design efforts to reduce waste.
Formative assessments will include:
● Student record of info in engineers’ notebook
● Student Presentations of Engineering Disasters & Miracles by Design
3) What is the name, position and school of the teacher/administrator who gave input on this draft unit?
Neil Davis: History Department, IC West HS
PART II Assignment: Reflection
What changes did you make on your mini­unit, either before or during the teaching of the
unit? Due to curriculum changes in our Intro to Engineering Design class, I did not feel that teaching a
waste reduction unit was appropriate at the beginning of the course as I had initially thought it would be.
Therefore, I taught the unit in my Manufacturing 1 class and found it to be a great addition to the content
of the course and relevant to bring students full circle with the concept of consumption vs. waste and all
of the resources/processes used to allow us to live a perceived quality of life that we do here in the
United States of America.
Day 1 Reflection: What worked? What would you do differently next time?
We watched the World Population Video and performed a couple of the activities listed in the manual
to the video.
A. Earth: The Apple of our eye. I thought this really helped the students gain an appreciation for the
actual amount of capacity to grow food.
B. Everything is Connected: Did not go over well. The students just did not want to participate in an
open forum.
C. Take a Stand: Got kids out of their seats and they did participate with enthusiasm and expressed
their values based on what side of the room they moved to.
Reviewed the Prologue of the book STUFF: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things.
Assigned: Coffee
Day 2 Reflection: What worked? What would you do differently next time?
Discussed the chapter and review questions on Coffee. Assigned: Newspaper & T­Shirt
Performed a lesson on Product Lifecycles. Reinforced earlier course concepts of gaining and
processing resources to produce the goods we consume. Introduced the concepts of Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle & Re­engineer.
Students researched the lifecycle of a product and created a poster to demonstrate the processes,
resources consumed and waste produced.
Day 3 Reflection: What worked? What would you do differently next time?
Discussed student reactions to the Newspaper & T­Shirt chapters of Stuff.
Showed the video: Bag It!! This was pretty eye­opening for the students in regards to the throw­away
society that we live in, what the rest of the world is doing to change their habits, what America is not
willing to do, the effects of plastic on the environment, personal health concerns etc… Several
suggestions were made for changing our behavior, habits, mindset about using plastic products.
This would have been a great time to take the students to the Johnson Co. Landfill & SE Recycling
Center/Habitat Restore so they could see how those operations work but we just didn’t have time. I
will try to work this into our curriculum in the future.
We did not do the 72 hours of Trash Activity. I think that if I can get the kids to participate with a good
attitude, we could get some personal reflection on their own habits of waste.
Day 4 Reflection: What worked? What would you do differently next time?
I had the students research and construct a 2nd life into a product that would otherwise be thrown away
in their home. The students collected materials at home and processed them into a 2nd life product.
I need more resources/activities to direct them. We used YouTube, and Google to research ideas. The
students collected materials at home and processed them into a 2nd life.
Day 5 Reflection: What worked? What would you do differently next time?
I had the E.A.T.S. club (Environmental Advocates Taking on Sustainability) visit our class to explain
what projects they were doing on campus and what students could do at home to consider participating
in concepts of waste reduction, re­use, recycle and energy reduction.
Projects they mentioned:
A. Recycle Bowl Competition
B. Added Plastic and Paper recycle bins to all classrooms on campus.
C. Composting kitchen waste. 900 lbs in 3 weeks.
D. Vegetable/ Produce Garden Sell to school kitchen.
E. Energy Audit/Caulking windows/insulate doors, boiler check…
F. Sustainability: Student education concerning energy reduction habits.
G. Exploring renewable energy sources for our school
Day 6 Reflection: What worked? What would you do differently next time?
Watched Video: No Impact Man
What are we willing and not willing to give up to reduce our waste?
Can we still live a quality life without wasting so much and lessening our impact on the environment?
Day 6 Reflection: What worked? What would you do differently next time?
The class reviewed our manufacturing project & processes and identified several areas of possible
waste reduction. In addition, we are looking into identifying what extra materials in our storage area can
be brought to the Habitat Reuse store.
We re­visited the concept of what makes us happy. Teenagers are at a critical time in their lives at this
grade level where they can make up their own minds about the choices they make. In gaining more
independence from their parents, some choices are influenced by their peers but in general, the
information they have been exposed to will give them an opportunity to implement desirable behaviors
that reflect their own consciences and values. Sometimes, it’s just cool to be part of a new way of
doing things and it gets passed on to the next generation.
Final Quiz/Reflection over the unit.
4)
Refer to Part I, Question 1: By the end of the unit, did your students know what you
wanted them to know, or do what you wanted them to do? Explain.
Yes, I am confident that my students are more aware of the amount of waste our society produces and
several methods by which they could participate in making an individual choice to have less impact on
our environment without living a lesser quality life.
5)
Did the unit fit the goals and objectives of your class? Yes No Please explain.
Yes. I had always only taught our manufacturing classes where our resources come from and how we
turn them into the products we buy but never considered the 4 R’s. I feel like I personally have learned
a great deal that I can add to our curriculum to help students consider their impacts, concerns and
career opportunities that await their generation.
Optional: Include a copy of one to three samples of completed student assignments, one­three
teacher­generated handouts, and/or other materials that could be shared with future participants in the
Waste Reduction course.
I’ll be bringing these to the final class.