Science.4.11.B

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The student is expected to

explain the critical role of energy resources to modern life and how conservation, disposal, and recycling of natural resources impact the environment; and

1666 TEKS header image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Earth and space. The student understands how natural resources are important and can be managed.

careful preservation and protection of something

the act or process of throwing away or getting rid of something

natural and manmade resource that can be used to produce light, heat, or electrical energy primarily for human use, such as oil, gas, coal, solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear energy

the circumstances, objects, or conditions that surround an organism including abiotic (climate and soil) and biotic (living organisms) that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival  

material or substance such as minerals, coal, oil, natural gas, water, soil, air, animals, and plants that occur in nature and are used by humans to make products 

to process something (such as liquid body waste, glass, or cans) in order to regain material for human use; to reuse or make a substance available for reuse for biological activities through natural processes of biochemical degradation (decomposition) or modification

Research

Weiland, Mary, Ann Boekhoff, and Tami Staloch-Schultz “Methods & Strategies: From Landfills to Robots.” Science and Children 49, no. 7 (March 2012): 72–76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43747339. 

Summary: In this article, the author outlines a lesson completed in an elementary classroom meant to increase awareness of how much waste we produce and encourage students and families to reduce the amount of waste they produce by recycling and reusing items. Families were given a questionnaire to determine how much recycling and reusing they already do at home. Students were asked to bring used items from the home to make a class "landfill." This landfill was used to show students how much waste we produce and provide students with items they could use to create something new and purposeful. Students observed the benefits and cons of different packaging of everyday items as they sorted the items in their landfill into three categories: recyclable, reusable, and garbage. Students then practiced using the engineering process to build something new that could meet human needs using the items. Families were given a post-project questionnaire with the same questions as the pre-project questionnaire, which showed increased willingness to reduce, reuse, recycle, and decrease the amount of waste produced at home and in the classroom.