In Why Bee Wasteful students learn about the impact our waste has on the environment.

Students will learn about the lifecycle of fossil-fuel based products, the difference between the linear and the circular economy, and how to make small changes to reduce waste in their everyday lives. Students get the opportunity to tour the transfer station and spy the wasted resources being taken to landfill. Before heading back to the classroom where they learn about the circular systems found in nature and create their own bees wax wraps.

Lesson focus: The lifecycle of materials
Year levels: 3-13
Curriculum level: 1-8
Students: Maximum 35
Onsite: Pines Resource Recovery Park
Times: 9.30am-11.30am or 12.30pm-2.30pm
Run time: 2 hours 
Requirements: Must wear closed-in shoes
Cost: Free

Site tours may be postponed from time to time due to weather or operational issues.

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Key Concepts

  • Linear economy vs the circular economy
  • Waste reduction and waste management
  • The waste hierarchy
  • Sustainability
  • Circular systems in nature
  • Taking care of natural resources

Learning Outcomes

Students will learn to:

  • Understand the lifecycle of a fossil-fuel based product.
  • Identify items and materials that do not belong in landfill.
  • How to use the waste hierarchy in their everyday lives.
  • How to make and use a reusable bees wax wrap.
  • How to collectively make a difference.

Key Competencies

Thinking

  • Students use critical and creative thinking skills to rethink current linear waste systems, reflect on individual and collective choices and shape their future actions.

Using language, symbols, and texts

  • Students will use oral, visual, and mathematical texts to recognise current linear processes in waste management.

Managing self

  • Students will manage themselves to a high standard and be required to recognise that they are on a working site.

Participating and contributing

  • Students work together and contribute as a member of a group while creating bees wax wraps and during a Transfer Station tour. This creates opportunities for others and allows for safe environment for learning.
  • Students are shown how their daily actions impact the environment on both a local and global level. By introducing concepts of globalisation students are given a deeper perspective of the effects their choices have.

Adult : Student Ratios

On-site ProgrammeYears 1 - 3Years 4 - 6Years 7 - 9Years 10 - 13
Why Bee Wasteful?

1:5
(Year 3 only)


1:6
1:7
1:10

Achievement Objectives

Curriculum AreaScienceSocial ScienceTechnologyHealth and Physical Education
Strand and LevelNature of Science
Level 1 - 8 		Social Sciences
Level 2 - 8 		Technological Knowledge
Level 1 - 8

Nature of Technology 
Level 1 - 8 		Relationships with other people
Level 4 - 5

Healthy Communities and Environments
Level 1 - 8
ObjectiveInvestigating in science 
Level 1 - 4

Participating and contributing
Level 1 - 8		Social Studies
Level 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8

Geography 
Level 6 - 8

Economics
Level 6 - 8 		Technological products
Level 1 - 8

Technological systems
Level 6 - 8

Characteristics of technology
Level 1 - 8

Characteristics of technological outcomes
Level 1, 2, 6, 7, 8		Interpersonal Skills 
Level 4, 5

Societal attitudes and values
Level 2, 4

Rights, responsibilities, and laws; people and the environment
Level 1, 2

Community resources
Level 5

People and the environment
Level 5, 6, 7, 8