Big bag ban
Big bag ban
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Resource from the ENGAGE project, which won 'best open educational resource (2017)'
The EU approved tough new measures to slash the use of plastic bags. New targets forced each country to reduce plastic bag use by 80%.
In this activity students examine degradable plastic bags as a possible alternative to ordinary plastic bags. They choose questions to ask experts, and come to a reasoned decision in answer to the dilemma question: will degradable plastic bags solve the problems caused by ordinary plastic bags?
Learning objectives
- Materials: properties of polymers
- Science in society: evaluate the merits of a solution to a real-world problem
GCSE Combined Science:
- Working Scientifically: Development of scientific thinking: explain everyday and technological applications of science; evaluate associated personal, social, economic and environmental implications; and make decision based on the evaluation of evidence and arguments
- Chemistry: Chemical bonding: describe and compare the nature and arrangement of chemical bonds in..polymers…
Activity contents
- Teachers guide
- PowerPoint file
The activity is delivered as a zip file. After you checkout, you will be sent an email with the link to download it.
Weblinks
The EU demands for a reduction in plastic bag use.
Article about biodegradable plastics
Are they better for the environment? This article is accessible to students.
This article is about research on biodegradable plastic bags.
Background reading on degradable plastics
Very long and detailed report of research literature on degradable bags, for teacher reference.
Q&A
For the Year 7 Mastery Practice book:
For the Y9/GCSE Mastery Practice Book:
It was written to help year 7 students learn to transfer the scientific knowledge to unfamiliar situation. It can also be used by students in other years to improve their understanding of the fundamental concepts. Learning to apply is what will give students access to the 60% of marks at GCSE that demand more than recalling content. The book uses a research-based approach to teach students how to solve different types of problems.
The Practice Book has a chapter on each unit in the year 7 curriculum, based on a 5-year curriculum and AQA's KS3 Science Syllabus. Download the sample material to see exactly what concepts and types of problems are included.
The first strategy studente need to learn is to evaluate the problem and what knowledge is needed to solve it. 'Detect' simulates how an expert looks at a question. They make sense of the situation, look beyond the superficial details to find the deep structure This allows them to recognise this as an example of a problem type they have seen before, and recall the organised information they need to solve - key concepts. It ensures that students avoid their inclination to just look at the keywords, and dive in risking misunderstanding the situation. Detect is broken down into smaller steps, usually: draw a diagram, show values, identify unknown, decide the concept
This encourages students to bring into their working memory all their existing knowledge, externalise it on paper (to reduce working memory demands), and then home in on what's relevant to solving the problem.
The third stage of the problem solving strategy is the actual solution process using the knowledge from Recall.The Solve starts by showing how to use the knowledge from Recall and models a step by step process of moving towards a solution for the problem.We teach students how to write answers scientifically, using a variety of structures like claim-evidence-reasoning, and problem-solution, and cause-effect.
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