WOW in Curriculum.pdf - Wipe Out Waste - WOW

Suggested Learning Activities
Early / Primary Years
Discuss ‘needs’ and ‘wants’. What do we need to
survive? What things do we get because we want them?
How might needs and wants differ between cultural
groups? What can you learn from this?
Interview older family and / or community members
about what waste disposal was like when they were at
school. Ask them to recall burning or burying rubbish,
trips to the rubbish dump and the ‘garbos’. Describe
how things have changed and consider the reasons why.
Develop a timeline and suggest how your learning will
infl uence future waste management at home or in your
school.
Imagine what it would be like for your school to be
waste free. Work out ways that this could happen. What
role can you play in helping your school become waste
free?
‘When I was
young I never wasted,
otherwise straight away I get
trouble. Even bone not wasted.
Make soup or burn that bone…
I look after my country… We got to look after,
can’t waste anything…
If you waste anything now, next year…you can’t
get as much because you already waste…
This earth… I never damage. I look after…’
Australia’s Kakadu Man Bill Neidjie
(Co-author of Australia’s
Kakadu Man, 1985)
WOW - Wipe Out Waste: A program of Zero Waste SA delivered by KESAB environmental solutions
4
Use it up
Wear it out
Make it do
Or do without’
What does this mean? How does this relate to you at
home and / or school? Give an example. Create your
own ditty and decide how to use it to encourage people at
home and school to reduce waste.
Historically, indigenous cultures used natural
resources very effi ciently and all waste (except shell or
stone items) was degradable. Consider the consequences
of introducing non-degradable plastic products such as
plastic bags or disposable nappies into a society that
previously hasn’t used these products? What changes
may need to be made to waste management systems to
account for this change?
Read the quote from Bill Neidjie. Some cultures may
regard the current modern practice of burying unwanted
items in landfi ll as wasteful. How do practices in your
school and home ensure that an item is used to its full
potential?
Find a local council waste guide / brochure for residents
and discuss how you would fi nd this information if you
were a non-English speaking person? Develop and test
a brochure about waste in the community for someone
from a particular cultural group in your school community,
or a similar brochure without text that could be understood
by someone of any age or language other than English
(LOTE).
Consider how current actions will impact on
future generations. Write a letter from the present to
grandchildren in the future, describing how you (student),
as a responsible citizen, have actively contributed to
improving waste management for future generations.
Read the letter at home.