The students have been researching the benefits and downfalls of waste recycling for several weeks as part of their current affairs curriculum. To augment the class work the students invited town members to explain the benefits of waste disposal, recycling and composting to help them create and inform decisions.
During the Jan. 12 presentation, the students were asked to take a skeptics point of view and were armed with questions.
Alison Laidlaw, a Grade 7 teacher at the school, said teaching students how to keep up with current affairs educates them on important topics such as organic waste and recyclables but also how to establish an informed opinion.
“When we find something very relevant, we turn it into an inquiry,” Laidlaw said.
During their research, the class was asked who thought recycling and composting would make a difference.
“To those who said it won’t make any difference we said, ‘Let’s find out,’” Laidlaw said.
Some students were skeptical of how much is truly recycled versus the amount ending up in the landfill.
“If something is contaminated in a batch then it could all just end up in the garbage,” said Laidlaw. “We talked about plastic bags and straws at the beginning of the year, so they had already discovered that plastic bags and straws are almost unrecyclable.
The students also looked at Facebook posts on the issues, and as a class differentiated between opinions with logic versus comments that begin to lead the discussion astray.
“We went through a Facebook discussion asking ‘what are they basing that on?” Things get illogical. (People) are not even listening anymore. I want (the students) to stop and listen and then decide.”
Next, the students listened to town staff to supplement the research they had done.
During the presentation, town Coun. Susan Flowers and town waste and recycling manager Fabrizio Bertolo explained the town’s waste management plans and why council had originally wanted to vote for bi-weekly garbage pick up.
Flowers said teaching new ideas about how to handle waste to youth means the information is more likely to stick with them into adulthood.
To read the full story, visit http://www.cochraneeagle.com/article/Students-get-closer-look-at-waste-management-20180118.