Title - Graph Litter in the School over 30 Days
Grade Level - 4-8
1. In conjunction with a unit about the environment, recycling or litter,
discuss with the students how it's possible to track that amount of litter in a
set area to see if an awareness campaign is working.
2. Talk about promoting to other students to pick up their trash and put it in
the right bin. Your students might like to make posters to put around the school
to encourage others to think.
3. Towards the end of each day, ask your students to form small groups and get
them to take a notepad and pen or pencil with them.
4. Assign different sections of the school to each group.
5. Get them to go out to that particular section and have them count and write
down how many pieces of glass, paper and litter they can find.
6. When sufficient data is collected after a set period, have them import the
data that they have collected into a spreadsheet program.
7. Use column headings such as date, area, paper, plastic, bottles, glass, etc.
8. While they are using the spreadsheet program, get them to graph their
results.
9. Save the file as "Group ...... - litter".
10. When your students have finished graphing your results, have them print out
their documents and present them to the class.
11. Discuss the changes and effect of the awareness program. Students might like
to suggest ways to increase its effectiveness e.g. rewards.