Challenges: Resources

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Sustainability

Essential Question

What is your school’s paper footprint?

Overview

Technology was once hailed as the pathway to a “paperless” society. Document sharing, email, and electronic document repositories were to eliminate the need for the reams of paper being consumed in schools and businesses. Yet, look around your school and the massive use of paper continues. How much of the use is necessary? How much paper is wasted? How can we do things differently?

Challenge

Reduce your school’s paper footprint.

Guiding Questions

Guiding questions direct the research of the challenge topic.

Examples
  • Why don't teachers use digital resources?
  • Is there an unlimited amount of paper?
  • Who uses paper at our school?
  • What do they use it for?
  • How much paper is recycled a year?
  • How much money does our school spend on paper each year?

Guiding Activities

These activities assist students with answering the guiding questions and set the foundation for them to develop insightful and realistic solutions. They can be student or teacher directed. The student teams may begin with these activities but will need to seek out new ones to answer their questions. The goal is not to create a prescribed path to a solution but to provide guidance when needed.

Examples
  • Do a school wide inventory of paper usage. How much paper is ordered? How much is used at each copier and printer?
  • Monitor the school printers a copiers to determine how paper is used.
  • Interview administrators and teachers on the technology infrastructure for administrative tasks. Identify how and why paper is used.
  • Interview students to see how they use paper and identify where waste occurs.
  • Research the origin of the paper being purchased. Is it recycled?
  • Research the cost benefit of recycling.

Guiding Resources

This is focused content that supports the activities and assists students with developing a solution. The ingredients include websites, videos, podcasts, experts, and other resources.

Examples