Health Quests

Overview
In the activity, students visit Web sites that contain pictures and descriptions of products that are made using recycled materials. Among the products shown are those made of recycled plastic "lumber," furniture and other nonpaper products composed of recycled scrap paper, and household goods made at least in part from aluminum and other resources. Students working in teams use the images and descriptions as a catalyst for the invention of an original product to be made from recycled parts.

Objectives

• To use images and descriptions featured at sites on the World Wide Web to learn about the process of recycling, the materials used in recycling, and the goods manufactured.
• To work cooperatively to invent an original product based on ideas suggested at the various sites.

Getting Started
Ask students to provide the names of well-known inventors and their inventions. Write their suggestions on the chalkboard. After developing lists of ten or so names and inventions, discuss with students the materials and processes used in these inventions. Help the class recognize that certain natural resources once taken for granted--wood, for example--are now in increasingly short supply. Ask: What steps can be taken and are being taken at present to remedy this problem? Elicit that recycling is one widely embraced solution. Ask what limitations, if any, these inventors might have faced had they been forced to work with recyclable materials.

Classroom Follow-up
Advise groups who decide to build a prototype of their invention to maintain a journal of their progress that notes any difficulties they encountered and how they went about resolving these. If several groups elect to make prototypes, these might be shared at a Recyclable Products Fair, to which other members of the school and community may be invited. Group members should prepare brief oral explanations of how they conceived of and built their products, what these products would cost if mass-produced, and what natural resources are conserved.