E-Waste Project
For the 2006/2007 school year five teachers at Waters were awarded the Technology for Teaching Grant Initiative from Hewlett Packard.  This exciting program is designed to support the innovative use of technology in classrooms.  Participating teachers received tablet computers, digital cameras, printers and projectors to help integrate technology into classroom instruction.

Our project has concentrated on issues related to electronic waste.  Students have researched the topic and have worked on projects to promote community awareness, collect and help dispose of e-waste, and recycle e-waste into art. 

As a culminating event, we held a community-wide e-waste pickup at our school, where we were able to dispose of a ton of computers and printers.  We also collected 65 cell phones, 146 used print cartridges and 46 pounds of batteries!  To see photos of our eWaste Pick-Up, click here.

Click the links below to learn about how each teacher has utilized technology to teach and help our students become global citizens.
Animation and Photo Documentation
 Recycling E-Waste
as Art
 Community Awareness
and Collections
 Research and Blogs
 Creating Public Awareness

Animation and Photo Documentation
Our group began by researching facts about electronic waste.  Alone or in pairs, students chose a fact and used the draw and paint programs in AppleWorks to create a GIF animation which illustrated the fact.
E-Waste Fact 1
 E-Waste Fact 2
E-Waste Fact 3
E-Waste Fact 4 E-Waste Fact 5E-Waste Fact 6

We also received a grant from Chicago Arts Partnership in Education (CAPE) to work with a professional photographer (Kris Bailey, left) to learn to use digital cameras and edit the photos we took documenting our eWaste project.
Recycling E-Waste as Art
Students in this group used recycled materials to create works of art.  They also created and distributed posters about e-waste throughout the community and talked to community members about our recycling effort.



The students created soft sculptures inspired by the work of Nek Chand, who has created thousands of pieces of art from recycled materials in his native India.  Read more about him at the Nek Chand Foundation website.
Community Awareness and Collections




This group was responsible for setting up containers for collections of batteries, print cartridges, and cell phones.  They kept a running tally of items collected in the main hallway of the school for everyone to see how the collection was going.

 Research and Blogs
Students in this group utilized the resources available in our school library to research information about eWaste and created a blog for discussion with the wider community to share information on this topic.  You can find their blog on the Blogger website. Type in "E-Waste Explorers" to explore the blog and post a message.
The students also visited classrooms throughout the school to explain our project and encourage support from everyone at Waters.

Creating Public Awareness



The responsibilities of this group included designing the keeping current our eWaste bulletin board.  The students also addressed the issue of eWaste through letters sent to heads of elecronics corporations, urging them to help stop the growth of eWaste.
Resource List
Del.icio.us
Basal Action Network
Blogger
Nek Chand Foundation


Favorite Websites
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