Introduction
Electronic waste is a global problem that continues to grow as technology advances. All the elements that go into mobile phones, computers and TVs can be polluting to the environment and dangerous to human health if incorrectly disposed of. And that’s exactly what happens in parts of the developing world, where the poor take apart your phone with little protection, exposing themselves to mercury, lead, cadmium and other dangerous metals so that they can get to the gold, copper and other valuable materials within. So-called e-waste is the fastest growing part of the solid waste stream, and some 20 to 50 million metric tons of it are thrown out every year.
Fortunately, humanity keeps finding new ways to recycle and reuse E-waste. For example DIY (do-it-yourself) projects keep E-waste out of landfills and give old junk new purpose. There are many creative ways to recycle e-waste, reducing the need to mine more of the metals that go into high-tech items, and preventing the environmental consequences of poorly processed electronics.
There are also many simple steps that the average person can take to contribute to the solution. Some simple solutions at a quick glance include:
- Using trade-in programs which allow you to get store credit or money for handing over your outdated gadgets.
- Donatting your used electronics to an organization that can use them, like Cell Phones for Soldiers
- Find a recycling program where electronics are diposed of according to EPA regualations (drop off sites like Best Buy)
Goals/Objectives
The goal of this project is to create an interactive multimedia project that informs and teaches students about the importance of E-waste and ways they can contribute to solving the problem and reducing their foot print. This project will provide educational background on the topic and present a guided interactive infographic with the intentions of educating and providing the knowledge needed by today’s youth. There will also be a learner controlled interactive media aspect. This will be a user controlled interactive game. The students will be invited to play an interactive Jeopardy style battle game which will test how much they know about recycling and test students shopping skills by trying to help them shop as eco-friendly as possible.
Figure 1: Screen-shot of the game setup
There will also be survey monkey style poll questions at the beginning and end of the program.
- Specific & measurable goal 1: To gauge the students’ attitudes and feelings about the topic before presenting the information
- Specific & measurable goal 2: To educate the students with the data and facts provided in the design project including introduction of the topic, infographic illustration and the game show format training.
- Specific & measurable goal 3: To measure the students’ performance and understating of the topic from the quiz questions and the survey poll at the end.
Specific target learners
The target learners for this will be students. This is targeted more specifically to secondary school student who are becoming young adults and will be the next generation to lead the world. The next generation will inherit this earth and it is important for them to understand the importance of protecting the environment and keeping it safe and sustainable.
Electronics and related waste are universal in our culture, particularly with younger generations. I chose this target audience because current high school and college students, for example, grew up with cell phones and other hand held devices. For that reason, it seems like a natural fit to engage them in developing sustainable solutions for the massive amount of electronic wastes to which they contribute.
I believe that more schools should introduce environmental subjects and teach about the importance of recycling, especially electronic recycling as early as possible to produce caretakers for tomorrow’s world.
This is a great topic for educating students about the important role they have in shaping our future. They will learn reasons to recycle including that different products that we use take years to decompose when we just simply throw them in the trash. They will learn how they can help our world by recycling electronics and disposing of them correctly, which will result in us re-using it instead of waiting years for it to decompose in a landfill. The more we recycle the more we help out. Students will also learn the economic impacts of recycling. By recycling we can reduce the prices of products because it lowers the cost of making new products each time they are wasted. Recycling reduces our dependence of landfills. The more we recycle the less we have to use the landfills to decompose materials or products. The less land we are harming results in the more land we are conserving by recycling products.
Media assets
The media assets for this project will consist of an illustrated infographic and an interactive learning object. The two main media assets will greatly enhance and contribute to the learning of the students.
The infographic will include illustrated information on the importance of disposing electronics in an environmentally friendly way. It will also provide information that shows the current state of e-waste industry including facts and figures on the size of the waste industry. It will also cover actionable steps to take in order to reduce the waste.
The other media asset being in interactive learning objective will introduce the topic to the students in a fun interactive manner. There will be an interactive Jeopardy style game that will cover the topic in a competitive interactive way. Students will have the opportunity to play against each other in order to see who knows more about the topic.
Project Proposal Link : Project Proposal- e-waste -2gof8dg