Abstract
Four distinct plastics recycling projects created by middle school students emerged from a one-week long plastics recycling activity incorporated within a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) residential summer camp at a research-intensive university. The plastics recycling activity was a project-based learning (PBL) activity facilitated by STEM experts in geometry, architecture, and materials science. Specific instruction involving mathematics and science concepts was provided to emphasize content-specific knowledge related to plastics recycling. A rubric was applied and used to determine evidence of learning manifested in participants’ final presentations. Participants’ final presentations demonstrated mixed results in terms of student learning outcomes, but indicated that campers demonstrated a clear sense of social environmental awareness and responsibility toward recycling plastics.
Highlights
Throughout history, mankind has strived to identify innovative solutions to problems for the betterment of society
We aim to find that balance by providing in-depth STEM content knowledge within an integrated STEM project-based learning (PBL) recycling activity
The plastics recycling context of the current study provided students the opportunity to engage in activities that were centered around real-world problems that necessitated the true integration of STEM subjects
Summary
Throughout history, mankind has strived to identify innovative solutions to problems for the betterment of society. The need for innovative problem solvers remains just as imperative, in relation to environmental issues and recycling. Doing so will ensure that current and future generations are properly equipped to make informed and inspired decisions when addressing existing environmental problems, such as the growing need for effective recycling programs. The purpose of the study was to determine if middle school students, when presented with an environmental problem and contentspecific knowledge about materials science, architecture, 3-D printing, and geometry and topology, would be able to integrate this knowledge into a socially responsible solution of their own design that could address the ubiquitous problem of plastic bottle waste.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
