This video shows how engineers and scientists are coming up with environmentally friendly inventions that can help reduce people's reliance on new materials and fossil fuels.
Students will learn about the pros and cons of enacting environmentally friendly technologies and learn about new ideas such as using banana peels to make shoe soles, belts, phone cases, and glasses.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This video will empower students to come up with their own ideas for technology that can help the environment.
A full transcript with time stamps is available.
Additional Prerequisites
Teachers and students have to create a free Khan Academy account to link the quiz to their Google classroom or comment on the site.
The questions in the practice set do not test the precise information from the video, but instead rely on the student's prior knowledge and ability to reason.
Differentiation
Engineering and design classes could come up with their own ideas for eco-friendly technology to solve a specific problem or fill a specific need.
Science classes could review the pros and cons list in the video and brainstorm solutions that might help with the cons.
Other resources on this topic include this ClimateScience resource on innovative industrial solutions, this video on a business that employs previously incarcerated people to recycle e-waste, and this video on new and efficient farming methods.
Scientist Notes
This 6-minute video highlights ways in which science and engineering can develop technologies that can be beneficial to our environment and help stop climate change. Examples presented include reusable materials, solar panels, and wind turbines. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Science
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS.ESS3.2 Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.
HS.ESS3.4 Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
ETS1: Engineering Design
MS.ETS1.2 Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
HS.ETS1.1 Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
