Unit 15: Calculating results
Calculating results activity guide
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This project was funded by the Department of Sustainability and Environment.
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Unit 15: Calculating results
Calculating results activity guide Estimated duration: 125 minutes Aim •
To determine the environmental impact of the personal actions taken
Outcome By the end of the activity, students will be able to: • Use measurement and the metric system to calculate units of time, length, mass and volume. • Determine the environmental impact of the actions personally taken • Identify what behaviours they were able to change • Estimate their changed behaviours in numerical terms
Resources • • • •
Log sheet from unit 10 Calculating results worksheet, with any necessary changes made to it beforehand (worksheet is included below) Additional teaching staff support for doing calculations (if possible or as required) Calculators (or calculator functions on computers or mobile phones)
Activity Description 1. Collate log sheets Each student will need to have their log sheet with both baseline data and challenge data recorded. The first task is to add up the totals for the various weeks (if this hasn’t already been done) and then sum the grand total for all the weeks of the personal eco‐challenge.
2. Calculating results worksheet Hand out the calculating results worksheet. You will need to have adapted the sheet to the actions the students chose (delete rows for actions which weren’t used and add any rows for extra actions). You might like to work step by step through each calculation, explaining to the class what it means and how it was derived. This can also be used to develop their numeracy skills and satisfy the learning outcomes in that subject area. Otherwise, allow individual students to work at their own speed and provide assistance as is necessary. The key areas to explain will be transferring the baseline data and the challenge data onto the calculation worksheet. From here they can follow the formulas that are given to work out their savings over the period. The formulas take into account how many days the students did the challenge for (i.e. how many days they recorded challenge data), to allow for students who start or finish later or miss weeks for whatever reason. This way all results can be collated correctly to account for different challenge lengths. This worksheet can be developed to cater to different learning abilities within the group. For example you may then want students to work out the percentage reduction or the change in each behaviour change area. The example provided on the savings calculation worksheet only goes as far as determining the environmental savings wherever possible.
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The calculation data has been put together making a number of assumptions. For example, when converting the shower water saved to kilograms of greenhouse gases, it is assumed that about two thirds of households have gas hot water and the remainder have electric, which is an approximation of Bureau of Statistics figures for Victoria. For simplicity, details of the assumptions haven’t been provided.
3. Totalling group results There is likely to be a large variation in the level of savings within the group. This might be explained by many things and so it is important to not only acknowledge the great successes but also any contribution. Some people might already have been having four minute showers and have little scope to reduce shower time, where others who have 20 minute showers can have large results even if they only halve their time to 10 minutes. Therefore, it is best to collate the data and provide a group total and average. The best way to complete this is by calculating the group’s average savings per day, to account for issues such as the students all having varying number of days data collected due to absences etc. The group result and average are useful figures in promoting the groups action in the project phase. This is another good opportunity for numeracy based learning. It is recommended that this activity be integrated with numeracy skill development. Ideally, concepts that are covered in Numeracy prior to completing this activity can be formally assessed.
4. Complete a report (optional extension activity) You might like to have students complete a short written report about the results. Or this may include a verbal report to small groups or the whole class.
5. Complete a graph (optional extension activity) To further integrate numeracy outcomes, you may like to have students graph their results.
Student Roles and Responsibilities Participate in agreed tasks Contribute to class discussions Complete activities and worksheets Work cooperatively with others Participate in survey and collect data Write or present a report Seek teacher assistance and support when needed
Level of Teacher Support Facilitate discussion Organise materials and equipment Provide encouragement and assistance when requested Introduce tasks and activities Teach or reinforce statistical and numerical skills and understanding
Assessment To use this learning activity as an assessment task, collect evidence such as: Student research notes and documentation Teacher checklist for class discussions Student calculations and worksheets
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Calculating results worksheet (unit 15) Fill in the white boxes to find out how much water, greenhouse gas and more you have saved. Name: _________________________________ Q.1 How many days did you do the challenge for? _________ (only include days which you have results for) Q.2 How many days did you collect baseline data for? _________
How to do the calculation for savings during the challenge – put you answers in the next column Your total shower time in the baseline week: What was the average shower time per day in the baseline week? Divide the total minutes by the number of days in the baseline week (Q.2) Multiply this by the number of days you did during the challenge (Q.1)
Shorter showers
Your total shower time during the challenge: Minutes you would have spent in the shower minus minutes during challenge = If you have a low flow showerhead then multiply minutes saved by 9 OR if you don’t have a low flow showerhead then multiply minutes saved by 15 Multiply litres saved by 0.0353
Savings during the challenge
What the savings would equal over a year ‐ divide savings (answer in row A) by number of days you did the challenge (answer at Q.1) & times by 365)
minutes
minutes per day
minutes you would have spent in the shower if you hadn't done the challenge
minutes during challenge
minutes saved
minutes saved
litres saved
litres saved
litres saved kg of greenhouse gases saved due to less water heated
litres saved kg of greenhouse gases saved
times
kg of greenhouse gases saved
kg of greenhouse gases saved
Only charging your phone till it is fully charged
How many times did you only charge your phone until fully charged during the challenge?
Recycling
How many items did you recycle in the challenge? If you turned off appliances at the power point in the baseline week, put a zero in the columns to the right
items recycled
items recycled
kg of greenhouse gases saved
kg of greenhouse gases saved
If you didn't in the baseline week, multiply the number of days when you did in the challenge by 1.068
kg of greenhouse gases saved
kg of greenhouse gases saved
Turning off appliances at the power point Recycling water
Switching off lights Refusing plastic bags Changing light globes
Multiply the number of times by 0.0007
How many litres of water did you recycle during the challenge? If you switched off lights in the baseline week, put a zero in the column to the right
litres of water recycled
litres of water recycled
kg of greenhouse gases saved
kg of greenhouse gases saved
If you didn't in the baseline week, multiply the number of days when you did in the challenge by 0.096
kg of greenhouse gases saved
kg of greenhouse gases saved
How many plastic bags did you refuse during the challenge?
bags refused
bags refused
kg of greenhouse gases saved
kg of greenhouse gases saved
light globes changed
kg of greenhouse gases saved
kg of greenhouse gases saved
Divide the number of bags you refused by 10 How many light globes did you change? Multiply the number of light globes changed by 0.3 by the number of days you did the challenge
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How to do the calculation for savings during the challenge – put you answers in the next column
Only putting as much water in the kettle as you need Turning off electric blanket once in bed Closing curtains or doors to hold in heat (winter) or coolness (summer) Turning off the tap while brushing teeth Using a bike or walking for short trips rather than asking someone to drive you
How many times did you only put only as much water in the kettle as you needed? You save energy not heating water you didn’t use. Multiply number of times by 0.084 If you did this in the baseline week, put a zero in the columns to the right. If you didn’t in the baseline week, write down how many times you did during the challenge If you did this in the baseline week, put a zero in the columns to the right.
Savings during the challenge
What the savings would equal over a year ‐ divide savings (answer in row A) by number of days you did the challenge (answer at Q.1) & times by 365)
kg of greenhouse gases saved
kg of greenhouse gases saved
times
times
times
times
times
times
If you didn’t in the baseline week, write down how many times you did during the challenge If you did this in the baseline week, put a zero in the columns to the right.
times
times
litres saved
litres saved
If you didn’t in the baseline week, multiply how many times you did in the challenge by 15
litres saved
litres saved
kg of greenhouse gases saved
kg of greenhouse gases saved
Multiply the numbers of hours of driving saved by 14
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