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Eco-Graphics - Photographic Studies of Man's Impact on the Environment

Mary E. Micallef
Tapp Middle School, Powder Springs, Georgia

Subject: Science/Environment Studies
Grade: 6-8 (Gifted)

"Eco-Graphics provides challenging opportunities for children to get involved in their community and to recognize their own potential to impact the world around them."

Purpose and Description of Project

Eco-Graphics is an interdisciplinary unit combining photography and ecology. Through it, teacher Mary Micallef worked to make students aware of how destructive the "throwaway ethic" is to our environment, motivated them to discover effective solutions to environmental needs, and generated in them a personal commitment to work for change.

The teacher introduced the approximately 100 students involved in this project to our growing waste disposal problem through class discussion and literature, after which each student chose a particular topic to research in depth. These topics included litter, acid rain, hazardous waste, pesticides, and incineration. The students focused particularly on realistic alternatives to the ways waste disposal is currently being handled. Once the students had shared the information they had gathered with the whole class, they moved on to specific small-group projects. These projects were designed to demonstrate the problems existing in their own community, propose solutions, and then actually bring about improvements by using community awareness and public relations techniques.

To document and dramatize the environmental damage they found, students used a whole range of photographic techniques-including slide/tape presentations, photo essays, videotapes, collages, and photo displays. They also investigated the economic, political, legal, and personal factors that may impede or spur environmental clean-ups.

One group, for example, interviewed the county manager of solid waste disposal and took slides of the entire waste disposal process, from garbage pickup and compacting to sanitary landfill. They even photographed a filled area that was turned into a county ballpark. They then created title slides, wrote a script, integrated background music, and showed the completed project to the entire school. The slide/tape show is now available to schools and organizations countywide. Another group, in a project titled "A Site for Sore Eyes," photographed what Micallef describes as "littered, cluttered, nuisance, and even dangerous areas in the community" and showed them to county officials. As a result, notices were posted to warn against future littering.

In a culminating project in which all students were involved, the school attendance area was divided into 60 neighborhood units, and the students signed an agreement to pick up litter in their own areas on the designated "clean-up day." The students also recruited neighbors and friends to help on clean-up day and to keep the area clean. Photographs were taken before, during, and after this campaign to document its scope, and the project also drew media coverage.

In summary, according to the teacher, her students developed a solid base of information about the worldwide waste disposal problem, explored their own community in creative and innovative ways, and photographed the impact of throwaway behaviors on their immediate environment. In the process, says Micallef, "they learned by experience to tell stories and to make a point through photography" and developed a commitment to change that made a difference in themselves and their community. In addition, they honed their research, communication, and decision-making skills.

Activities

Micallef launched the project with a graphic display of the astonishing amount of trash that results from unwrapping all the items in just one large bag of groceries. Discussion then began on packaging-how much is necessary, where does it go, what can be done with it?-on how garbage is handled in the students' own homes, and on the "throwaway ethic" and attitudes toward recycling. She also provided students with a massive bibliography of books, articles, resource people, poems, plays, records, films, and videotapes on virtually every aspect of ecology. They used these materials to learn about the scope of the waste disposal problem and as a take-off point for brainstorming possible solutions.

Each student then chose a particular aspect of the topic to research in depth and present to the class. Topics ranged from "space junk" to "Love Canal." In addition to researching among the materials lists provided by the teacher, students wrote to members of Congress, interviewed county officials, and contacted industries. Then they organized what they had learned into individual class presentations that included pamphlets, audiovisual aids, handout sheets, graphs, and displays. Some even invited guest speakers to help the class understand such concepts as "economic feasibility" and "energy efficient."

Through class discussions about these presentations, the students gained valuable insights about recycling, more efficient packaging, laws governing waste disposal, bottle bills, biodegradable material, resource recovery, compost, and other recycling/reusing/reclaiming options.

Then small groups of students explored and photographed their own community disposal problems, focusing on the impact of waste disposal behaviors, laws, systems, and management. Their projects-from actual clean-ups to community surveys about attitudes toward recycling-gained community and media attention and made a real difference. As a result of their individual and group activities, says the teacher, "students became champions of their particular causes. "

Materials, Resources, and Expenses

The project made use of a wide range of guest speakers and resource people - from the city mayor to a representative from "21st Century Robotics."

The students used both their own 35 mm cameras and the school camera and also took advantage of the school's darkroom and videotaping room. They took both black-and-white and color photos and color slides. Other equipment included tape recorders and KODAK CAROUSEL Projectors, KODAK POLYCONTRAST Rapid RC Paper, Kodak chemicals for film and print developing, and display and mounting materials.

Outcomes and Adaptability

Micallef found that this project "resulted in community awareness and personal involvement of students, parents, teachers, in school and neighborhood that ranged far beyond the limits of the classroom or the school year." And, she adds, "I was particularly excited about the students' growing self-concept as they telephoned, visited, and successfully interviewed businessmen, public officials, and other sources. The students had solid background information-they knew what they were talking about-and this gave them tremendous self-confidence!"

Also she reports, the project reinforced students' research and analytic skills, sharpened the photographic techniques they had learned the previous fall, and gave them insights into public relations. They also learned what an effective medium photography is to share information, show immediate needs, depict alternatives, and persuade various audiences to become an active part of the solution to environmental problems.

The teacher adds that personal involvement was the real key to student learning during this project, and that this learning was buoyed by the pride students took in "their ability to get something big and relevant accomplished on their own."

While this project was planned for gifted students in grades six through eight, Micallef believes that other teachers could easily adapt it to the talents and needs of fourth- through twelfth-grade classes. She also suggests that community, church, or youth organizations could tailor project activities to their needs and capabilities.

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