Feb 17
20
Middle School students code for Project Zero Waste
Curious about if you can recycle something? Anything? And then … where to take it on the Kenai Peninsula?
Middle School students in Anchor Point, Alaska, built a website to give you what you need to know, on the go.
The Kenai Peninsula Recycling website is hosted on KPBSD servers, and Chapman School students explain they will keep adding pertinent information, “Hopefully we’ll need to do so as recycling programs continue to expand!”
“This project helped me learn more about where to recycle. It allowed me to use my skills and discover the wonderful world of coding.” –Andy Drake, Chapman School
“Learning how to code can help us change the world because electronic devices are popular and people are more likely to use a website than a book. Coding is a fun and educational way to use time.” –Melissa Baxter, Chapman School
“The project grew out of the “Zero Waste Project” that Chapman School eighth grade students are doing with the Center for Alaska Coastal Studies,” explained teacher Mr. Jon Crocker. “We realized that a lot of people don’t know what can be recycled, and where to go locally. There are resources out there, but none that can be easily accessed while somebody is on the go. It also fits in with our year-long thematic unit about community. Once it became clear that such a resource would be a good idea, I asked my eighth graders to put designing their personal webpages on hold for a few weeks while we developed the site. Each student took one topic, researched it, and came up with their page based on a few guidelines. If a student was assigned something that isn’t recycled locally (such as #3 plastic), I asked them to focus more on reducing and reusing strategies. We wanted it to be something people could access from their phones while doing things like making decisions on what to buy in the grocery store.”
Students worked to improve on the information available on the Borough website. For example:
- Embedded maps (students figured out how to do this!) replace written descriptions of facility locations
- Recycling #5 plastics through private parties is included
- Recycling #4 plastics—many plastic bags are actually #4, and those can be recycled in a couple of places
Visit the Chapman School coding class Kenai Peninsula Recycling website: http://bit.ly/KenaiPeninsulaRecycling
What do you want to recycle? Click a link below to find out where it can be recycled.
Tip: you can also learn about reducing and reusing strategies for each item! Or visit the main site at http://bit.ly/KenaiPeninsulaRecycling
- Aluminum
- Glass
- Tin
- Newspaper and Cardboard
- #1 Plastic
- #2 Plastic
- #3 Plastic
- #4 Plastic
- #5 Plastic
- #6 Plastic
Find your local recycling center
Visit the Kenai Peninsula Recycling website: http://bit.ly/KenaiPeninsulaRecycling
The Chapman School 8th grade coding class built the website, and the 7th grade students are also learning HTML. Chapman School 5th and 6th graders are learning programming with Scratch http://scratch.mit.edu.
