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Teachers' Notes

Resource created by M&S Archive.

 

Curriculum Links

  • KS3 Design and Technology: Product Design.
  • KS3 Geography: Use of Natural Resources.
  • KS3 PSHE: Living in the Wider World
  • KS4 Business

Learning Outcomes 

  • Knowledge of the sustainable features of a suit sold on the high street, by looking at its component parts
  • Understanding of how a large retailer is taking responsibility to provide goods that are environmentally friendly
  • Skills of extending sustainable thinking to other areas of school and home life

 

Discussion Ideas

  • What do you think the word 'sustainable' means?
    • How is it different from 'recycled'?
  • How do you know if something has been recycled?
  • Why is sustainability important?
  • What is a Press Release designed to do? 

 

Activity Ideas

  • Look at the labels in your clothes to see where they were made, and what they are made from.
    • Plot the countries of manufacture on a map and work out how many miles your clothes have travelled to reach the UK.
  • Write down as many different jobs you can think of involved in the making of the original suit e.g. labels might have involved designers, weavers, machinists.
  • Create a plan to recycle more. Include the following:
    • How will you let people know what you are doing?
    • How will you record your project?
    • How will it affect other people in your school?
  • Write a Press Release to share what you have achieved and decide who you should send it to.

Fashion Show project ideas

  • Work as a team: design and make clothes from things that would usually be thrown away, or from clothes that would otherwise be donated to charity.
  • Showcase your creations by organising a fashion show to raise money for a local charity or for your school. Plan your tasks in a timeline, then share out the tasks according to the different skills and interests of each team member.

Sustainability project ideas

  • Carry out a sustainability audit in your school. Walk around school and record ways in which the school is not being sustainable e.g. dripping taps, lights left on, windows open and heating on etc. Think of different ways to present the statistics you have gathered.
  • Create posters using images and language that will persuade other students to be more sustainable.
  • Design a new product that is fully sustainable or reusable.  List the ways your product will help the environment.