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STEMify Your Classroom Supply List

STEMify Your Classroom Supply List
Contributors
Carissa Haug
North Central Educational Service District
Saskia van Bergen
Free Range Chemist | H2L Consulting
Provides information on how to assess the hazards of cleaning products using the labels.
Summary
In this lesson, students will develop an evidence-based argument after investigating the product safety, performance, and cost of a variety of cleaning and disinfecting products designed to remove germs. Students will be introduced to principles of sustainable design, life-cycle thinking, and how to identify safer products for certifications.

Except where otherwise noted, this work by Saskia van Bergen (Washington Department of Ecology), Vickei Hrdina (ESD 112), and Carissa Haug (NCESD) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. All logos and trademarks are property of their respective owners.

This Lesson is also available in Spanish.
Keyword Tags
Sustainable Design
Elementary School
Engineering
Chemistry
Spanish
Link to external
STEMify Your Classroom Supply List
STEMify Your Classroom Supply List (Spanish)
Learning Goals/Student Objectives
- Germs are bacteria. Bacteria are present everywhere and in/on all living things.
- Products can be used for different purposes; cleaning, sanitizing, or disinfecting.
- Choices in cleaning products come with benefits and tradeoffs. We can design investigations to help us make better decisions.
- Scientists use evidence to make claims.
Object Type
Activities/Technology (e.g., in-class activities, online games, hands-on activities/manipulatives, outreach, virtual tools, etc.)
Audience
Elementary School
Common pedagogies covered
Hands-on learning
Problem-based learning
Green Chemistry Principles
Designing Safer Chemicals
U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Responsible Consumption and Production
Safety Precautions, Hazards, and Risk Assessment
Proper handling and disposal of bacteria cultures.
NGSS Standards, if applicable
This lesson addresses the following Next Generation Science Standard Performance Expectation.
3-5-ETS1-3. Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

In Particular- ETS1.C: Optimizing the Design Solution
Different solutions need to be tested in order to determine which of them best solves the problem, given the criteria and the constraints.

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Submitted by

Saskia van Bergen
Published on
Moderation state
Published

Comments

Barb Morra
Mon, 07/29/2024 - 22:56 Permalink

Wonderful work Saskia and Carissa! I love how students explore their own classrooms and the products already found in them. I imagine many kids would continue the conversation at home too. Absolutely love the letter of recommendation for future product choices written to the principle/management at the end! Nice work.

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.