Chemistry, Earth and atmosphere: Earth as a source of limited…

Our Changing Planet: Resources and Human Impact Grades 5–8 · partly supports this outcome

Where the copper, cobalt, lithium, oil and sand in a phone come from and why, which energy sources refill and which do not, what real population and energy data say about people and resources, and how real towns cut their waste. Four no-materials lessons built on printed data cards, with a hopeful, evidence-first tone for Earth Day or any time.

• Where does your stuff come from? 50–60 min

  Teams trace eight ingredients of a phone and a pencil, from copper and cobalt to wood and rubber, using real production data, then sort them into renewable and non-renewable and walk a human world map. They explain why each resource is found where it is.

• Will our energy ever run out? 50–60 min

  Teams line up nine energy sources on a human timeline of how long nature takes to replace them, from eight minutes for sunlight to millions of years for oil, then use real 2025 data on how the world makes its electricity. They explain what renewable and non-renewable really mean.

• How can a town use less and waste less? 50–60 min

  Teams act as a town council with a waste problem. They rotate around four stations describing what real places did, from Ljubljana's food-waste collection to Kamikatsu's 45 sorting bins, score each against criteria and constraints, and design a plan with a way to measure whether it works.