Product impacts: life cycle analysis

Produced by Practical Action, these materials help students to consider the impacts of a product through its whole life cycle. A presentation describes the concept of lifecycle analysis (LCA) and gives some examples. Students are then challenged to consider the life cycle of familiar products, from raw materials,...

Life Cycle Analysis

This collection of resources looks at the Life Cycle Analysis of a mobile phone. Included in this resource are the student worksheets. teacher notes and a presentation.

Product life cycles and how companies use this data

In this lesson students will understand the life cycle of a product through studying a graph. Students will understand the five stages of the life cycle assessment graph and the role planned obsolesce has in relation to the benefit of the manufacturer and not necessarily the consumer. Through case studies and...

What is a life cycle assessment?

In this lesson students will gain an understanding of what a life cycle assessment is and how it can be used to assess the environmental impact of the manufacture and use of different materials and products. Students will understand the five main stages of a life cycle analysis through both a diagram and supporting...

Six R's

This resource from Practical Action helps students look at the 6Rs, their definitions and products which illustrate the 6Rs in action. These are: rethink, reuse, recycle, repair, reduce and refuse. Students look at the definitions carefully again and rank each of the Rs in terms of which contributes most and which...

One Planet Packaging

These materials, from Waste Watch (part of Keep Britain Tidy), have been developed to make explicit links between sustainability and packaging for students following GCSE level design and technology courses. The scheme of learning includes suggested activities for five active learning sessions, supported by the...

Design abacus

From Practical Action, this resource is an eco-tool used to compare the sustainability of two products or design ideas.

Product analysis: impacts on people and the environment

This resource from Practical Action includes a presentation and worksheets which give Key Stage Three and Four students opportunities to understand more about the impact of existing and new products on people and the environment. The presentation is packed with useful activities to reinforce students' learning. The...

Bottle It - Re-use or Recycle?

From Practical Action, these activities help students explore sustainable development and the difference between re-use and recycle. The resources look at re-use (using a product or component for another purpose without any processing) and recycle (processing a waste material or component and using it in a new product...

The Paper Cup Company

A National STEM Learning Centre and Network Engineering Case Studies resource investigating the design process involved in developing a paper cup for manufacture.You wouldn't believe making a paper cup could be complicated, but there's a lot of science reasoning behind the product design.Your students can compete in...