Lesson 12

The purpose of this warm-up is to for students to discuss how much space a ton of garbage takes up, which will be useful when students consider 3,300 tons of plastic trash in shipping containers in a later activity. Some students may not know the precise definition of a ton. Encourage students to visualize what 2,000 pounds of trash might look like. The synthesis gives students an opportunity to consider the kind and the amount of trash produced in their community.

• Groups of 2
• Display the image.
• “¿Qué observan? ¿Qué se preguntan?” // “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
• 1 minute: quiet think time

• “Discutan con su pareja lo que pensaron” // “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
• 1 minute: partner discussion
• Share and record responses.

• “A un camión de basura promedio le pueden caber entre 12 y 14 toneladas de basura” // “The average garbage truck can hold 12–14 tons of garbage.”
• If needed, “1 tonelada es lo mismo que 2,000 libras” // “1 ton is the same as 2,000 pounds.”
• “Si este camión recoge basura solo de nuestra escuela (o barrio), ¿qué tipo de cosas puede tener adentro?” // “If this truck collects trash only from our school (or neighborhood) what kinds of things might the truck be filled with?”
• “¿Cuánto creen que le tomaría a nuestra escuela (o barrio) llenar completamente el camión?” // “How long do you think it would take our school (or neighborhood ) to completely fill the truck?” 

In this activity students find different ways to arrange 60 shipping containers. They decide which arrangement is the best in the context of shipping 3,300 tons of garbage.

• Each group of 2 needs at least 20 connecting cubes.

• Groups of 2 or 4
• “Este es un párrafo corto de un artículo de periódico del año 2018” // “Here is a short paragraph from a newspaper article from 2018.”
• Display “Malasya tiene planeado devolver alrededor de 3,300 toneladas de basura de plástico a países como Estados Unidos o Canadá” // “Malaysia plans to send back roughly 3,300 tons of plastic trash to countries like the U.S. and Canada.”
• “¿Qué preguntas se hacen al leer esto?” // “What are some questions you have after reading this?” (Where is Malaysia? Why is Malaysia sending it back? Why are countries sending their trash to places like Malaysia? Where else does our trash go?)
• If needed, show students Malaysia on a map.
• “La basura cabe en 60 contenedores y la transportarán de regreso en un barco de carga” // “The trash fits in 60 shipping containers and will be returned in a large cargo ship over water.”
• “¿Qué forma tiene un contenedor?” // “What does a shipping container look like?”
• Display image of a shipping container.

  

  

• Give access to connecting cubes, poster paper, patty paper, and writing tools to each group.

• 1 minute: independent work time.
• 15 minutes: partner work time
• As students work, monitor for students who use different arrangements.

• Invite previously selected students to share their visual display.
• “¿Qué manera de organizar los contenedores representa la presentación visual de este grupo? ¿Por qué podrían pensar que es la mejor manera de organizarlos?” // “What arrangement does this group’s visual display represent? Why might they think this is the best arrangement?”
• “¿Qué le pueden decir a este grupo que podría hacer que cambién su decisión?” // “What can you tell this group that may make them change their decision?” (It’s too tall and might start falling in the water. It’s too wide and might not fit. It’s too wide and might not leave room for anything else.)
• Consider asking “¿Cuánta basura creen que hay en cada contenedor?” // “How much trash do you think is in each of the containers?” (Students can estimate or make an educated guess.)

The purpose of this activity is for students to estimate the number of shipping containers on a fully loaded cargo ship. Then they make many assumptions about the arrangement of the containers on the boat to come up with a better estimate. 

• Groups of 2
• Display image.
• “¿Cuántos contenedores hay en el barco de carga?” // “How many containers are on the cargo ship?”
• “¿Qué estimación sería muy alta?, ¿muy baja?, ¿razonable?” // “What is an estimate that’s too high?” “Too low?” “About right?”
• 1 minute: quiet think time
• Record responses.

• “Un barco de carga puede llevar más de 60 contenedores. La segunda imagen es de un barco de carga completamente cargado” // “A cargo ship can hold many more than 60 containers. The second image is a picture of a cargo ship that is fully loaded.“
• 5 minutes: independent work time
• “Discutan con su pareja sus estimaciones y suposiciones” // “Discuss your estimates and assumptions with your partner.”
• 2 minutes: partner discussion
• Monitor for students who are making different assumptions:
  • The ship is fully loaded.
  • Some of the space is taken up with structures.
  • There are more containers below deck that we can’t see.
  • All containers are the same size.
  • the specific side lengths of the shipping containers

• Invite students to share their estimates and any assumptions they made.
• “¿Cómo podrían mejorar su estimación?” // “How could you improve your estimate?” (Recreate the ship using a model. Check the height, width, and length of the container arrangement. See how many are on one side of the ship and multiply that to get a closer estimate.)