Kids in Michigan and Jordan Conduct Collaborative Research on Trash, Re-Use
Stray cats scrounging for a trash-can meal in a dark alley or a shadowy junkyard. In Detroit, Michigan, USA or Amman, Jordan, the image is the same; just substitute “albiss” for cat and “sekrab” for trash. So, what’s a kid to do? Sit around and laugh at the cute cartoon image, or dig a little deeper?
In a technology-driven international collaboration, the Arab American National Museum and the Children’s Museum Jordan have helped youth ages 11-14 create the Watch Your Waste e-Museum. It’s an online platform for sharing information and images collected by the kids as they research the ways voluminous trash puts a heavy burden on our planet and how our daily consumption practices contribute to the problem. The site, available in English and Arabic, includes student-generated photos and videos; online resources; games; and other engaging content.
“As they become more aware of their treatment of the environment, especially as it relates to individual consumption, student participants are learning to care about these issues in their own community,” says AANM Educator Sonya Kassis. “At the same time, Watch Your Waste gives them the opportunity to develop a larger world view, to learn how kids in other countries deal with similar issues and challenges.”
Nearly 90 student participants in the U.S. and 60 in Jordan have been meeting weekly at various schools for the last several months. They have learned basic digital photography skills and use them on field trips and other research projects. Students then connect and share their work and ideas through social media channels including Facebook and YouTube.
U. S. student participants (ages 11-14) from:
Davison School, Detroit, Michigan
McCollough-Unis Middle School, Dearborn, Michigan
Salina Intermediate School, Dearborn, Michigan
Photography instructors Asia Hamilton and Zak Frieling from College for Creative Studies, Detroit
Amman, Jordan student participants from:
Al Bayan School
Al Ahliyyeh for Girls School
Shefa bent Awf School
The online activities are just one component of the program – students in both countries are being taught by experts in different fields, including art and science, and document their learning and projects with photographs, videos and other media.
U.S. students have visited a local recycling facility and a trash incinerator and compared the different methods of waste treatment, realizing the importance and impact of recycling. Students in Jordan visited a large garbage dump and saw first-hand what happens to non-recycled waste, prompting many of them to take a bigger step toward recycling in their homes and communities.
“Watch Your Waste has really engaged my students to learn more about their relationship to the physical world through the arts,” says Annette Alexander-Frank, teacher at McCollough-Unis School.
Getting the students up to speed in photographic skills was crucial to their exploration of the topics of consumption and waste. The kids really had their eyes opened when we visited the waste recycling facility and then toured some Detroit neighborhoods to view the positive and negative aspects of consumption, preservation and decay,” Alexander-Frank says.
“I am particularly pleased with not just the enthusiasm and high level of interactivity that the project has managed to inspire with children, but of their ability to tell a story of how consumption and waste affects the daily lives of their community,” says Ayah Younis, project leader at The Children’s Museum Jordan.