This article examines the environmental impact of metal production, the benefits of reusing metal materials, and how much CO2 equivalent emissions can be reduced if metal recycling continues to expand.
Students will learn that metal production causes soil and water pollution, metal recycling can reduce negative health outcomes, and many gigatons of CO2 equivalent emissions can be sequestered if metal recycling grows by a marginal amount.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This article also addresses shortcomings and expenses associated with recycling metal, giving students a full spectrum of pros and cons.
The citations for this article are relatively recent.
Additional Prerequisites
The links in the References section work if you copy and paste them.
Students should know what greenhouse gases are and how they impact the environment.
Differentiation
To assess prior knowledge, the teacher can ask the class questions about metal recycling before reading the article.
For this article, it may be beneficial for students to use a graphic organizer or teacher input to ensure comprehension of key concepts.
This article can support a lesson on different types of recycling and their positive impact on the environment.
This article can enhance a classroom discussion or support student-written informative essays about how much metal recycling is happening in America and how the current rate could increase.
Scientist Notes
This article discusses recycling metals and how focusing on recycling can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts. The study demonstrates this by predicting how much metal will be needed in the future and calculating the greenhouse gas emissions when different amounts of metal are recycled. The article is organized similarly to a scientific paper in the way it breaks down this climate solution into an introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion sections. The limitations of the study are also included. This structure makes this resource a good example of how scientific articles are often structured. Resources are included. The information presented is accurate and this resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-2 Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.
HS-ESS3-4 Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
ETS1: Engineering Design
HS-ETS1-1 Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
HS-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Economics
D2.Eco.3.9-12 Analyze the ways in which incentives influence what is produced and distributed in a market system.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.2 Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.5 Analyze the structure of the relationships among concepts in a text, including relationships among key terms (e.g., force, friction, reaction force, energy).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 11-12 texts and topics.
