Fast Fashion Curriculum Activity

Fast Fashion
Curriculum Activity

Victorian Curriculum Links

Science Understanding

Scientific understandings, discoveries and inventions are used to inform personal and community decisions and to solve problems that directly affect people’s lives (VCSSU073)

The growth and survival of living things are affected by the physical conditions of their environment (VCSSU075)

Design and Technologies

Investigate how people in design and technologies occupations address competing considerations, including sustainability, in the design of solutions for current and future use (VCDSTS033)

Science Inquiry Skills

With guidance, pose questions to clarify practical problems or inform a scientific investigation, and predict what the findings of an investigation might be based on previous experiences or general rules (VCSIS082)

Suggest improvements to the methods used to investigate a question or solve a problem (VCSIS087)

Communicate ideas and processes using evidence to develop explanations of events and phenomena and to identify simple cause-and-effect relationships (VCSIS088)

Activity Description

In this activity, students learn about how the clothes that we buy and throw away can impact the environment. They look at the impact that fast fashion is having on the environment and what happens to some of the clothes they give away. The teacher and students then hold a further discussion about upcycling clothing and the importance of this in ensuring our environment is taken care of. Students then upcycle an old t-shirt into a bag, a top, or a drink coaster.

Key Learning Intentions

After this activity, students should be able to:

Understand the impact of fast fashion on the environment and have some knowledge about upcycling as a better option
Be able to define key terms such as Fast Fashion, Upcycle, Sustainability, Natural resources

Instructions

Materials

One old t-shirt per student
1 Ipad per group with activity video link
Material scissors
Beads (optional Group 2)
Needle and thread (group 2)

Tune In
Watch Fast Fashion - Classroom - BTN (abc.net.au)

Hold a class discussion about the information in the BTN Fast Fashion story.

Use the following questions to guide the discussion:

What is fast fashion? Come up with a class definition.
Do you know where your clothes come from?
Why have clothes become relatively cheap?
Where can you buy fast fashion?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of fast fashion?
How can we reduce clothing waste? Make a list.
What do you do with your unwanted clothing?

Brainstorm and define the following terms: Fast Fashion, landfill, sustainable and natural resources.

Introduce the term upcycle and discuss it with the class.

Optional Video Upcycling Kids - Classroom - BTN (abc.net.au)

Activity
Students will now ‘upcycle’ their old t shirt and learn that reusing is always a better option if possible.

There are three different levels – options could be 3 groups of students doing 3 different activities or whole class do one, could be done as a whole class activity too.

Divide class into 3 groups and allocate activity to each group (the drink coaster activity is a little more advanced for those students up for the challenge!)

Allow access for each group to watch the necessary instructional video (below).

Below are the activities: