Trash for Teaching

Science Kits

Trash for Teaching (trashforteaching.org), a Los Angeles nonprofit organization, collects manufacturers’ castoffs, discards, and overruns and redistributes them to elementary and middle schools for use in art and science projects.

Trash for Teaching’s science kits (watch video) teach basic concepts of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). They consist entirely of clean, unused items that have been salvaged from manufacturing operations, such as:

ballpoint pen tubes strips of metalized polyester film lengths of decorative ribbon Petri dishes eyeglass lenses specimen cups clothes clips used in dry cleaning

Relying on nothing more than these and similar components, the kits offer surprisingly extensive possibilities for instruction. In-depth lesson plans provide hours of material. Lessons can easily be adapted by the teacher to cover as many or as few class periods as desired.

Each kit contains enough materials for a team of two to four students. A classroom carton consists of:

• Ten kits (enough for up to forty students).
• One extra-parts kit.
• (For some lessons) A teacher’s kit, containing parts to be shared among teams.
• A teacher’s guide containing photos, detailed instructions for in-class projects, and suggestions for classroom discussion and independent research.
• A colorful reference sheet explaining the original purpose of each of the recycled materials in the kit.
• An ancillary lesson plan focusing on the originally intended use of each item.

The following kits are currently available, with more planned in the near future:

	Tin-Can Telephone   (Minus the Tin Cans)	Principles of engineering	Teacher’s guide Parts list
	Pathways of Light	Optics: reflection, refraction,   and the pinhole camera	Teacher’s guide Parts list
	Moiré Patterns	Beautifully complex visual   patterns from simple textures	Coming soon!
	Induction/Deduction	Inductive and   deductive reasoning	Teacher’s guide

For more information, contact Steve Stanton, Executive Director, Trash for Teaching.

A one-sheet version of this page is available here.

Trash for Teaching is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.