Students Give Energy to Campus Step by Step. Literally.

Does your school have solar panels? Nowadays, lots of schools have such sustainability-related initiatives on campus. The field of sustainability is also rapidly changing, and educators always need new ideas for their teaching methods. Well, I know it’s tough! Solar panels are like 2010 stuff, right?

We all know how to make our campus reasonably eco-friendly, but we are already out of new ideas, and many ideas go obsolete too quickly. So, I’m back (as always) to give you some quick inspirations on unique approaches for sustainable campus (and teaching). Just a quick reminder, last week, I discussed how schools can aim for Guinness World Records for unrivaled storytelling.

Walk to Energize: Floor Electricity Generator

Just quickly imagine how many students and teachers pass by the gate and hallways on your campus on a daily basis. How many steps could there be? Maybe 50,000+? Well, what if I tell you each step can help generate electricity?

The concept of Piezoelectric Effect, “the ability of certain materials to generate an electric charge in response to applied mechanical stress” (Source), can be a very interesting tool for your school’s sustainability education. Pavegen, an industry leader in this area, has helped companies (including Uber) and schools to install such a flooring solution. Several schools in UK, including Bedford Modern School and Simon Langton School, have worked with them, and your school could be the next one to adopt one before others!

Piezoelectric Effect has wide applications, including car tires, door knobs, and even clothes. You can explore further and see how this effect can be a creative teaching tool.

If you happen to be in Hong Kong 🇭🇰, try giving it a try at The Quayside at Kwun Tong, where you can see the world’s first indoor exercise track that produces energy.

Sustainable Fashion —> Sustainable School Uniform

Sustainable fashion is also recently a very hot topic, where global fashion brands continuously showcase new eco-friendly strategies and products.

Clothing can be a highly interesting teaching material. Students are tired of note-taking, typing, tests, etc. With clothing, students get to learn sustainability through hands-on experiences, making sustainable materials, cutting fabrics, designing, and crafting new clothes. I find this guide to be useful:

If you are looking for someone that can help you or your school in HK, I personally recommend Denise, who has been a long advocate of sustainable fashion and has taught students for years.

Make a UN SDG-themed Metaverse Experience

Students at ISF Academy, one of the most prestigious international schools in Hong Kong, have worked with Metalympics and created UN SDG-themed metaverse experience by using a no-coding metaverse creation tool: The Sandbox.

Students can create an immersive experience that can raise awareness! Of course, they also get to have practical skills in creating digital assets and virtual worlds in a friendly method without having any coding or design skills!

Break Guinness World Records with Sustainability

Children at St Edward's Prep School in England, United Kingdom, set a world record by writing "There is only one Earth" with 3,325 plastic bottles, breaking the previous record of 2,560 plastic bottles. The bottles were sent for recycling afterwards.

I always see setting a World Record is one of the most engaging and memorable learning methods you can definitely give it a try. I talked more about this, which you can read here:

This is a relatively short letter discussing how learning sustainability can be very fun and engaging. If you are an educator, I always believe Rafi Cristobal, Director of Social Impact and Sustainability Program at The Harbour School Hong Kong, is someone you can learn from. The school is also known for its unique teaching methods, so you can feel free to check their website and his LinkedIn.

I’m not an expert in sustainability myself, but at least I think we make it more fun and engaging. It really depends on which problem you pinpoint and how you tackle it. Again. As always, let me know if I can help!

I hope this post gave you an insight on how other countries are changing their education. If you liked this post, subscribe to get weekly insights for educators on global innovation in education.

See you in the next one 👋,

Christopher Lee (Let’s connect on LinkedIn!)

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