Packaging Lessons Overview

Packaging is often overlooked and taken for granted; however, it plays an important role in consumer decision making. The following three lessons get students to pause and examine the purpose of packaging. These lessons are part of a larger series of lessons used to introduce consumerism and marketing through the study of packaging.

This Kenan Fellows Project began in 2008. At which time few Internet resources relating to packaging and sustainability were available. However, since that time a “green” movement has become more mainstream and numerous resources have been developed that examine packaging. Please see the “Resources” tab for other excellent lesson plans on this topic.

Curriculum Alignment

The lessons and projects in the thematic unit “Price Check: What is the True Cost?” address objectives in both the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and the 21st Century Learning Goals. Correlations with each are listed below.

21st Century Learning Goals

The 21st Century Learning Goals were adopted by the state of North Carolina in 2005. These learning objectives are particularly useful for assessing student learning in the areas of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity/innovation. For a complete list of the 21st Century Learning Goals please go to http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/.

As students complete work in this section of the thematic unit “Price Check: What is the True Cost?” they will meet the following 21st Century Learning Goals objectives:

21st Century Interdisciplinary Themes

Global Awareness

• Understand and address global issues

Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy

• Knowing how to make appropriate personal economic choices

LEARNING AND INNOVATION SKILLS

Creativity and Innovation

• Think Creatively
  • Use a wide range of idea creation techniques (such as brainstorming) 
-Create new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical concepts) 
-Elaborate, refine, analyze and evaluate their own ideas in order to improve and maximize creative efforts

• Work Creatively with Others
  • Develop, implement and communicate new ideas to others effectively
  • Be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives; incorporate group input and feedback into the work
  • Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work and understand the real world limits to adopting new ideas
  • View failure as an opportunity to learn; understand that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

• Reason Effectively
  • Use various types of reasoning (inductive, deductive, etc.) as appropriate to the situation

• Use Systems Thinking
  • Analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other to produce overall outcomes in complex systems

• Make Judgments and Decisions
  • Effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs
  • Analyze and evaluate major alternative points of view
  • Synthesize and make connections between information and arguments
  • Interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis
  • Reflect critically on learning experiences and processes

Communication and Collaboration

• Communicate Clearly
  • Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts
  • Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes and intentions
  • Use communication for a range of purposes (e.g. to inform, instruct, motivate and persuade)
  • Utilize multiple media and technologies, and know how to judge their effectiveness a priori as well as assess their impact
  • Communicate effectively in diverse environments (including multi-lingual)

• Collaborate with Others
  • Demonstrate ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams
  • Exercise flexibility and willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal
  • Assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by each team member

INFORMATION, MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY SKILLS

Media Literacy

• Analyze Media
  • Understand both how and why media messages are constructed, and for what purposes
  • Examine how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded, and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors
  • Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of media

LIFE AND CAREER SKILLS

Flexibility and Adaptability

• Adapt to Change
  • Adapt to varied roles, jobs responsibilities, schedules and contexts
  • Work effectively in a climate of ambiguity and changing priorities

• Be Flexible
  • Incorporate feedback effectively
  • Deal positively with praise, setbacks and criticism
  • Understand, negotiate and balance diverse views and beliefs to reach workable solutions, particularly in multi-cultural environments

Initiative and Self-Direction

• Manage Goals and Time
  • Set goals with tangible and intangible success criteria
  • Balance tactical (short-term) and strategic (long-term) goals
  • Utilize time and manage workload efficiently

• Work Independently
  • Monitor, define, prioritize and complete tasks without direct oversight

• Be Self-directed Learners
  • Go beyond basic mastery of skills and/or curriculum to explore and expand one’s own learning and opportunities to gain expertise
  • Demonstrate initiative to advance skill levels towards a professional level
  • Demonstrate commitment to learning as a lifelong process
  • Reflect critically on past experiences in order to inform future progress

Social and Cross-Cultural Skills

• Interact Effectively with Others
  • Know when it is appropriate to listen and when to speak
  • Conduct themselves in a respectable, professional manner

• Work Effectively in Diverse Teams
  • Respect cultural differences and work effectively with people from a range of social and cultural backgrounds
  • Respond open-mindedly to different ideas and values
  • Leverage social and cultural differences to create new ideas and increase both innovation and quality of work

• Leadership and Responsibility
  • Be Responsible to Others
  • Act responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind

North Carolina Standard Course of Study

Science, Grade 6

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design.
Objectives 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04

Science, Grade 7

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design. Objectives 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04

Science, Grade 8

Goal 2: The learner will demonstrate an understanding of technological design. Objectives 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04

English Language Arts, Grade 7

Goal 1: The learner will use language to express individual perspectives in response to personal, social, cultural, and historical issues.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.04

Goal 3: The learner will refine the understanding and use of argument.
Objective: 3.02

Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of application of grammar and language usage.
Objectives: 6.01, 6.02

English Language Arts, Grade 8

Goal 1: The learner will use language to express individual perspectives in response to personal, social, cultural, and historical issues.
Objectives: 1.03, 1.04

Goal 2: The learner will synthesize and use information from a variety of sources.
Objectives: 2.01, 2.02

Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of application of grammar and language usage.
Objective: 6.02

Social Studies, Grades 6,7, and 8

Depending on the location of the partner school and the grade level being taught, it is possible to meet several Social Studies objectives.