Contribution by Ms Sara Moroney – Class Teacher PYP 7
In PYP 7 ‘s latest unit, students have been inquiring about how people can make choices to support the Earth’s resources. They ended their unit with the goal of helping to stop climate change. As a summative assessment, students were tasked to create an eco-business that demonstrated to the ISD community that everyone can make sustainable choices when shopping and create their own sustainable items. Over the last month, the children worked independently to come up with ideas for their product range. The products had to be made from reused, recycled or natural objects. The goal for each eco-business was to earn 25 euros per student during the Holiday Eco market, where the children were able to sell the products they created.
A lot of preparation and hard work went into creating their eco-business. The students conducted market research to find out more about customer preferences and then designed and created products that were commercially attractive and scalable. They had to find the resources they needed and plan their time. In addition, they had to think about the ideal price that would optimise the total earnings at the Holiday market. Setting prices too high would run the risk of not selling all products but setting the price too low, would not maximise the earnings per product. The students created posters to promote the Holiday Eco Market and to make sure all primary students would bring in some money to spend at the market.
On Thursday 10 December, the PYP 7s presented the results of their hard work during the festive Holiday Eco-market. Teachers and students were amazed by the creative and beautiful products that were on display at the Eco-market. From Christmas decoration lights made from upcycled Nespresso cups and various Christmas ornaments to dream catchers, pencil holders and colorful paper-mache bowls. Our eco-entrepreneurs made sure to present their products on beautifully decorated tables, some even with Christmas trees on it. The students also made cards or small posters, explaining the products they were selling and the cause they supported. The children managed to sell most things on the first day.
The PYP 7s surpassed their class goal of 500 euro and were able to donate 615 euro to the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, an international non-profit organisation with the mission to “enable the countries and peoples of the world that own the remaining rainforests build a sustainable balance between humans and the environment.” We can be truly proud of our entrepreneurial students and we would like to thank everyone who helped out with this project.