Metals & Me has been created to support the teaching of geography for 11-16 year olds. The project supports a number of curriculum and syllabus requirements and can be used to encourage debate and understanding of key issues in Citizenship and Education for Sustainable Development.

Section two explores global sources of key metal ores and the environmental impact of mining, processing and transportation. The section two video introduces pupils to the impact the extraction of metal ores has on the environment, outlines many of the key recycling processes and indicates where materials are sourced from and sent to.

Why are recycled metals beneficial to the economy and the environment? This section demonstrates that recycled metals help the environment and give a real boost to the economy.

Section five explores the local impact of metal recycling through a decision-making exercise about siting a new recycling facility and a GIS activity about accessing a range of recycling services.

Section three looks at the main processes involved in recycling metal, including depolluting end of life vehicles, processing waste electrical and electronic equipment to recover precious metals and safe recycling of fridges and freezers. This video follows one commonly recycled household appliance – the fridge – and shows how it can be comprehensively recycled to avoid harm to the environment.

The introduction includes notes on curriculum applications; suggestions for using the video modules, wall chart and PowerPoint presentations; six exemplar lesson plans; and details of useful websites referred to in the activities.

Section one provides activities exploring the use of metals in a domestic environment, considering the properties they offer and asking if we could find suitable alternatives. This section includes an informative animation that can be used as an effective scene setter to encourage pupils to realise that there are many metals in their everyday world.

Ian Hetherington, director general of the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA), talks about the metals recycling industry.

Use this video alongside Metals & Me to support the teaching of geography for 11-16 year olds. The project supports a number of curriculum and syllabus requirements and can be used to encourage debate and understanding of key issues in Citizenship and Education for Sustainable Development.