In New York City alone, 850,000 trays are disposed of daily (4 million weekly!) from our public schools. Styrofoam* (or polystyrene) trays take hundreds or maybe thousands of years to decompose. Studies have shown that styrene may leach out of these containers and contaminate hot foods, especially those with a fatty content.

This student project utilized three-dimensional design and the concept of time in art and design to frame this complex tray problem as a visual metaphor. The class had only 2 class periods and a little over a week to complete the collaborative design and construction process. Initially, working in small groups, students proposed several designs. The entire piece was constructed in the Aronson Gallery, beginning Sunday afternoon with 7 class members and completed the following morning with the entire class.

The industrial quality of the lightweight polystyrene foam trays provided an interesting material and shape for unit repetition, linear layering, and organic configurations. Structurally, creating enough weight at the base to stabilize any constructed height was challenging. Text was incorporated via cutouts and stitching.

McDonalds stopped using Styrofoam* food containers in 1990. Brooklyn Council Member Bill De Blasio has introduced legislation to prohibit the use of polystyrene in New York City agencies and restaurants. Some west coast cities, such as Portland, Seattle and Berkeley, have implemented such laws (San Francisco’s law has an affordability clause).

Several NYC DOE schools have switched to alternative bagasse or biodegradable trays by self-funding the cost increase. The best long-term solution may be to return to washable, permanent ware trays, creating green collar tray-cleaning jobs in school cafeterias. Washable trays eliminate the unending financial and environmental costs of manufacturing, transporting and disposal of one-use trays. This is a solvable problem!

For more information, go to www.SOSnyc.org (Styrofoam Out of Schools, nyc)…

*Styrofoam is a licensed trademark of its manufacturer, the Dow Chemical Company

This blog originally appeared on The School of Design Strategies web site, sds.parsons.edu/?cat=17

2009 Chase Multimedia in the Classroom Award Winner

Ditmas I.S. 62, Brooklyn, NY

(Video social studies project)

Teachers and students embarked on a mission to embrace technology and education.  This video is an exciting effort to combine differentiated instruction for the purposes of teaching and learning American history in the classroom.

2009 Chase Multimedia in the Classroom Award Winner

Wyandanch Memorial High School, Wyandanch, NY

(Video arts/technology project)

This video shows how digital applications allow us to acquire skills utilized not only in our school, but also in our day-to-day activities.  From playing at home to working in an office, technology is key to our success in life.  We show how technology has helped us become award-winning students and a strong group of individuals.

2009 Chase Multimedia in the Classroom Award Winner

P.S. 7K, Brooklyn, NY

(Multimedia social studies, science, arts project)

We explore the history, population growth and ecology of the Hudson River.  The histories of local rivers provide insight into the effect population growth has on a natural resource and the cumulative impact of individual actions.  Using iMovie the students and teacher collaborated to present their learning in a fun and innovative way.

2009 Chase Multimedia in the Classroom Award Winner

William McKinley I.S. 259, Brooklyn, NY

(Multimedia arts project)

In a powerful, moving, creative way, students utilize original artwork, photography and video performances to depict the basic theme of the Phantom of the Opera.

2009 Chase Multimedia in the Classroom Award Winner

Marion Street Elementary School, Lynbrook, NY

(Video global awareness project)

Our Photo Story presentation encourages children to prevent global warming by showing them what they can do to keep the Earth green.  Our fifth-graders invited participation from first-graders who were starting a recycling program in our school.  In an effort to reach beyond our community and make our message truly global, we collaborated with our high school foreign language students, who helped translate our audio portion into Spanish, Italian and Japanese.

Pomona Middle School, Suffern, NY

(Web social studies project)

www.eram.k12.ny.us/education/projects/projects.php?sectionid=4905&

Working in pairs, the seventh-grade students created different Web pages on tribes or civilizations found throughout the Americas for their Native American Indian Website.  Narrations, recorded by the students, were uploaded to each page.  The Web also utilizes hyperlinks and blogs.

Denton Avenue Elementary School, New Hyde Park, NY

(Web global awareness project)

timezoneexperiences.wikispaces.com/

Our wiki is an ongoing resource project which allows elementary school children from around the world to explore time zone and climate differences.  By examining their own time zone events and climate changes each month, children are able to compare themselves to others around the world.  This leads to greater awareness of global connections as well as the ability to work collaboratively.

Xavier High School, New York, NY

faculty.xavierhs.org/chiafuliom/secondsight/

The Website was completed via collaboration between a Web design class and a Robotics class.  It provides an overview of the current state of ocular robotic prostheses and presents a look at the future of this field.  It also represents a student created potential product line of optical enhancement devices.

2009 Chase Multimedia in the Classroom Award Winner

Marymount School, New York, NY

(Multimedia arts, ELA project)

To complement their study of Hamlet, students participated in a group project in which they created a graphic novel, updating an original scene or creating a new one inspired by Shakespeare’s characters and events.  Students were responsible for storyboarding ideas; directing a photo shoot in which they portrayed the characters; creating costumes; writing plots and text to contextualize the images.  Students employed technology including digital photography, iPhoto, Comic Life, and Adobe Acrobat.