Sustainable Merchandising

6th Grade, Orchard View Middle School

Examining the question: "How do we create sustainable merchandise that represents our school's values?"

Sustainable Merchandising is a research-driven student project focused on clothing and merchandising, inspired by the "farm-to-table" concept applied to fashion. Students explore the origins and production processes of their clothing, examining the ethical and environmental impacts involved in its creation through inquiry and trips to the local career tech center. They investigate how various cultures express identity through fashion and the relationship between clothing, fibers, and local ecosystems. The project culminated in students designing their own clothing, reflecting their school's values, and refining their ideas through multiple iterations to screenprint their creations. Additionally, they partnered with a new school store that prioritizes ethically produced and sustainably sourced merchandise.

Resources

Community Partners

  • Muskegon Area Career Tech Center
  • Oshki
  • Brendan Christopher McCarthy
  • RAYGUN

Standards Alignment

Science

ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

ESS3-4: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.

PS1-1: Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.

Social Studies

G4.3.1  Explain how people have modified the environment and used technology to make places more suitable for humans.

G4.3.2  Explain why people settle where they do and how they make their living.

G5.1.1  Describe how humans have impacted the environment as a consequence of population size, level of consumption, and technology.

E1.1 Individual, Business, and Government Choices Describe how individuals, businesses, and government make economic decisions when confronting scarcity or surpluses in the market economy.

6 – E1.1.1 Explain how incentives and disincentives in the market economy can change the decision-making process.

C.6.4.3: Relationship of United States to Other Nations and World Affairs: Conflict and Cooperation Between and Among Nations

Mathematics

Decimal Operations

6.RP.A.3.B - Solve unit rate problems including those involving unit pricing and constant speed.

6.NS.B.2 - Fluently divide multi-digit numbers using the standard algorithm.

6.NS.B.3 - Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation.

English

Various reading and writing standards (connected to The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind)

Student Reflections

No items found.
The Third Coast Learning Collaborative is a collective project of Orchard View Schools, Reeths-Puffer Schools, Human Restoration Project & Open Way Learning. This work is independently evaluated by the University of Virginia.

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‍The contents of this website are developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government. This grant is 100% directly funded through federal funding totaling $3,995,537 beyond in-kind matching funds. All involved parties will contribute in-kind time to make the project a success at an in-kind rate of $429,173.