The Visualising Carbon Reduction for School Programme is an extension of the Visualising Energy Saving Program.
The program features a web-based platform with interactive activities to promote the reduction of carbon production. Each student has an online account with a virtual mascot, by participating in various types of low carbon challenges, students can accessorise their virtual mascot in “Tamagotchi” style.
In the same spirit of HKJC Visualising Energy Saving for Schools Programme, this program also pledged to reduce 10 – 15% of energy consumption per school using the previous year 2017-2018 as a base.
Each participant is provided with ample opportunities to partake in activities to improve the status of their individual virtual mascot through in the following activities.
Click on the tabs below to explore or view more http://folio.com.hk
Objective The first activity is [ 5 MINUTES SHOWER ], its objective is to let students understand the importance of water and the benefits of water conservation through the hands-on experience, so as to develop environmental protection habits. Water is a precious natural resource on earth and a source of life. Energy is required for both water supply and sewage treatment, so saving water can help reducing energy consumption. Challenge The activity sets different showering methods to challenge the students, they can time their shower each day then enter the time to complete the challenge. Objective The second activity is [ EARTH HOUR ], its objective is to encourage students to save energy by turning off lights at school or at home to enjoy leisure activities with parents. Say no to unnecessary energy consumption, which may lead to climate change, and extreme weather problems, and join us to practise low-carbon life style. Lead by example, use actions to reduce extreme weather problems caused by climate change caused by energy consumption, and practice low-carbon lifestyle. Challenge The activity sets a no-light challenge to students per day, they can complete the challenge by turning off the light at home, and go to bed early, or chat with family members, etc. Objective The second activity is [ LOW-CARBON RECIPE ], its objective is to let students learn and understand low-carbon foods and their production methods, and start creating a low-carbon lifestyle from the most important aspects of daily life — food. Challenge The activity includes multiple choices of low-carbon food and a low-carbon recipe competition. Students need to follow the principle of L．O．V．E．R．S to create their own low-carbon recipe: L ocal
O rganic
V egetarian
E nergy SavingR educe, Reuse, Recycle
S easonal
The Environment Conservation Fund Visualising Big Waster for Schools Programme was a 12-month project with a 3-months long trial period involving the school’s participation in using the designated rubbish bags.
The purpose of the project was to benefit the school in practicing for the upcoming municipal solid waste charging scheme. It aimed to assist both the school and students to practice the reduction of solid waste while visualizing its progress toward solid waste reduction and familiarizing participants with the Pay As You Throw scheme.
The program was comprised of two components:
An online platform for students to record the number of designated rubbish bag used during the trial period was designed. Each classroom was allotted with a virtual fund of HKD100 on the platform, in which students could use the fund to purchase designated rubbish bags. Each classroom was given the actual designated rubbish bags for use during the trial period. The goal was to minimize the cost used from the fund to win the competition through the following:
To promote the use of smaller size designated rubbish bags, students are invited to design a small size rubbish bin idea (3L to 10L) that makes beneficial use of upcycled waste items.
During the program, a floor scale and a large touch screen monitor are provided for the participating schools to monitor the progress.
公共交通至香港大學 Transportation to HKU:
1) 巴士：
請在「香港大學西閘，薄扶林道」或「香港大學東閘、般咸道」下車。
1) By Bus:
Alight at the
bus-stop
in front of the “West Gate” in front of Haking Wong Building on
Pokfulam Road or the “East Gate” on Bonham Road.
在「香港大學西閘」下車 From HKU West Gate:
在「香港大學東閘」下車 From HKU East Gate:
3) 的士
3) By Taxi:
4.) 駕駛指南去香港大學研究堂 DRIVER’S DIRECTION TO HKU GRADUATE HOUSE
由旭龢道路進入大學道（時租泊車）ENTRANCE FROM KOTEWALL ROAD TO UNIVERSITY DRIVE (HOURLY PAY CARPARK)
進入大學道 ENTRANCE TO UNIVERSITY DRIVE
由大學道到研究生堂 DIRECTION FROM UNIVERSITY DRIVE TO HKU GRADUATE HOUSE
This program is a virtual trading partnership game designed to supplement the Loop Program’s module on teaching the principle of Intragenerational Equity. In order to help students to understand the importance of preserving the rights of marginalised workers, the online fair-trade game simulates different real-life scenarios that are encountered by various stakeholders involved in the process of trading. This game aims to relay the importance of safeguarding marginalized groups and the unintended consequences brought by the lack of social responsibility.
The concept of fair-trade is widely publicized but few can fully appreciate the concept of trade behind without being involved in the process. As such, to fully appreciate the concept, students will learn by participating in a mock fair-trade game. The game takes form of a role-playing game depicting the chain of effect that each role signifies. This exercise will enable the students to experience the difficulties and needs in exercising fair-trade by first hand making it an innovative approach for understanding. An evaluative assessment of students engagement in the module found that students had acquired significant first-hand knowledge and acquisition of entrepreneurial and managerial skills by engaging in the process of developing the fair-trade bazaar. Students also understood the importance of social responsibility which was observed in their application of acquired skills and transmission of knowledge to new-comers of the module. A community e-sharing platform was introduced for the students as Environmental Club members to login to keep track of the planting process. The school organic farm was equipped with a wireless sensor system included the Light Intensity, Air Humidity, Air Temperature, and Soil Moisture Sensor for monitoring the growing conditions of the organic garden. The e-sharing forum allows students to freely share their thoughts and upload pictures/videos of the organic farm.
Reconnect launched the Visualising Energy Program in 2017 in partnership with 10 primary schools. 1,8400 individuals benefited from the project per school including students, teachers, and family members. The program also produced a 10% reduction in carbon emission per year resulting in $2,300 energy bill saved per month per school ($14,000 savings in energy bills for the period of 6 months per school).
The Visualising Energy Program for Schools was developed in response to the pressing need to reduce energy usage in Hong Kong. 9% of electricity consumption in Hong Kong is used for non-electrical purposes contributing to 570,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide production every year. The aim of the project is to motivate participants to conscientiously utilize energy by visualizing it. The main feature of the program is a smart energy metering system that provides real-time energy metering feedback for energy-cum-carbon audit.
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS]
Food Wise Farmer is a program aimed at addressing the surplus food waste problem in the primary school sector.
The program motivates student to reduce food waste through 3 interventions. Please click on the following tab:
A series of learning activities were designed to equip students with the knowledge of how nature assimilates waste into resources such as
Students were challenged to take an inventory of any surplus food at home and take to school any surplus food for donation over 21 day. This 21 Day challenge used an online inventory system to record any food inventory at home during the 21 day.
Over 450 primary students joined the program and as a result of this behavioural changing program, 56 students donated non-perishable items such as can food/packaged food. The collected non-perishable food items were sent to charitable organisations such as Tuen Mun District Women’s Association.
A ceremony was held to reward the students who performed well in the online game and also shared their surplus resources. Great success was ascertained through this program as the program provided a platform for the students to donate food items which otherwise would have been sent to the landfill.
Students were challenged to finish their meal all the time over 21 days. This 21 Day challenge used an online inventory system to record their performance.
Since 2012, Reconnect has been collaborating with Pui Kiu Primary School to deliver the Loop Program which is an environmental education program that complements the existing General Studies program. Loop Program observed several remarkable benefits and outcomes. In 2014, Loop Program obtained support from the Quality Education Fund. 3,500 individuals benefitted from the program including General Studies and Environmental Education teachers, curriculum developers, affiliated funding bodies, students and their families and the community. Please click on the tabs below to see the various teaching modules within this program.
The students were exposed to the latest green technologies through the wireless environment sensing system. The Program was tied in with a self-powered energy-efficient wireless sensor network, which monitored the environment factors in relation to the local air temperature, light in lux and soil humidity. Through acquiring real-time environment information from the network, the students were provided a platform to explore the science behind gardening. The system allowed the student to monitor the plant growth condition closely via the online platform. A 21 day Behavioural Change Challenge handbook was given to the students to follow to implement selective good environmental habits. The students needed to carry out a number of good environmental habits as homework and they were challenged to commit to these habits over the course of 21 days for each good environmental habit. The students who achieved the required tasks were awarded with the produces that they have grown in the organic garden. At end of the program, students were involved in a school-wide organic vegetable charity bazaar. Students sold their organic vegetable in schools for charity purposes. Students were given the opportunity to share their organic farming knowledge with their fellow students, teachers and parents. The money earned were donated to charity organisations such as Food Angel or the respective school for their operation.
Paper waste accounts for 21.2% (1358 tpd) of municipal solid waste in Hong Kong1. In particular, tissue paper and paper bag accounts for the majority of the paper waste. To enhance the understanding how paper waste can be reused in our daily lives, Reconnect offers this Seed Ball workshop using recycled papers to make seed ball.
Farmers have traditionally used mud mixed with seed to make seed ball to help disperse seed for germination. To add an environmental flavor, paper waste is shredded and molded into a seed ball. Students can experience how this type of waste can be reused to become a product which we can use to grow plants. Students can also learn to identify various types of plant seeds and the process of plant germination. 1Environmental Protection Department (2016) Monitoring of solid waste in Hong Kong – Waste Statistic for 2016, Hong Kong SAR Government.
Biomimicry is an approach that seeks sustainable solutions to human problems by modelling on nature’s best ideas. Humans have created massive sustainability problems which could have been avoided through better design inspired by nature’s long-term tested solution found in animals, plants and microbes. Students are challenged to take inspiration from nature to develop new perspectives on design and better ways of creating innovation.
Reconnect’s biomimicry workshop brings to students in the work
• Animal – offering a chance for students to interact with our animals. Finding inspiration from nature through encountering our animals in the workshop.
• Learn how animals use their amazing skills such as ultrasound, infrared and temperature sensors to interact with the environment.
• Learn to use smart sensors to mimic animals’ inherent sensors
• Be inspired and learn how to build your own smart sensors.
Aquaponic is a food production system that combines hydroponics and aquaculture by allowing the chemical nutrients needed for hydroponic plant (vegetable) growth to be replaced with fish waste. The size of the aquaponic can range from a desktop size to a cupboard size. It can be small enough to sit on a desk or table for the purpose of creating an in-house diverse learning setting in a space limited classroom environment. With a small footprint, aquaponic is an excellent tool to demonstrate the concept of a balance ecosystem by demonstrating the return of the aquaculture waste for the vegetable growth.
This program is designed to improve science education by integrating hands-on learning with aquatic and hydroponic science. This is an ideal method to teach science in a fun and innovative way.
This family friendly workshop allows participants to DIY their own unique aquaponic system for learning the complex symbiotic interaction of various components in our ecosystem. Through learning to balance the harmonious relationship between the aquatic organisms and the plants, the users will gain insight to the importance of environmental protection.
The aquaponic system incorporates one integrated system that grows fish and plants together. The fish waste provides organic food source for the growing plants and the plants provide a natural filter for the water the fish live in. Aquaponics takes advantage of the benefits of fish waste and removes the drawbacks of fish waste which is a good example of sustainable living.
Food waste is a prevalent issue in Hong Kong with an astonishing figure of 3000 tonnes of food waste being disposed daily at the near-capacity landfills. In order to tackle this problem from its root, Reconnect develops students’ understanding of food loss minimisation at a pre-consumer level, by encouraging them to develop a habit of taking food inventory and food donation.
To do so, we ran a behavioural challenge program taking a course of 21 day at our partnership schools which is designed to instill good environmental habits pertaining to taking inventory of food items at home . A fun online game was developed for the students to donate food online to save the animal characters in the game. The online program scored the performances of the students as a measure of their effort. Concurrently, the students who signed the charter to donate food items online were encouraged to commit to their chartered statement. Over 450 primary students joined the program and as a result of this behavioural changing program, 56 students donated non-perishable items such as can food/packaged food. The collected non-perishable food items were sent to charitable organisations such as Tuen Mun District Women’s Association. A ceremony was held to reward the students who performed well in the online game and also shared their surplus resources. Great success was ascertained through this program as the program provided a platform for the students to donate food items which otherwise would have been sent to the landfill.
Set 1 HKD250
Size: 11.5 x 11 x 14.8 cm (WxDxH) with
High Transparency Clear Plastic
Set 2 HKD450
Size: 19 x 21 x 10 cm (WxDxH)
with glass
Set 3 HKD550
Size: 18.5 x 18.5 x 24 cm (WxDxH)
with High Transparency Clear Plastic and Filter
This program allows students to be exposed to the latest green technologies through the self-powered energy-efficient wireless sensor network, which monitored the environmental factors in relation to the soil moisture level, air humidity, sunlight intensity, carbon dioxide levels and temperature. The data was then recorded in a graph where students were taught how to further analyze the data. By acquiring real-time environment information from the network, the students were provided a platform to explore the science behind farming. The system gave the student the ability to monitor the plant growth closely and to alert the students to control irrigation and application of nutrients to plants as needed.
Food waste at schools is a challenging issue. Many school students opted to leave their purchased lunch unconsumed and the schools are posed with the challenge to deal with these food waste. This program demonstrates how food waste can be reused as a resourceful material as part of organic farming.
The students were requested to bring in fruit skins and waste bread from home. In conjunction, the food waste from unconsumed lunch was also used as compost. We installed:
• 3 small-scale food composting machine (5 kg) which can generate compost within half a day;
• 3 food composting box which takes 3 months to generate mature compost.
• The compost generated from the food composting machines were applied to the garden to grow vegetable. Freshly grown salad from the school garden was served to the students as afternoon tea. The students got to enjoy the fruit of their harvest and to experience the complete “loop” cycle of recycling food waste.
From the success observed in the previous 21 day challenge online game, we further developed another online game which encouraged students to finish all of their food for each meal. The concept of the game is for students to record daily the amount of food that they have eaten in their meals and further observe the amount of food waste that they create if they do not finish their food. The aim of this game is to change the wasteful behaviour of students and tackle excessive food waste from its roots.
In the game, students will be given a plate of food and when they click on the food that they have eaten, it will disappear leaving the leftover on the plate. Students are expected to record the food that they have not finished every day in order to observe the food waste that they have accumulated throughout the period of time that they have been playing. Through this game, we hope to promote a behavioural change in which students will develop a habit of finishing their food.
Food waste is a prevalent issue in Hong Kong with an astonishing figure of 3000 tonnes of food waste being disposed daily at the near-capacity landfills. In order to tackle this problem from its root, Reconnect develops students’ understanding of food loss minimisation at a pre-consumer level, by encouraging them to develop a habit of taking food inventory and food donation.
To do so, we ran a behavioural challenge program taking a course of 21 day at our partnership schools which is designed to instill good environmental habits pertaining to taking inventory of food items at home . A fun online game was developed for the students to donate food online to save the animal characters in the game. The online program scored the performances of the students as a measure of their effort. Concurrently, the students who signed the charter to donate food items online were encouraged to commit to their chartered statement. Over 450 primary students joined the program and as a result of this behavioural changing program, 56 students donated non-perishable items such as can food/packaged food. The collected non-perishable food items were sent to charitable organisations such as Tuen Mun District Women’s Association. A ceremony was held to reward the students who performed well in the online game and also shared their surplus resources. Great success was ascertained through this program as the program provided a platform for the students to donate food items which otherwise would have been sent to the landfill.
Notice: Test mode is enabled. While in test mode no live donations are processed.