A class on the mountain for children of all ages, from kindergarten through high school. The Center for Environmental Education offers a variety of courses for schools, encapsulating all ages, seasons, and subjects.
Kindergarten – 2nd Grade
How to Fix a Mountain?
How many garbage trucks built such a big mountain? What is it made of? And how do you rehabilitate a garbage mountain? During this tour, the children will learn about the sounds, scents, and colors of the mountain, from the croaking of the frogs to the sounds of tractors – can they live side by side? We will smell, hear, and see what is happening in Hiriya today, from the colorfulness of the waste at the transfer station to the views from the observation points at the mountain's peak. We will talk about the subject of repairing, and will try to think together how and what we can repair. We will learn to sew a button, hammer a nail, screw in a screw, and much more.
The Red Worms (Recycling and Compost)
What happens to fruit that isn't picked from the tree? Where do the leftovers disappear to when you eat a salad? What is compost, and how do you prepare it? On this tour, we will introduce the kids to red worms that turn organic garbage into fertilizer. We will explain to them about the worms' habitat, and their importance in the natural recycling process. The children will make fruit salad, move the waste to the composter, and learn about the ways they can decrease the amount of waste they generate.
3rd – 4th Grade
Waste Party
What is our waste composed of? How does our garbage today differ from the garbage of our grandparents? What is the problem with the large amount of waste we produce, and how can we decrease it? During this tour, the children will learn what a waste survey is, and how they can conduct it. The children gather data about the waste trucks that arrive at the Hiriya transfer station, while they observe the waste mountain and draw its components. In the center, we will discuss the question: can we reduce waste and live differently? And, for the finale, the children will plan a birthday party while paying attention to the garbage issue created by this festive event.
Fixing, not Throwing Away
In what ways does our lifestyle affect the environment in which we live? What are the implications of modern life on the planet, and in Israel in particular? We will stand on Mount Hiriya and watch the environment, trying to understand our place in it. Can we correct our actions? What do we do with waste today? How can we fix our ways? We will study a different way to manage waste: a combined process of reducing consumption, reusing, recycling, producing energy, and waste dumping. The children will learn about their ability to fix objects by themselves, with an adult, or with a professional: fixing rather than throwing away. Each child will learn how to fix an object from the variety in our workshop.
5th – 6th Grade
Recycling Meeting
Each day, a large amount of waste flows from the city to the landfills. What can we extract from the waste flow to reuse or to break down into raw materials? What is our waste composed of, and how does it decompose? What is our job in the recycling center, and how do we separate waste? During this tour, we will see the Arrow Ecology factory, which specializes in separating waste. We will also see the different recycling factories and, when we return to the center, the children will try different methods to separate waste – mechanical (magnet, filtration, buoyancy, and more) and manual – before throwing them into household bins. We will separate dry waste in a big sandbox and understand the costs and benefits of recycling waste.
In the Belly of the Mountain
What is organic matter? How does material decompose in nature, and how long do different materials take to decompose? We will meet in the Center and eat breakfast, transferring the leftovers to a regular composter or a red worm composter. We will meet the worms, and carry out a series of short experiments on taking apart materials (leaves, plastic bags, and polystyrene). We will learn the ways in which waste goes from the home to the landfill, the difference between aerobic and anaerobic decomposition, and more. Finally, we will climb Mount Hiriya, which will be used as a lab, and check what happens in the belly of the mountain. We will also discuss different possible solutions for dealing with waste.
Junior High
Hidden Treasure
We will stand together on the mountain, stop for a moment, and think about the society in which we live – the cities, vehicles, fuel stations, roads, planes, antennae, and malls. The mountain is a side effect of our modern lifestyle. What do we have to do to intelligently reuse our resources? We will stand on the balcony of the transfer station and look out over the waste. Can we see materials that can be recycled and used as new raw materials? Where do we really take all of our garbage? Do we use the raw materials we throw into the trash? When we return to the center, students will participate in a workshop for turning t-shirts into multipurpose shopping bags.
The Culture of Consumption
The phrase "from the cradle to the grave" describes the handling of garbage in Israel, from natural resources to the landfill. Can this be carried out differently? What can we learn from the oldest recycler in the world: nature? How can we turn the grave into a new cradle? What is the consumption circle, or the life circle of a product? During this tour, the children will make IDs for different products, showing which raw materials they contain. What are they used for? How many people can use each product? What do we do with it once it has been used? We will go on a tour of Hiriya and spot the problems involved in the methods practiced today. We will watch part of the film "Waste = Food", and think of different ways to treat garbage. We will also discover unique products that do not create waste.
High School
One Size Fits All
How long do you wear a new outfit? How long do you use your cellphone before you upgrade it? At a fast food restaurant, when you buy something just because you feel like it, how do you manage my consumption habits? We tend to consume a lot while disregarding the amount of waste we produce. During this tour, we will try to estimate the amount of garbage we produce. In the transfer station, the students will see the large amounts of garbage shipped to the Negev each day. We will hear about the history of the mountain, and consider our future. What can we do to reduce the amount of waste we produce? What is the connection between fashion and waste? Can we produce environmentally-friendly fashion?
Hiriya as an Allegory
During the tour for high school students, we will focus on the Hiriya site as an example of our larger waste problem. The students will be exposed to current data on the amount and composition of waste in Israel by volume and weight. We will discuss the three technological possibilities for dealing with waste – recycling, burning, and dumping – and will understand the advantages and disadvantages of each of these systems. Are all the solutions to our waste problem technological, or are there additional solutions? We will examine the situation in Israel compared to that of other countries, and ask where we would like to see ourselves in ten years. A must experience for high school and ecology students.
Green Leadership and Youth Activism – Activities for Green Councils
The Center for Environmental Education offers unique activities for green student councils. School students who are interested in dealing with waste subjects are invited to come to a seminar that features unique and practical ideas for in-school activities. The students will tour the site, and study the waste problem alongside its five solutions (reducing consumption, reuse, recycling, creation of energy, and dumping). They will participate in an environmental activism seminar in which the students will raise suggestions for activities regarding reuse and the reduction of consumption at school. They will discuss these activities, and choose one to promote at the school – a fascinating day full of experience and creativity that is enlightening while also inspiring action.
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