Team:Tec-Monterrey/EwasteArt
Environmental forum
As a way to involve high school students with our project and to reach a younger audience, we decided to do a contest in which people of different high schools could use electronic waste as the main source of material for the creation of innovative sculptures that could make an impact on society. Five high schools of the metropolitan area of Monterrey were invited to participate in this event. The available materials were: computers, cell phones, CD’s, video games’ hardware, broken electrical systems and so on. Judges evaluated the art pieces by taking into account the following points:
- Quality
- Use of materials
- Justification
The students that participated in the event were asked by their teachers to do an extensive research on e-waste and its toxic components; they also made an essay on toxicity and the inorganic chemicals found in this kind of residues, and how they can affect the human health. The teachers modified a section of the course because they knew it was an important topic for the alumni to know, so they implemented this essay and topic. A total of 23 teams registered to the event, each team varying from 1 to 3 team members.
During the competition, we explained our project to the students and teachers of the different high schools. Their reaction was of excitement and confusion at the same time, because they didn’t know that genetic engineering on bacteria could be that efficient and precise. Also, they were shocked to see the amount of electronic waste that they had at home and were no longer using.
We gave awards to the three teams with the best artworks, among which there was a model of Monterrey, our city, built in e-waste; a sculpture of a man’s head made of CD scraps and other materials, and a robot that symbolises hope and the evolution of men, made with motherboards.
We were amazed at the level of deepness and complexity of the explanations the students gave us. We could really see that they truly thought about the issue and considered all its causes, implications and dangers. We were happy to see how this activity motivated the teens to know more about the e-waste pollution issue and to actually do something about it.
