This workshop works as the active learning element of a flipped classroom. Before doing the workshop, students are assigned pre-class (passive learning) material to study individually. For the purpose of this workshop material should be about Low Impact Materials, Life Cycle Assessments, Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon, Operational Energy, and Whole Life Carbon principles. You can find suitable pre-recorded lectures on the topic from the www.arch4change.com website (in the ENERGY AND CO2 and MATERIALS themes). The LETI guides are also helpful.

The aim is for students to understand and apply in their own designs the use of low impact materials and use a combination of LCA and embodied carbon databases to help in material specification decision-making.

This workshop has 3 steps. It can be undertaken by individual students / student groups, but ideally it is facilitated in a classroom setting by the teacher and students work in small groups (two to 5 students). The workshop can be done online (with students in breakout rooms, and an online shared digital tool to work collaboratively with a teacher moving between breakout rooms), but ideally it is done face-to-face to ease communication and e.g., making manual calculations and to more freely discuss the results in the groups.

The space should be set up as a seminar room with tables for the student groups and ideally the different workshop steps and case study information are provided as a hardcopy handout to students that they can write on. Access to a projector is needed as our laptops for students for STEP 3 (LCA).

In summary, students Calculate embodied carbon of some insulation materials – STEP 1. this is followed by Whole life carbon of a building, including the embodied carbon of the insulation materials from the earlier ’Design matters workshop’)– STEP 2. This is then followed with a brief snapshot of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the insulation materials in STEP 3

Peer-learning is essential:

• Students help each other in small groups. Teachers walk around and facilitate and check results, and answer questions.

• In the larger group students compare (and if time calculate themselves the other case)

Suggested timetable for the full workshop: 2,5 to 3 hrs, with a 15 min break half way through.

• Pre-task: students understanding key principles of Low Impact Materials, Life Cycle Assessments, Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon, Operational Energy, and Whole Life Carbon principles. which can be found in the ENERGY AND CO2 theme and the MATERIALS theme in www.arch4change.com – there are several connected short lectures they can watch in advance prior to the workshop (i.e. as flipped classroom).

• To kick off the workshop, a 30 minute discussion in small groups on pre-task is given, setting specific questions for students to discuss, and also allowing students to bring their own topics and questions. Key points are drawn out in the larger group.

• This is then followed by a 10 minute introduction to the purpose and introduction of the workshop, introducing how to calculate embodied energy and embodied carbon (see material in ENERGY AND CO2 theme on www.arch4change.com) and the use of a free to use LCA tool is introduced. Students undertake the 3 steps 1 step at a time (some go faster), and teachers move between groups to ensure all students have concluded each step before starting to the next step as a group.

• Step 1: Calculate embodied carbon of some insulation materials. Three or four materials are pre-selected by the teachers, and it must be ensured that the information needed is available(also in the LCA tool). Ideally the materials are all part of the same category e.g. insulation) (30 mins). Ask students to rank the ‘best’ material of those calculated.

• BREAK (15 mins)

• Step 2: Whole life carbon of a building, including the embodied carbon of the insulation materials from the earlier ’Design matters workshop. (30 mins). Ask students again to rank the ‘best materials (30 mins).

• Step 3: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the insulation materials and discussion among students. Ask students again to rank the ‘best materials’ and to discuss and reflect on this and compare how this choice may have changed in the different steps (30 mins).

• Wrap up (i.e. going through results and what they mean- though this is also discussed with teachers in smaller groups) and final reflections on what was learned (15 mins) in the whole group.

The output of the workshop are estimations of embodied energy and embodied carbon of a given hypothetical quantity of a limited selection of materials use, and whole life carbon understanding, as well as reflections o the LCA of these materials, and comparison between them, using one tool.

The insights go beyond this however, and the reflective discussion based on comparison between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ materials shifts in the different steps, and when considering end-of-life scenarios. In whole life carbon evaluation, students also gain insights the % of embodied carbon vs operational carbon impacts and payback times (and reflecting on the current need to reduce ‘upfront’ carbon (i.e. embodied carbon) now).

The learning activity itself is not evaluated (i.e. formative assessment), but peer discussion and teacher feedback provide ideas and reflections on the outputs. This task could be considered to support “assessment as learning” (https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/practice/Pages/assessment.aspx), where (shared) reflection and (self-)monitoring of students’ design process informs their future goals and aspirations and steers their learning process forward.

Adaptations or refinements:

• It can be adapted to include comparison between different tools of LCA or embodied carbon/energy databases and between countries.

Limitations or assumptions?

• The facilitator of the workshop needs to have an adequate understanding of material impacts, LCA principles and embodied carbon, whole life carbon and embodied energy, (see MATERIALS and ENERGY AND CO2 themes) in order to help students complete the workshop tasks and lift the discussion to a deeper level.

Reflect on learning outcomes for students

Reflect on learning outcomes for educator.

The key learning outcomes for students are:

• To understand embodied carbon principles: increased energy and carbon literacy.

• To understand general LCA principles and value of using it to more holistically understand material impacts, and value for material selection.

• To understand whole life carbon and connect embodied energy and embodied carbon as a proportion of whole carbon over the building’s lifespan.

• Understanding that a material always has embodied energy and other impacts, even if it can have a zero embodied carbon impact.

• To understand and reflect on the use of different materials and their relative and cmparative merits, including biofenic materials, and end-of life processes.

• To understand that embodied energy and carbon are not the ONLY consideration in material selection: not one solution fits all.

• Ability to apply these principles to one’s own design projects after learning the principles.

For educators, the reflective discussions with students likely help deepen / broaden their own understanding of ENERGY AND CO2 and MATERIALS.

It would be recommended that the facilitator of this workshop is familiar with ENERGY AND CO2, as this helps the facilitation of the workshop and supporting in-depth application of knowledge. It is recommended that the facilitator (educator) familiarises themselves with the pre-class materials students are being given.

It is also good to show a simple pre-worked example. Printing out the handouts is also really helpful so all of the tasks and case study information are in one place. Some students can then also move ahead if they want to. Ask students to pre-register/ create a free account for any LCA tool you use in advance of class to speed up the workshop. Make sure they know to bring laptops for STEP 3.

Focus is on critical thinking and creating connections and the understanding of key principles and underlying concepts (instead of lots of technical knowledge about lots of different materials). Les is better in this case, and also it enables students to compare different materials, as they can have a go at calculating a few in their group. Carefully consider the materials you chose and the message you send with it.