CLIL in Technology: it’s not so hard!

In our school we’ve just started doing a project called CLIL. The term CLIL is the acronym for Content and Language Integrated Learning. It is a methodology that provides the teaching of content in a foreign language. This facilitates both the acquisition of disciplinary contents and the learning of a foreign language. We worked on this project with teacher Menardini Jessica and Mazzucchelli Editta during the Technology lessons.

We started studying what things are made of, for example which kind of materials are used to make things: FUR, WOOD, CLOTH, CHINA, PAPER, PLASTIC, GLASS and others…

How is the wood turned into paper? This is the question we have been working on these days. To make paper from trees, the raw wood has to be turned into pulp. Wood pulp is a watery “soup” of cellulose wood fibers, lignin, water and chemicals used during the pulping process.

They can either be processed mechanically or chemically. With mechanical pulping, machines grind wood chips into pulp. The fibers are ground down more in this process, so the paper that is made is not strong. This kind of paper is commonly used for newsprint and phone books.

The second method, more commonly used, is chemical pulping. Chemical pulping creates stronger paper, since this method eliminates most of the natural glue-like substance in the pulp.

Pulp has a lot of liquid in it that must be removed in order to make the paper. The process is not much different from the process used by the ancient Chinese nearly 2,000 years ago. The pulp is sprayed onto large mesh screens. This creates a mat of pulp that then goes through several processes to have the water removed and it is dried out to become paper. The wet paper is lifted from the mesh screen and then squeezed many different times through a series of presses to squeeze the water out. Once the paper has about 50 percent of its water removed, it is heated to dry to between 5 and 8 percent water content. At this point, the paper may go through treatments to create different textures. It is then wound into a reel. These reels of paper are so large that large cranes have to be used to move them.

There are many types of paper, here are some of them:

Acid-free paper, Food paper, Greeting card paper, Newsprint paper, Parchment paper, Photographic paper, Printing paper, Post-consumer recycled paper, Sandpaper, Shoe paper, Tobacco paper, Toilet paper, Typewriter paper, Wallpaper, Waxed paper.

After the theory we tried to make Paper by recycling old paper following the instructions below.

List of supplies to make Recycled Paper

• Old/used papers (magazines, newspapers, notebooks, etc.)
• A pair of scissors
• Blender
• Plastic netted piece or a papermaking frame
• Clothes (preferably cotton)
• No-sticky surface
• Large bowl

Step 1: Tear Old Papers, Magazines or Newspapers into strips. Cut the strips into smaller pieces and put them in a bowl.

Step 2: Add enough water to soak all the teared papers. Soak the papers for 3 to 4 hours. Blend the paper into fine paste.

Step 3: Fill 1/3 of a large bowl with water. Add paper paste into the bowl. Mix the paper paste with the water thoroughly.

Step 4: Take the plastic netted piece or the frame. Place it into the water. Let the paper paste settle on the side of the net.

Step 5: Bring the frame straight out of the water without changing the flattened position.

Step 6: Carefully flip the frame’s paper paste side on a non-sticky surface ( e.g. a plastic sheet). Use a cloth or a towel to soak water from the top side of the net.

Step 7: Carefully take off the net or the frame.

Step 8: Allow the flattened paper paste to dry completely. (It may need 1 or 2 days or more depending on the temperature).

Step 9: Check if the paper has dried completely.

Here are the results:

We really enjoyed the project although it was difficult to create the sheets of paper. You can try to create paper on your own simply following the instructions above. That’s all for now, have a good day!

Amir Mazzi e Adam Barakat