Nicer Loos

Marilyn Daly
Rangikura School, Porirua

Introduction
Rangikura School is decile 2. The students in my Year 3-4 class are aged between 7 and 8 and a half. My class is one of three in an open plan block. The students come from many ethnic backgrounds including Māori, Samoan, Tokelaun, Tongan, Indian, European and Laotian. This is our first unit of technology this year and the students have little previous experience of this type of unit. I chose the topic because an issue arose about the use of the toilets and during a class discussion there was general agreement that the toilets were unpleasant to use. This material is based on the work I did with my students and the breakdown I provided for my colleagues.

Unit Plan

Context: Nicer Loos             Year: 3-4            Duration: 3 Weeks (actual 5 weeks)

Possible Negotiated Learning Outcomes?
Skill required to implement chosen solution.
Planning of celebration – selected/assigned roles could become negotiated LOs

Delivery – part one

Marilyn broke down the unit plan each week into manageable chunks for other members of the syndicate. They took a systematic approach to the development of the unit to ensure students would have all the relevant background information necessary to make good decisions and choices. To view the week-by-week breakdown click here.

In the classroom

Marilyn and her students have developed a conceptual statement :

"We want to make our toilets nicer to use."

Marilyn asked her students what they thought of their toilets and their response was guarded at first (they were surprised that this topic should come up in the classroom) but generally they didn't like the toilets. The students went out to the toilets and identified more specifically what they didn't like (initially boys went into the boys' toilets and girls the girls'). They took photos and listed the problems as they saw them:

"There is no soap and if it falls on the ground then someone picks it up they will get germs."
"There is no glass in the push-out windows."
"There is toilet paper on the roof (ceiling) and it (toilet) needs to be clean so we can use them."
"The door needs to be painted and the sign needs to be bigger and nicer."
"The walls are dull and yucky and ugly."
"Drawing on the walls."
"Unflushed toilets."
"The tap was left on."
"Wees on the floor."

The students sorted out a system of collecting data about toilet usage. As well as noting numbers of users and times of use they checked the conditions of the toilets regulary. They analysed the data and found out the high use times (mid to late lunchtime). This helped to explain some of the worst problems – overcrowding leading to wee on the floor in the boys' toilet, soap on the floor, broken roller towel units, and no paper.

Students interviewed the toilet users to find out what they liked and didn't like about the toilets and any ideas they had to improve them.

I like
"Some bits are clean"
"When the toilets are flushed."

I don't like
"Toilet paper on the roof"
"I don't like mean writing on the wall."
"Sometimes no soap."
"Smells"
"No windows"

Ideas to make our toilets more user friendly
"Clean the toilets. Make the toilets look nice." 
"If people did not write on the wall."
"Spray perfume around the toilets."
"Scrub the floors and the walls."
"Put a new coat of paint on."
"Put some windows in."

Students wrote about their own feelings
"I think that the people who make the toilets disgusting should stop it. We could keep the toilet clean by washing swear words off the wall. When I go to the toilets at school I feel okay sometimes, because the taps are off and the floor isn't that wet and there is soap. But when the taps are on and the floor is wet I'm not so happy. We could pay people who volunteer to clean our toilets every two minutes when we are in class working."

The students invited the cleaners in to talk about what they don't like about the toilets and how they clean them.

The cleaners like
The toilets being flushed
Clean walls
No bubblegum
When children use the toilets properly

The cleaners don't like
Wee on the toilets
Rubbish in the toilets
Poo on the wall
Wee on floor

"The cleaners wipe the walls with a cloth, then they mop the floor, then they brush the toilets on the inside and the outside and then they use Jif Everlasting Mist to make it smell nice. They clean the toilets after school when everyone has gone."

Together Marilyn and her students began to develop a brief for improvements to the toilets.

"Cleaner toilets, teach children how to use them properly, and our toilets should look, feel and smell nice."

Hukanui
Teachers and parents wanted the school toilets refurbished.
The parents complained the toilets smelled.
Teachers said the paint is dark.
Teachers said the kids should have a mirror.
Teachers said we need signs on the toilets.

I think children should decide what to do not just adults because it is our toilets and we can make our toilets suitable to use and bright."
"I think that the kids who use the toilet should decide because if the teachers decide the kids won't look after them."

The students found there were no regulations governing school toilet hygiene so they decided to talk to the School Health Nurse about good hygiene practices.

"Today Chris, our school nurse came to talk about hygiene. Chris showed us a video about hygiene and germs. Hygiene means to keep things clean. I know soap and liquid soap are different. I think we should use soap liquid because it is much more hygienic and better to use."

"Today Chris, our school nurse talked to us about hygiene and she told us how to wipe our bottoms properly and wash our hands properly. I know that when we have used the toilet we have to wash our hands. We have to get our nails and rub them against our palms to clean our nails and rub our left palm to the right palm. Our toilets have to be clean by flushing the toilet and we need to get liquid soap because germs go on the soap blocks. We have to do poos and wees in the toilet not on the seat. Hygienic toilets are so important because germs could go everywhere and make diseases and germs get on your food. I think we can get some liquid soap instead of blocks of soap and we can get a new towel and we can replace the toilet paper more times through the day."

Delivery – part two

Lunchtime visits were undertaken to build students' knowledge of high use toilets in the community.
What makes them nice to use?
Do they have problems similar to us?
How do they deal with the problem?

Groups of students visited Pak'n'Save, Pataka and Corinna School and compiled a list of user-friendly features worth considering.

Carolyn Atkinson, Resene's Rainbow Lady, visited and explained use of colour, colour and its affect on people's well-being and colour 'tricks' such as every bright colour needs a dull colour to offset it.

Adair, a local mural artist, paints on public buildings including toilets, to make places beautiful for people.

"This is Adair drawing her middle lines. Before she draws her picture she has to draw the lines. She has drawn a little box with a little fish but now she has enlarged her box and she will enlarge her fish."	"Adair is explaining when she started painting murals. She started painting murals when she was at school. Her ten friends helped paint every mural she painted until she was 20 years old. Then she started painting murals as a job."
Observation recording sheet for visits to high use toilets	This is the boys' toilet. They have a dryer. They don't have towels. They have got spare toilet paper rolls. they have got warm water and cold water. They have got a spare toilet. their toilets are cleaner than ours."
"This is a picture of a toilet at Corinna School. This toilet is more user friendly than our one. I like this toilet because it is white, bright and clean. They have toilet paper rolls. We have toilet paper boxes they are hard to use because we might pull out too much. They have got spare toilet paper rolls. I think we should have spare toilet paper."	"This is one of the tile patterns at Pataka. Little school kids have drawn their faces on the tiles and stuck them on a wall outside Pataka. I think we could have tiles inside our school toilets because it would make them look beautiful and easy to clean."
Notes taken voluntarily by a student of Adair's mural-making process. Note-taking was taught through action learning (click each to enlarge).
Brief for the colours group and information about the likes and dislikes of other students .

Students formed groups (girls to deal with the girls' toilets and boys likewise) to address specific aspects of the brief such as:

Colour

This group looked at the colours of the rainbow and how they made them feel then worked out which colours were liked by other students. The students then worked out how many colours they needed. Using the colours that other students liked they developed two colour schemes and surveyed to see which was most popular. The group then drew a colour concept plan. They also designed signs for the toilet doors that reflected their understanding that the colours should be universally understood.
Who can help us? Sophia's dad can help us paint the undercoat and Tania and Amy (parents) will help paint the top coat.

Fittings

This group had to find out the size, cost and source of replacement window glass. Dave from JohnsonDiversey and Phillip from Waiwhetu Distributors talked to the children about the benefits and costs of liquid soap and toilet roll holders with a spare roll. The group measured for tiles behind the basin and beside the boys urinal. They rang Tile Trends Ltd to find out the cost and available sizes. A geometry session resulted from this work.
Who can help us? Tile Trend Ltd with a good price.

Teaching

This group created posters to remind people to wash their hands, a competition for the cleanest toilets and they wrote a song to help children remember to use the toilets hygienically. They painted a pot and planted a flowering plant. They have pictures to laminate and put up.

Who can help us?

Cleaning

This group wrote to the BoT, cleaners and the Principal. They investigated what could be done about the smell. Dave and Phillip said that if the toilets are clean they won't smell.

Who can help us?

Each group had to determine whether they had achieved their part of the brief and whether or not we had met our criteria overall.

Colour

"We chose bright colours that Rimu girls chose because bright colours are beautiful like pink, blue and purple. We drawed a picture of what our toilets would look like. It did meet our criteria of making the toilets look and feel nice"

Fittings

"We think that the Junior Jumbo (JJ) toilet roll holder would be good for us because it would last for a long time and kids would not waste it. It didn't cost anything you only need to buy the toilet rolls. It would be cheaper than buying little toilet rolls. Six JJ toilet rolls cost $53.95. We met the criteria. I feel great about this technology that we have did."

Teaching

"We are going to make signs for the boys to keep the toilets clean. We'll put it on the door. We will teach the children how to keep their toilets clean and more user friendly. We met the criteria. I'm feeling excited because having clean toilets is nice and fresh."

Cleaning

This group wrote to the BoT, cleaners and the Principal. They investigated what could be done about the smell. Dave and Phillip said that if the toilets are clean they won't smell.

Material from all groups was collated into a proposal which was presented by the class to the Chairperson and a member of the BoT, the Principal, and the School Nurse.

The class was invited to take their proposal to the next BoT meeting and since we've found out that several things will be done to make our loos nicer. New vinyl will be put on the floors, a mirror will be put up in each toilet along with a liquid soap dispenser and the JJ toilet roll holders. The children have chosen the colour of the vinyl.

The children are completing posters and mosaic tile door signs and we hope we'll be able to paint the inside of the toilets next term. Tiles have been donated for the signs by Bright Ceramics Ltd.

Comments from the visitors

Carolyn had this to say about her hour and a half visit to Rangikura School.
"What fun! Marilyn Daly had prepared the children with knowledge of the colours in the spectrum and informed them that Rainbow Lady (me) was coming to help them with the GREAT TOILET PROJECT. I'd never had such a great build up before so had a big role to perform. We discussed how colour was most magical in the way it made you feel and what it could do to make ugly or sad places beautiful and happy. I talked about history... How long ago purple was made by crushing little sea creatures and it took millions of them to make enough purple paint and because of this only seriously rich or fabulous people like kings and queens could have it. I talked about feelings... About green being associated with envy... Red with rage... Feeling blue indicated sadness... Black moods referred to depression... I talked about how paint was made... Pigments, liquid driers, extenders, etc. The input from the children was very good as they felt they were able to solve the problems associated with the GREAT TOILET PROJECT. They wished me well and waved me off with loud goodbyes. Since then I have had wonderful artwork/letters sent to me thanking me for my talk. But really it should be me thanking them."

Adair told the students about her process for making a mural. She saw herself as a role model and encouraged the students to have a go. She spent an hour with the students and volunteered to provide expert advice if they decided to paint a mural. Adair felt that her visit was an acknowledgement of her skill and she enjoyed the opportunity to share her knowledge with the students. Marilyn too, learned from Adair expertise in this area. Adair hopes she energised and inspired the students about what can be done with colour and creativity.

Phillip explained the function and benefits of a new toilet roll holder to the students. He highlighted the importance of not wasting toilet paper in terms of both cost and environmental impact. Phillip feels the work the students were doing was good preparation for the outside world and he thought Marilyn was very professional and "had done her homework". Phillip doesn't usually have time for visits to schools but he saw this visit as an opportunity to get a little extra business and as a good will gesture to Rangikura School, which is a client. He said that the experience was interesting and that he enjoyed it.

Dave talked generally about the effect of different smells on people's perceptions of a toilet's cleanliness. He also talked about cleaning and the students likes and dislikes about using their toilets, and emphasised the student's role in keeping the toilets clean. During the hour Dave was in the classroom he showed the students a soap dispenser and explained the benefits of it, and was very impressed with how interested they were. Being asked to be involved was a "fairly unique request" and not something Dave would have time to repeat but he wanted to help, and Marilyn had seemed well prepared and certain about how her students would benefit from his visit.

Outcome

This unit was initiated through class discussion following a lunchtime problem with the toilets. When given the opportunity to express opinions about their school toilets it was clear that the students were less than impressed, several students (boys and girls) never used them.

This provided an excellent opportunity to gather data about the problems, research how public places provided user friendly facilities, talk to people and make decisions on what was possible for us to do. We wanted our students to take some ownership, responsibility and interest in their environment so they could effect change.

The students were focussed and interested as this problem affected everyone. Through data gathering it became clear that over use at certain times was a problem and this led to the discovery that there were not enough toilets for the number of users. It was evident that some users were careless and would need a reminder about correct use and that our toilets were not cleaned to an acceptable standard. The data indicated that the toilets were dull, cold and didn't feel or smell nice.

I realised we were involving ourselves in some very sensitive issues as this was an area completely overlooked by adults – a 'grey area' for responsibility. It became evident that since Tomorrows Schools there are no school toilet hygiene regulations, only building regulations. It is over to the school or in some cases local council regulations include schools. We had no specific policy for user-friendly toilets.

It was important to inform parents, cleaners, the Principal and the rest of the school that we would be investigating problems and needs. Parents and cleaners were supportive but teaching peers thought our Syndicate had finally 'lost it' until results of data showed the problems we were uncovering. Other students were interested and realised that even though we were a junior syndicate we were really serious about our task.

We needed to build knowledge about this most important but 'not spoken' about place and were greeted by sideways glances as we arranged visits to high user toilets in Porirua. The visits were taken by the three Rimu teachers each lunchtime for a week. A carload of students was the only way to make quick focussed visits, and twenty of my students made visits which included taking notes, photos, asking questions, oral sharing back at school and writing thank yous. Speakers and visits were invaluable in building students' background knowledge and providing them with a basis for making informed decisions. As the students were gathering knowledge they were building ideas for the changes they saw as necessary for our toilets. The case study material available on the Techlink website was very useful especially Spoon Biscookies which made it easy for the students to learn about the development of a brief and a conceptual statement. We focussed on brief development in this unit but the case study could as easily be used for planning for practice or outcome and development.

This technology unit incorporated all areas of learning so this meant we could pack the mornings with related reading, maths, interviews, etc. Learning in other curriculum areas was seen to be useful by the students.

Our goal was to provide the stakeholders with all the information necessary for them to see the importance of this study and to make a decision to help us make and have user-friendly hygienic toilets at school. The children's behaviours have changed, they are aware of their role in making the loos nicer. The cleaners are now more aware of the children's needs and expectations. However a number of the physical changes we would like to have made have not been undertaken due to school budget constraints and what would seem a lack of recognition by the BoT of the impact the school environment has on students and the positive contribution they can make to improve their surroundings at any age.

This was an excellent unit. It involved students in technological practice and engaged them in solving a problem relevant to them.

The last word...

"I learned from technology that technology is something that you think of and make it grow and grow intill it is too big for your head."
"I've learned that technology helps you like it helped us with our nicer loos and we learnt about colour and about other people's jobs and murals."
"I learnt that technology is about collecting data. Technology is work and its about briefs and criteria. We had to read regulations to the stakeholders."
"I learnt that technology can be making things better and it can be making space rockets and micro chips but for us it was about making our toilets nicer."
"I feel happy because we are going to teach the kids to use the toilets properly and we're going to paint the loos and it will be cleaner to use."

Mosaic signs for the outside the toilets

A sample record card for one of the Year 3 students involved in this unit.

Reporting about our toilets

"We have good news. Rimu toilets have been painted last weekend by Sophia's Dad. He volunteered to paint our toilets so they are nice for us to use.

The girls toilets have sparkly purple and pink walls with dark pink lipstick coloured doors. They are so beautiful, like a butterflies wings and glittery too. The boys colours are sparkly silver and blue walls with bright orange toilet doors.

When we walked in we were amazed. It was beautiful and shiney. It was light, bright and colourful. Our toilets are the best. We feel so much better and will use them now because they are user friendly. They look nice, smell nice and feel nice.

We are not going to do silly things in Rimu toilets again. The cleaners like how we use the toilets now.

We are proud because our toilets are not dark, dirty or yukky. The blue vinyl is coming in the holidays, so are the mirrors and we have made made beautiful mosaic tiled signs for outside so we know which is the girls and boys."

From Jamal, age 8 and Sophia, age 8

Rimu Toilet Report

"On the 23 and 24 September Sophia's Dad painted Rimu toilets. Sophia, her Mum and her brother Jack helped too.

When I first saw the girls toilets I was speechless, it was so glorious. It looked fun and ultra cool and beautiful. The colours are colourful and sparkly. It was so amazing and now we are happy to use the toilet anytime!

We have achieved our technology goal. We have been telling people what we are doing and asking experts for help."

By Helanya, age 8

Report for Techlink – 7 November

"Rimu Syndicate are so proud of their technology that has made Rimu toilets user friendly and hygienic. We decided to organise an opening to celebrate this work and had to plan what we were going to have at our opening and what we were going to do. We decided to have songs, speeches and a feast. We made a guest list and designed invitations. We had to arrange what to do first and list it on paper then we had to practise the ceremony.

"At the opening we had a welcome speech and then we sang Rangikura e. We had a speech to thank all of the Experts who helped us achieve our technology. After we did our speeches to the helpers Petrina introduced Chris to come up and cut the ribbon going across the girls' and the boys' toilets. After that the boys stood up and Semisis and Leni led the haka. When we finished the haka, the Samoan boys did their dance. When the Samoan group had finished the Cook Island group danced, then the Tokelau group did their dance. It was really fun because all of us performed in front of our guests. When the Tokelau group finished we showed our guests the toilets. After the ceremony we had karakias from Jack, Meri, and Petrina and our guests and all of us had some kai. Everyone enjoyed our celebration and best of all the toilets smell nice, look nice, and feel nice to use every day. We know we have made a difference for all the children in Rimu Syndicate."

From all of us in Rimu Syndicate