In time for half-term here in the UK, we’re launching an online experience for 8-12 year olds (and anybody older too!) that allows people to dive into the full lifecycle of the device we spend so much time on.
Materials Matter is an educational site allowing you to explore the life of your smartphone.
Your phone is with you for a few years of your life. But it has already experienced a lot before it reaches you. And after you stop using it, your phone’s story is far from over. Join us to explore the secret life of your phone!
The lifecycle of your phone has big impacts on the planet. Your phone contains raw materials – the minerals and metals inside. But where do these raw materials come from? And what happens when you recycle your phone?
We developed this website with support from EIT Raw Materials together with partners of the Replay Project, including a number of museums across Europe.
Original artwork is by Rod Hunt (©), animation and development by John Rowley.
Version for museums
In addition to the site optimised for tablets and computers, we’ve created a version for use in museums. We hope that when partner museums — Heureka (Vantaa, Finland), Muse (Trento, Italy), and Museon (The Hague, Netherlands) — reopen they are able engage visitors with the experience on bigger screens. We’ve created a special version of the experience for museum use: please get in touch if you’d like to learn more for your museum.
Opportunities for classrooms
In past, we’ve led educational activities using these materials and we have ideas about how we can bring this online experience to a classroom setting. Educators, please get in touch if you’d like to invite us into your classroom (remotely).