💻 E-Waste and Secondary School Programs

July 2025

In this newsletter... 

The month's theme is e-waste and secondary school programs.

  • Presenting three “Notes from the Field” – centering educators going after e-waste 

  • Featuring new Library resources

  • Announcing repair events around the globe

Elizabeth Chamberlain, Director of Sustainability of iFixit, and an Oakland Tech Repair Student, Right to Repair Independence Day, 2024. Image credit: Ben Lohrentz

💻 E-Waste and Secondary School Programs

A few standout school programs are going after e-waste through hands-on repair education. These initiatives equip students with life-long skills, provide communities with lower-cost access to technology, ease the burden on school IT departments, and save schools money. 

When we empower students to fix what’s broken, we’re not just teaching practical skills, we’re nurturing agency, critical thinking, and the ability to see beyond what may seemingly be “broken”.


Last month, we introduced Notes from the Field, a series of essays from educators and repair advocates who put repair at the heart of their teaching and organizing.

These accounts offer insights into teaching repair in real-world contexts – from classrooms and makerspaces to libraries, community centers, and other educational settings. 

This month we hear from repair educators and advocates about how teaching hands-on tech repair is a key strategy to reduce e-waste in schools and communities.

Julie York: Riot Refurb

Julie describes the origins and growth of the terrific Riot Refurb program. High school students refurbish and repair scavenged obsolete and broken devices — addressing e-waste, technology equity, technical and workplace training, and more.

Samuel Berg: District-wide Chromebook Repair 

Sam relates how Oakland Unified School District student interns have repaired some 10,000 Chromebooks over the last five years. They’ve learned technical skills, earned industry certification, gained workplace skills, and saved the school district $2.4 million along the way.

iFixit EDU

The iFixit Education Team reminds us that teaching our youth about repair is a critical strategy for advancing repair. iFixit leverages its considerable resources to support K-12 educators and runs a robust Technical Writing Program for university students.

 

Featured Resources!

The Educator Resource Library contains a couple dozen other resources for teaching about e-waste. Head over to the Library, filter on “e-waste”. 

 
 
 

iFixit Educator Resources 
This resource contains links to materials prepared by iFixit and other repair organizations around the world. It offers an excellent orientation to the principal dimensions of repair and its role in blunting the human and environmental crises caused by over-consumption. Also check out iFixit’s “Why we do what we do”.

Riot Refurb 2.0
Riot Refurb’s 2.0 is a much-expanded version of their 2024 guidebook covering how to set up an after-school program to teach students computer repair. 

In addition to instructional support, the guide addresses contextual issues such as e-waste, parts procurement, managing equipment and tools, inclusion, community outreach, and the ethics of repair.

Culture of Repair helped Riot Refurb secure funding for this project.

 

iFixit K-12 Educator Tool Chest 
The K-12 Educator Tool Chest contains a variety of repair-centered lessons and activities. It includes projects, core concepts, lesson plans, standards correlations, etc, making it easy for educators to integrate repair into their curriculum.

Have you used the Educator Resource Library?

Let us know! Your feedback helps us grow and shape the tools we share.

We invite you to suggest additions to the Library or to Notes from the Field. Alternatively, if you need funding to support developing your own resource, check out the Grants page.


International Repair Coverage!

 

Image source: Xavier Lalanne-Tauzia for NYT Wirecutter

 

In June 2025 The New York Times Wirecutter product recommendation service explored appliance durability and repairability. On their website and podcast they reported on why appliances are less repairable and less durable than they used to be, and offered recommendations for purchasing, repairing, and maintaining appliances.

A useful read for repair advocates, particularly regarding the impact of environmental regulation on repairability.

They conclude the article with advice for consumers — suggestions on how to buy, and “Seven Ways to Make Your Appliance Last”. Including our favorite #6:

 “Consider making some repairs yourself.”


Save the date!

International Repair Day

 
 

International Repair Day is an annual global event for everyone who makes repair happen in their communities around the world.

Every October we celebrate the power of repair to bring our communities together, reduce our impact on the planet, teach new skills and so much more. Whether you’re a fixer, community organiser, tinkerer, maker, repair business, campaigner or simply a fan of repair, there are lots of ways to join in.


Fix Fest 2025

We’re excited to share Restart Project’s recent announcement:

FixFest 2025 will be held in London, UK, September 4-7.

It's always a brilliant gathering of repair advocates from around the world. 

See you there!



 

🌎 Repair ~ Environment ~ Education

June 2025

In this newsletter…

  • This month's theme is Repair, the Environment and Education.

  • Introducing “Notes from the Field”, a rich new resource to complement the Educator Resource Library. 

  • Announcing two grants, new resources in the Educator Resource Library, and more!

Mending the Earth

Image Source: "A Stitch in Time", written by Himadri Das and Veena Prasad. Illustration by Ankitha Kini © Pratham Books. (full credit)


Repair ~ Environment ~ Education

“The greenest phone is the one already in your pocket.”

We know this, and we know why.

It's not new news that repair reduces the devastation consumerism wrecks on the Earth. Waste authorities have supported repair initiatives for years. From ReLondon supporting London Repairs and the Restart Project, to Stopwaste supporting Fixit Clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area, to Sustainability Victoria, Australia supporting regional Repair Cafés, to umpteen other examples around the world.

What IS new news is that another public authority is increasingly engaging with repair.

School districts are incorporating repair into their Climate Literacy programs, positioning repair as a core component of environmental education.  

Repair is a powerful teaching tool, and a pillar of environmental care. Integrating repair into education is a no-brainer.


We’re excited to introduce “Notes from the Field”, a new series of posts from educators and repair advocates who are putting repair at the heart of their teaching and organizing.

These accounts offer insights into what it looks like to teach repair in real-world contexts – from classrooms and makerspaces, to libraries, community centers, and beyond. We invite you to dive in, get inspired, and share your thoughts.

This month we will hear from three California, USA educators about how teaching about repair is a key strategy for implementing their visions of educating students about the environment.

Gloria Harwood, Laguna Beach Unified School District's Coordinator of Environmental Literacy 

Gloria writes about hosting Fix It Fests during STEAM class, integrating repair with environmental issues through research, instructional, and hands-on learning, supported by community volunteers.

Ellen McClure, Berkeley Unified School District's Climate Literacy Coordinator 

Ellen writes about a two-part program integrating repair into the middle-school STEM / Makerspace curriculum and hosting community repair events. 

Emily Wanous, Engagement Director for Algalita Marine Research and Education

Algalita’s mission is to eliminate plastic pollution through education and research. Emily writes about how the organization has integrated repair into their in-class and afterschool programming.

Go to “Notes from the Field” to learn about why and how these educators are introducing repair into their respective programs. 

Each month going forward you'll hear from other people doing fantastic work with repair in educational settings. Check back regularly to learn about their visions, strategies and tactics. It's super informative and inspiring.

Know someone who’s championing repair education in your community?
We’re actively seeking contributors, including community repair advocates, whose work centers integrating repair into educational programs and core curricula, and into climate action through teaching repair to our youth.


New Grants!

The first is to Berkeley Unified School District’s Climate Literacy Initiative and Middle School Makerspace Program. The grant will support extending last year’s 7th grade program to 8th grade classes, hosting community repair events, and publishing teaching resources. Learn more in Ellen McClure’s Note.

The second supports Algalita Marine Research and Education. The organization will bring repair into schools and publish teaching resources in the 2025/2026 academic year. This initiative includes understanding repair within social and economic contexts, hands-on learning, and students reflecting on the implications of their actions on the environment. Learn more in Emily Wanous’s Note.


New Resources!

"A Stitch In Time"

Volunteers from Repair Café Collective India and Repair Café Bangalore Foundation created and illustrated this storybook for 9 - 11 year-old children, focused on the values of repair and reuse.

“A Stitch In Time”, published and made freely available by Pratham Books, is an excellent example of how repair can be integrated into core curriculum.

"Mend Don’t Spend" Teen Mending Workshop

Rediscover Center designed this teen-focused mending and clothing mods workshop for use by libraries, schools, community centers and similar organizations. The workshop draws on young people’s love of fashion, creativity, and self-expression to get them excited about sewing and mending, and engaged with sustainability. “Mend Don’t Spend”

The Culture of Repair supported securing funding for this project.

Illustration by Ankitha Kini © Pratham Books. (Full credit)

Have you used the Repair Educator Resource Library?

Let us know! Your stories and feedback help us grow and shape the tools we share.

We invite you to let us know about candidate additions to the Library. Alternatively, if you need funding to support developing your own resource, check out the Grants page.


Save the date!

We’re excited to share the Restart Project’s recent announcement:

FixFest 2025 will be held in London, UK, September 4-7!

It's always a brilliant gathering of repair advocates from around the world. 


Join the mailing list here



 

Repair Is a Powerful Teaching Tool

May 2025

Graphic designed by Hunter Irvin 

Repair Is a Powerful Teaching Tool!

Repair offers opportunities for students to approach what's broken, dig into and understand what it’s made of and how it works, find a point and mode of intervention, and put it into working order. Repair becomes an experiential model for addressing what's not working, regardless of scale.

When we fix something, repairing becomes a metaphor for everything we hope education can be: relevant, rooted, rigorous, and restorative. 

Repair offers a wide range of thinking skills and requires learning subject content central to the goals of education: 

 

Critical Thinking skills
Problem-solving, design thinking, reflection, systems thinking
Hands-on Skills
Tool use, technical literacy, design and engineering practices, applied learning, restorative practices

Across subjects
Interdisciplinary learning, STEAM,
ecology, civics, physics

Personal development
Social Emotional Learning (SEL), resilience, adaptability, civic responsibility, agency

Images from Berkeley High School Climate Day, California, April 2025

Visit our Education Program Overview page to consider more deeply the educational possibilities inherent in repair.


A More Robust Educator Resource Library!

We're excited to announce that the Culture of Repair Educator Resource Library has been overhauled and expanded to provide even more (mostly) free tools for teaching about repair in primary and secondary educational settings.

Expanded and Searchable

We’ve made the Library easier to navigate with a new filtering tool to let you search by content topic and by type of resource.  

And we’ve added not only more curriculum and lesson plans, but also a broader range of resources – like videos, visual aids, worksheets, and online interactive activities.

Most resources are free and open access, and everything is designed to be flexible across learning environments. We invite you to reach out to let us know if there is something we should add to the library. Or, if you want to create sharable resources and need funding, check out our Grants Program.


Featured Resource

Ten one-hour lesson plans link multiple subject areas to the concept of repair in this downloadable education pack. Designed to align with the English Primary National Curriculum, the resource encourages practical, hands-on learning, making it a versatile resource that can be adapted for use anywhere.

Lesson plans are augmented with supplementary resources and illustrations of how to associate lessons with other school initiatives (e.g., hosting a community repair event, a climate action or robotics club, etc.).

Lesson plans developed by Malvern Hills Repair Cafe.


Have you used the Repair Educator Resource Library?

Let us know! Your stories and feedback help us grow and shape the tools we share. 


Join the mailing list here



Check out our previous newsletters

Teaching Repair in Makerspace Class and Fix-It Fests in Berkeley, California

Teaching Repair in Makerspace Class and Fix-It Fests in Berkeley, California

The newsletter announces Berkeley Unified School District’s Fix-It Fest at Longfellow Middle School, Berkeley, California USA. The community repair event is linked to a week-long, in-class repair education module.

Also features four animated videos about repair, and “Buy Now”, a Netflix documentary on the environmental impact of consumerism. Featuring Kyle Wiens of iFixit.

November 2024 Newsletter

November 2024 Newsletter

The newsletter announces Berkeley Unified School District’s Fix-It Fest at King Middle School, Berkeley, California USA. The community repair event is linked to a week-long, in-class repair education module.

Also features Restart at School, the Restart Project’s educational program for secondary schools.

October 2024 Newsletter

The newsletter announces new additions to the Educator Resource Library from:

  • Repair Store and the High School of Fashion Industry

  • Riot Refurb

  • WNC Repair Cafe

  • Alfond Youth and Community Center

Also announces International Repair Day, and guidance for filing complaints in the US about non-compliance with new Right to Repair laws.

May 2024 Newsletter

The newsletter announces new grantees:

  • Berkeley Unified School District Climate Literacy Initiative and Makerspace

  • Barnard College’s “STEAM in the City”

  • SCRAP

  • Rensselaer Repair Café, the Robert C. Parker School and Woodland Hill Montessori School

  • Rediscover Center

  • Randall Museum

Also features resources published by Repair What You Wear, and offers a link to an essay about repair by the former CEO of Patagonia .