Circular economy in the classroom: lesson with Beatrix Praeceptor
Beatrix Praeceptor, CEO Greiner Packaging, teaches a lesson at MS5 in Wels for one day as a "guest fellow" of Teach For Austria.
On February 28, 2024 Beatrix Praeceptor, CEO Greiner Packaging, changed her place of work for a day as a “guest fellow” of Teach For Austria and held a school lesson at MS5 in Wels, Upper Austria. In this article, we reveal what she passed on to the students there.
Beatrix Praeceptor has been a member of the Teach For Austria advisory board since 2024 and was now taking on the role of a teacher for the first time, which was a personal matter for her: “This school visit is very important to me because I am convinced that we need to promote the talents of tomorrow and show them prospects.” After a brief introduction to her as a person, the quiz got right to the heart of the topic of plastics and the circular economy. Over the course of the lesson, numerous myths were addressed and questions answered. Why is waste separation so important? How do we separate waste correctly? What is recycling and what happens there? What does “Reuse, Reduce, Recycle” mean?
The students were also able to use the app Digi-Cycle and the plastic containers they brought along to find out how artificial intelligence can help us to separate plastics correctly. With the help of a video, Beatrix Praeceptor showed how AI is used in a waste incineration center to make sense of the different plastics.
During the lesson, the young people took the opportunity to ask many questions about the circular economy and job opportunities in the plastics industry. At the end of the lesson, the students received a small gift in the form of a filled snack box, which they were particularly pleased with.
Beatrix Praeceptor was also available to answer the students’ questions at the end of the lesson. The girls in particular took this opportunity to get to know a female CEO.
Greiner has been a Teach For Austria partner since the 2016/17 school year. The lesson with Beatrix Praeceptor took place as part of the Teach For Austria weeks. During this period, top executives teach children with difficult starting conditions about rapid changes in the world of learning and work.