Abstract:

Since the mid fifties of the last century the object has been used as a motive by different artistic movements. Contemporaneously, they have developed its concept and the idea of giving semiotic and aesthetic sense to what formerly was just an artefact. Nowadays, plastic artists' creativity and the awakening of society about pollution have favoured the use of waste materials in the fields of architecture, industrial design and fine arts.

From the point of view of pre-university studies, we intend to put into practice a project in which different aspects will be reflected:

First of all, making our students aware of the problems caused in industrialised societies by large quantities of waste and the way it is disposed of.

Secondly, the nearly compulsory necessity of integrating within the syllabus of the Bachillerato subject Educación Plástica y Visual (Design) the environmental education as an across-the-curricula content, as waste or recycled materials are often used amongst the diversity of typical materials, procedures and techniques.

Amongst all the possible waste materials that might be found around us, paper has been given greater attention because:

• The knowledge and manipulation of paper allows us to look at novel horizons to solve practical design problems in a more effective, aesthetic and creative way, both on a two-dimensional and three-dimensional level.

• The use of recycled paper in the proposed projects makes our students aware of the importance of recycling and environmental education, changing our society for the better.

In short, the project development is based on two premises:

• On the one hand, the necessity of experiencing with paper as raw material to generate designs.
• On the other hand, encouragement of environmental conscience and recycling habits in teenage education.

The developed activities aim basically at satisfying a didactic obligation. Throughout the project concrete experiences have been carried out by ESO (lower secondary school) and Bachillerato (upper secondary school). Therefore, they are adapted to the syllabus dictated by our educational authorities, as well as to the so-called across-the-curricula contents.

The project results become evident in products, structures and objectual or non-objectual systems. The creation of previously non-existing products –this is why they are innovative–, requires a complex set of mental activities: analysing, describing, observing, checking, explaining, and concluding; all of which imply an intellectual process.

So, the stages of the projecting process are:
• Information searching and investigation.
• Analysis.
• Synthesis.
• Evaluation.

The proposed project allows the hands-on use of the most usual concepts and terms in the field of visual communication and, more specifically, design.
The developed activities imply the search of effective, aesthetic and creative solutions, both on the two-dimensional and three-dimensional levels.

All in all, deeper knowledge of paper has been encouraged, either as a working material in different aspects of design or as generator of practical solutions in various disciplines.

The use of recycled paper serves to make students aware of environmental problems, which has a positive impact on today's society.