The "Hong Kong Visual Arts Curriculum Guide," covering Primary 1 to Secondary 3 grades (Curriculum Development Committee, 2003), points to three domains of learning in visual arts: (1) visual arts knowledge; (2) visual arts appreciation and criticism; and (3) visual arts making. The "Guide" suggests learning should develop students' generic skills, such as communication, creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving, and teachers should change from being transmitters of knowledge to being facilitators, and helping students become active learners. One of the teaching approaches suggested in the curriculum guide is inquiry-based learning, which encourages students to explore materials for visual arts appreciation and artmaking, and helps them to be aware of and sensitive to their surroundings. This article presents a three-lesson unit focusing on environmental pollution that the four student teachers at the Hong Kong Institute of Education used to develop the drawing and design skills, awareness of environmental issues, and communication skills of the primary (elementary) school students they were working with. The plastic bag was chosen as a lesson topic because pollution is a familiar issue for primary school students. The first lesson focused on the awareness of environmental issues; the second focused on drawing and design knowledge; the third focused on how to use text and images to communicate ideas and feelings.