Large group of students on a grassy slope.

After the Survey: Entering Data and Reflecting on the Experience

Entering the Data 

Two students sit at a lab table entering data into the MDMAP database on a computer.
Enter your data online at https://mdmap.orr.noaa.gov/ (Credit: Denise Harrington).

The final step to successfully participating in MDMAP is entering your data into the MDMAP database. Your class only needs one account to enter data, and data should only be entered once for each survey you complete (you will be able to enter data for each transect within one survey page). Data should be entered online into the MDMAP database after creating an account. This website also contains data visualization and exploration tools! For detailed instructions, visit the Monitoring Toolbox. If you have not already, it may be helpful to watch MDMAP Training Video 4: Categorizing Debris and Uploading Data before entering your data into the database. Discussion questions for all of the MDMAP training videos are also available.

How to Prepare Your Data

Back in the classroom, have students organize their data sheets by tallying the final count of each item they collected. You can work together as a class to enter the data for each transect, using the final tally of each item from each student’s datasheet. After the Survey Coversheet information is entered, each transect group will begin by “adding a new transect” and filling out the online form with what they have on their transect sheet. The questions and data entered should match what’s on their transect sheet. Continue adding a “new transect” until all transect sheets have been entered. Double check for any data errors and then hit submit. If you missed any part of the form, you will be alerted of the error in red and unable to submit until the error is fixed.

Teacher Tip: Alternatively, you may want to create a rotation of stations for students to work through, with one station for data entry. An educator or student leader could log in with the class account and guide the group through entering data from the Survey Coversheet, then each student group could use the same computer and account to enter the data from their transect. Additional stations could include: 

  • Reviewing and checking the Transect Survey Form.
  • Creating graphs or other visualizations of each group’s data (see “Using the Data” below for more ideas on visualizations).
  • Researching one of the debris items found to better understand its potential source and life cycle.
  • Identifying ideas for how to prevent one or more of the debris items found.
  • Writing a short paragraph describing the journey of one or more pieces of debris found.
  • Role play interviewing for a job where students describe their work as a marine debris surveyor.

Is there an additional item not found in the database that you think should be monitored in your area? Participants can use custom items that were created by others using a drop-down menu during data entry or, if necessary, request creation of a new custom item by contacting md.monitoring@noaa.gov. To add a custom item to track at your site, list it on the datasheet in the “Custom” section. Once a custom item has been added to a survey transect during data entry, it will appear by default in the database debris list for all future transects at that site. 

A series of three images with text reading "yellow rope snippets," "hagfish/conger eel trap cones," and "fireworks."
Custom items are subcategories of the standard material and item types listed in this guide, such as Plastic - Rope and nets (left), Plastic - Other (middle), and Processed Wood - Paper and cardboard (right) (Credit: NOAA).

After data are entered into the MDMAP database, they are reviewed by a NOAA Marine Debris Program staff member. During this review, we check to make sure that data were collected following the MDMAP protocol, and look for any issues with debris categorization, feedback provided, etc. During this process, NOAA Marine Debris Program staff may reach out to survey team members for clarification, as needed. Once any issues are resolved, data will be marked as “verified” and published for public access. Unverified data can only be viewed by site participants and administrators.

Using the Data

The data you collect through MDMAP surveys can benefit scientists and policymakers, but it can also be an excellent tool for your curriculum. There are many ways you can incorporate data analysis, visualization, and use in your classroom. You are the expert on your students, standards, and curriculum, but we have a few suggested activities that are appropriate for students of various ages. 

Data Analysis

By reviewing the survey data, students can identify and answer questions about debris accumulation in your area. Depending on what kinds of debris you find, or the area in which you’re working, you may prompt them with some of the following questions.

Discussion Starters - Data Analysis
Discuss the types and sources of the items you found.
  • What type/item of debris did we find the most? Why might that be? 
  • Where do we think these items came from? Are there any items that we could find in the classroom, or in our homes?
Discuss the possible impacts of the items you found.
  • What impacts will this debris have on the environment? 
  • Which items/types of debris will have the greatest impact and why? 
  • What species, habitats, or communities could experience the greatest impacts from the types/items of debris you found?
Discuss how you can solve the specific problems presented by the debris in your survey.
  • Can we think of any ways to prevent this item from becoming debris in the future? 
  • Are there any policies or practices in place in our community that should have prevented this item from becoming debris?
If you conduct multiple surveys over a long period of time, you can also discuss changes in your data.
  • What could be some potential causes of these changes? 
  • Can we make any predictions about future surveys based on these trends? Why or why not? 
Revisit the driving questions that you used to select your survey site.
  • Were you able to answer any of the questions you asked while planning using your data? If not, why not? 
  • Do you have any new questions to add or change based on the data you collected?

Your data isn’t limited to one school subject, either! Bring your analysis into math by having students use the data to ask and answer word problems centered around topics or standards you are working on. Older students can also calculate standard deviation and conduct other statistical analyses. Practice Language Arts skills by writing informational or persuasive articles for school or local publications about the issue of marine debris, using your survey data as evidence to support their claims. Students can also write creative stories about a piece of debris and its journey to your survey site, or about the experience of a marine creature or beachgoer that encounters that piece of debris in their environment.

Donut diagram representing types of marine debris collected.
Donut diagrams help visualize the material and item types found for a specific survey, site, or group of sites. This diagram represents all surveys as of July 2024 (Credit: NOAA).
Visualizations

Whether your students are learning about bar, line, or pie charts, you can use your debris data to practice their skills. Some students may be practicing creating hand-drawn charts, while other students can download their data into an Excel or other spreadsheet. 

The MDMAP database automatically creates donut diagrams to represent data. These are dynamic, modified pie charts that can break down multiple levels of data according to material type and item. Have students create their own debris breakdown based on the materials found in your survey! 

Students may be interested in taking their data visualizations beyond charts and graphs. To follow up on your initial practice, you can assign students with creating marine debris data infographics. These posters can help raise awareness about debris issues in your area, while practicing science communication and creative skills.

Taking Action

Now that you’ve collected and analyzed data about the marine debris issue in your area, it’s time to use that data to make a difference. 

The student-centered pedagogy behind project-based learning is a perfect complement to solutions-oriented education about marine debris. After completing surveys to answer questions about concentrations and types of debris in their area, students can easily identify and connect the issue to their own habits and communities. Providing authentic, disciplinary, collaborative, and iterative project opportunities in the classroom will deepen students’ engagement with the material and help them create lasting change in our environment.

Discussion Starters - Project Brainstorming

Discuss the key problems caused by the debris you found in your survey: 
  • Were there any debris items or types that you found more than others? What impacts could that debris have on the environment or humans in your community? 
  • Where could this debris be coming from? Why could it have ended up in your survey site? 
Discuss possible solutions to the problems identified:
  • What are possible solutions to these debris problems? What are the barriers to those solutions? 
  • Who are the key audiences for implementing these solutions? Who do we need to share our ideas with? 
  • What is the best method for these solutions? Raising awareness? Engineering? Policy? Something else? 

There’s no limit to the kinds of projects that MDMAP surveys can inspire. Here are a few examples: 

  • A community with high amounts of plastic bag debris might work with local grocers on a “Bring Your Bag” campaign, providing prizes or discounts to shoppers who bring reusable bags to the store. 
  • A community with significant stormwater debris might work on an engineering challenge to create a trash trap that keeps debris from entering larger waterways. 
  • A student group who is passionate about digital media or film-making could use their data in a public service announcement campaign, filming their own videos and sharing them on social media to inspire behavior change. 
  • Artistic student groups can use repurposed marine debris or other materials to create an engaging and informative display sculpture aimed at solving a problem related to marine debris in the community.  

The most effective project-based learning units will provide students with an opportunity to combine 21st-century problem-solving and critical thinking skills with disciplinary content they have learned about the issue to make an impact on the environment. We’ve suggested a few potential curricular approaches and projects below, but the best kind of project-based learning experience is the one that resonates with your students’ lives. Letting the student-driven data analysis drive project design and implementation increases engagement and makes for more effective efforts! 

Capacity-Building Support and Resources for Project-Based Learning Units

The NOAA Marine Debris Program supports projects across the country that use outreach and education as a way to prevent marine debris. These projects aim to change behavior, especially among youth, and provide them with hands-on experiences that deepen their understanding of the marine debris problem. The NOAA Marine Debris Program maintains a library of helpful resources and references available for educators to use for free. We have compiled a few of those resources below for inspiration and reference in creating authentic, meaningful student projects after conducting MDMAP surveys. 

Interrupt the Path of Debris

Is there a unique or specific item you found during your survey? Students in Oregon and elsewhere have noticed high concentrations of unusual items, such as yellow rope, plastic shotgun wads, or balloons. Oregon Sea Grant, supported by funding from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, created a set of lesson plans that each focus on one particular item of marine debris and try to learn about the item's story in order to interrupt its path into the environment. Using your MDMAP survey data, you can use or adapt these 5E lessons to identify items of concern in your area. Projects created through the Marine Debris Interruptions lessons can span a number of topic areas, including engineering, behavior change, and public policy. 

Engineering for Change

Engineering is one of the most popular ways to engage students in project-based learning, and it is also one of many ways to generate solutions to the problem of marine debris. Engineers are hard at work creating debris removal, capture, and prevention technologies around the world. Your students can join this vibrant community of problem-solvers! Here are some examples of projects and activities developed with the support of NOAA and the Marine Debris Program that incorporate engineering as a solution to marine debris issues: 

Name
Resource Type and Audience
Description
Lesson Plan, Grades K-12
This lesson plays on students’ creativity by asking them to design a machine that collects debris in the ocean without impacting wildlife.
Lesson Plan, Grade 5-8
Students will explore the concept of packaging, both what it has been and what it is. Then they will consider how modern packaging is affecting the environment and what they can do about it.
Lesson Plan, Grades 6-12
In this activity, students will learn about the design and management of trash capture technologies that have been installed in watersheds across the country. Students will then design a trash capture device that could be installed in their community.
Lesson Plan, Grades 6-12
Students will apply their acquired knowledge of different types of plastic and learn about which items are recyclable in their community. Students will take this new knowledge and creatively think of alternative items that could be used or invent new items to serve the same purpose to reduce the amount of plastic items that enter the waste stream.
Campaigns and Public Service Announcements

Sharing information is a great way to assess and activate learning about any topic, particularly environmental issues. After learning about marine debris, surveying your site, and analyzing their data, students can create messaging campaigns to educate and persuade others to adopt new behaviors to help reduce marine debris. Here are some examples of projects and activities developed with the support of NOAA and the Marine Debris Program that incorporate marine debris advocacy and messaging: 

Name
Resource Type and Audience
Description
Toolkit, All Ages
This toolkit provides strategies, best practices, and examples of successful, student-driven campaigns to reduce single-use plastics in communities. The materials in this toolkit include educational information about marine debris types, sources, and prevention; suggestions for creating logos and other communication materials; tips and scripts for interacting with restaurants; and templates for letters to community members and organizations to promote student efforts.
Lesson Collection, Grades K-12
“Plastic Pollution and You,” published by New York Sea Grant, is a 15-lesson curriculum focused on marine debris sources, impacts, and solutions. These hands-on lessons and activities help students learn the different types of plastics, their impact on marine and freshwater ecosystems, and about ways to address and prevent plastic pollution. Interdisciplinary elements of this curriculum include policy research and effective outreach and communication strategies.
The Solution to Pollution (An Educator's Guide to Marine Debris)
Lesson Plan, Grades 9-12
After gaining a better understanding of types and volumes of waste discarded in the U.S. and how much of that is recovered, students get into groups and create a Public Service Announcement (PSA) designed to educate the public about single-use plastics and mitigating marine debris. The PSA can be a skit, video or poster.
Talking Trash and Taking Pride (Talking Trash and Taking Action)
Activity, Grades 5-9
Participants will think proactively about marine debris solutions after considering how trash could affect somewhere or something they feel significant pride towards, by creating a catch phrase, poster, flag, or other material that they think would motivate their peers to also have pride in that favorite place, person, or activity.
Communicating for a Clean Future (Turning the Tide on Trash)
Lesson Plan, Grades 8-12
This activity introduces students to the concept of community service and public education as they develop public education materials to raise the school’s or community’s awareness of the marine debris problem. The students will research, write, and create materials to educate the community about marine debris – its sources, impacts, and solutions. Students will share their research by creating a web site, newspaper, podcast, or television show (depending on the resources available at your school). This public education effort can be used in conjunction with an actual community litter cleanup day, a beach cleanup, a storm sewer stenciling activity, or other community event.
Curriculum / Syllabus, College
The From Shore to State House curriculum was the product of a project with the University of Hartford to create an open source, replicable, college-level service learning course to improve knowledge, lead outreach, inform policy, and inspire change on the issue of marine debris. The curriculum guides students to prevent marine debris and develop policy alternatives to discuss with state legislators.
Speak up and State Your Claim (Educator's Guide to Marine Debris in the Southeast and Gulf of America)
Lesson Plan, Grades 6-12
Research-based role-playing activity where students identify and investigate stakeholders on the issue of abandoned and derelict vessels. In assigned/chosen roles, students present their “opinion” on the issue before legislature member roles, debating policies and practices around abandoned and derelict vessels. 
Start a Movement (Taking it to the Streets: Tackling Urban Trash Pollution through Education and Action)Lesson Plan, Grades 8-12Motivate people in your community to help solve the marine debris issue by creating your own behavior change campaign. Students will be able to use behavioral insights and communication strategies to motivate people to help solve the marine debris issue in their community.
Marine Debris Youth Action PlanningLesson Plan, Grades 8-12This 5E lesson plan walks students and communities through identifying key marine debris issues and actions to mitigate them.
Communicating Through Art

With so many things on our plates as educators, it can be challenging to balance disciplinary priorities with content such as art, especially if you aren’t an experienced expert in that field. But art can actually be quite a difference maker in science education, especially on environmental issues. 

  • Art offers multimodal strategies for learners: It’s for everyone. People of all ages and all skill levels can engage in it, and it provides uniquely appropriate opportunities for students who may struggle to communicate or process content in other ways. 
  • Through art, students can make authentic connections to disciplinary material: It allows students to make meaning of scientific concepts in new and different ways. By creating a piece of art related to topics such as marine debris, students can put a bit of themselves and their imagination into the learning, rather than short-term memorization. 
  • In that way, it also builds creative problem-solving skills: Each student is going to approach art differently in order to achieve similar goals, building up pathways to help them solve problems in the future. 
  • It starts discussions: From conversation between students while making art to conversations between individuals seeing the art, it can get people talking, which opens a window to potentially change their behavior in ways that benefit the environment. 
  • While it can be difficult to introduce art when you yourself may not be experienced in it, by embracing the idea that everyone already is an artist, it can support student confidence and creativity rather than searching for the “right” way to do an activity. 

Here are a few examples of art projects to inspire students to consider what they can create following their MDMAP surveys, incorporating what they’ve learned into creative messaging aimed at preventing debris from getting into the environment.

Enter the Annual NOAA Marine Debris Program Art Contest! The NOAA Marine Debris Program holds an annual art contest to reach K-8 students and help raise awareness about marine debris. Marine debris is a global issue and we believe that engaging our youth is an important part of addressing the problem. The resulting calendar, featuring the winning artwork, provides a daily reminder of how important it is for us to be responsible stewards of the ocean. High school students can research other art contests to share their artwork, or can even host a contest of their own. Learn more about supporting students to host their own art contest with the Trash Shouldn’t Splash Toolkit. 

Two halves of a puzzle, one depicting clean seas and one with seas impacted by marine debris, artwork by Trisha G. (Grade 7, Florida), winner of the NOAA Marine Debris Program Art Contest.
Artwork by Trisha G. (Grade 7, Florida), winner of the Annual NOAA Marine Debris Program Art Contest.

Use What You Find: Washed Ashore, with the help of community volunteers, creates large sculptures made of marine debris to add to a traveling exhibit that moves around the country raising awareness about plastic pollution with the goal of sparking changes in consumer habits. Building on this experience educating about marine debris and in partnership with the NOAA Marine Debris Program, Washed Ashore developed an Integrated Arts Marine Debris Curriculum. Through presentations and hands-on classroom activities, the curriculum educates students about marine debris, the language of the arts, and how to create their own mosaic using repurposed marine debris. 

Washed Ashore art project made with marine debris. (Photo credit: Washed Ashore Project)
Washed Ashore art project made with marine debris (Credit: Washed Ashore Project).

Support Stellar Storm Drains: Litter on the street can get washed into storm drains during rain events, eventually ending up in our waterways and ocean. Painting storm drain art can help draw attention to the issue and inspire passers-by to keep trash items from becoming marine debris by throwing them away properly or even picking them up before they end up in the drain. You can learn more about the impact of storm drain murals in this Marine Debris Program blog post. 

Storm drains painted with colorful images.
Storm drain art raising awareness around storm drains that litter on the street can get washed into the ocean in Lynn, MA (Credit: Alyssa Irizarry).
A mural made of bottle caps.
(Credit: Naomi Pollack/NOAA Ocean Guardian School Program)

Coordinate Marine Debris Murals: Help spread the message about marine debris prevention and beautify your school at the same time by getting your students involved in a community art project made out of marine debris! There are lots of ways to go about creating marine debris art, but murals can be a great way to have your class work together and can help make the issue visible to others. For guidance and inspiration on this process, check out the Marine Debris Craft Corner.

A white, plastic garbage can with a green Oscar the Grouch painted on the side.
A decorated “Adopt a Litter” can that was designed by students (Credit: Alice Ferguson Foundation).

 

 

Turn Your Trash (Can) into a Treasure: Opportunities for proper disposal of trash (like trash cans) can help prevent marine debris, and making trash fun can be especially helpful! Students in Prince George’s County, Maryland, deployed “Adopt a Litter” cans at litter hotspots on their school property. They decorated trash cans to bring attention to the proper ways to dispose of waste and prevent it from becoming marine debris. You can learn more about this student-led project through the Alice Ferguson Foundation’s Watershed Leadership Program on the NOAA Marine Debris Program blog. 

 

 

 

Other creative ways to raise awareness and change behavior around marine debris include:  

Create a Trashion Show: Have students design unique outfits made of upcycled materials or recovered debris and invite community members to learn more about the issue of marine debris and how to prevent it. Learn more about projects like this in “Keeping Our Coastlines Clean,” a curriculum for the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Act It Out: Students can also tell the story of marine debris through theatrical arts. Check out “The Play’s the Thing” from Wisconsin Sea Grant, who uses musical theater to engage, educate, and inspire performing artists, students, and community members to be committed stewards of Lake Michigan.

Partner with NOAA: Become Ocean Guardians and Planet Stewards

There are a number of NOAA offices that can provide additional support for your marine debris projects. 

The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Ocean Guardian Schools program supports schools in a number of ways, including through regional funding opportunities. An Ocean Guardian School makes a commitment to the protection and conservation of its local watersheds, the world's ocean, and special ocean areas, such as national marine sanctuaries. The school makes this commitment by proposing and then implementing a school- or community-based conservation project. You can learn more and apply on the Ocean Guardian School website. 

The NOAA Planet Stewards program provides formal and informal educators working with elementary through college-aged students access to opportunities and resources enabling them to build scientifically literate individuals and communities who are prepared to respond to environmental challenges monitored by NOAA. These resources include workshops, webinars, and federal funding opportunities. NOAA Planet Stewards also supports educators’ efforts to implement hands-on action-based projects that conserve, restore, and protect human communities and natural resources from environmental challenges monitored by NOAA. You can learn more and apply at the NOAA Planet Stewards website. 

NOAA is continually updating the opportunities available to students and educators. To learn more about the NOAA Office of Education and other resources, updates, and opportunities, visit the NOAA Education home page. To stay up-to-date on the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s opportunities for educators, including funding opportunities, new resources, and more, subscribe to the Marine Debris Program Education Newsletter. 

 

For citation purposes, unless otherwise noted, this article was authored by the NOAA Marine Debris Program.

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