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In this lesson, students will collect debris on their school grounds,“x” number of miles from the ocean and compare the quantity of plastic in the sample with a similar sample at the mouth of the river, where it empties into the ocean. in addition, students will build and deploy marine drifters at a place along the river and retreive them at the mouth of the river, to determine how long it might take a piece of debris to travel to the ocean when it enters at a location near their school. This activity is available for Grades 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12, within the "Sources and Transport" unit.
Oregon Sea Grant at Oregon State University created a comprehensive, web-based, Marine Debris Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math, and Social Studies (STEAMSS) Curriculum with support from the NOAA Marine Debris Program. Marine Debris is a complex, real-world problem which can be addressed through the lenses of several different academic subjects. This curriculum integrates the subject areas of STEAMSS, focusing on experiential hands-on activities for students. The collected teacher-tested resources enable educators to create in-depth, project based learning (PBL) units, work with teaching partners across disciplines, and find classroom and field experiences that will help students explore the issue and impacts of marine debris and engage in stewardship actions. With this curriculum students collect and analyze data, address problems through engineering design, use technology and art to effectively convey stewardship messages, contribute to clean up efforts, and work with community partners. Access the teacher-tested, effective Marine Debris STEAMSS Curriculum here: https://oregoncoaststem.oregonstate.edu/marine-debris-steamss.