Trash Travels

Talking Trash and Taking Action.
Unit 1 of Talking Trash and Taking Action

Students will draw connections between land-based debris and its travel to the ocean through exploration and understanding of watersheds. Through these activities, students will:

  • Use watershed maps to trace the path of trash from chosen locations through the watershed to the ocean
  • Begin to explore the way trash travels through the ocean using currents and how currents and gyres interact with marine life as well as marine debris
  • Make guesses about current flow using a world map
  • Observe or create their own demonstration of how marine debris encounters gyres using cereal or other floating items.

Talking Trash and Taking Action was developed as a means to educate the next generation about ocean trash and, most importantly, how we all can prevent it. Created through an educational partnership between Ocean Conservancy and the NOAA Marine Debris Program, this flexible curriculum is appropriate for all ages.

Lesson Plans
Trash Travels (Exploring Ocean Trash)
Education Tags:
Marine Debris Topics:  
• Types and Sources  
• Garbage Patches  
Audience:  
• Grade 3-5  
• Grade 6-8  
• Grade 9-12  
• Informal  
Subject:  
• Social Studies  
• Earth Science  
Special Categories:  
• Class Discussion  
• Multimedia  
• Virtual Learning Ready  
• Models  
NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas:  
• ESS2: Earth’s Systems  

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

Last updated Thu, 05/16/2024 - 12:04 pm EDT