The Plastics Project Handbook

This handbook offers general guidance and inspiration for informal and formal educators looking to engage youth in participatory forms of environmental science education, research, and action. The primary goals of the handbook are to: 

• Support youth in conducting participatory environmental science education around an environmental justice issue; 
• Provide guiding principles and lab practices for educators interested in taking up community and/or youth participatory science methods; 
• Offer a variety of activities using a set of Guiding Learning Principles that can be modified so youth engage youth in consequential and critical thinking; 
• Emphasize justice-oriented scientific sensemaking and show how this might be taken up through learning. 

Vermilion Sea Institute co-created this handbook with the youth of the Aventureros program, a free year-round youth program located in Bahía de los Ángeles, Mexico, that supports local students ages 7-17 in discovering and caring for the marine and terrestrial worlds around them to grow into the next generation of conservation leaders. With the support of the NOAA Marine Debris Program, Vermilion Sea Institute, and Aventureros have been working to tackle marine debris through innovative, community-designed programs to reduce waste, collect data, and prevent marine debris.