Grade K-2

One Cool Earth, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program and Bay Watershed Education and Training program, created a series of standards-aligned lesson plans exploring issues related to marine debris and environmental stewardship.

Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund created this Marine Debris Keiki (Children) Education & Outreach curriculum for grades K-5 as part of a project supported by the NOAA Marine Debris Program.

Designed as a stand-alone teaching tool or to supplement lessons for educators in both formal and informal settings. Appropriate for students grades K-12, with a focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) objectives.

Turning the Tide on Trash is a learning guide on marine debris. This set of lesson plans and background information introduces educators, students and researchers to the topic of marine debris. The interdisciplinary education guide is designed to provide maximum flexibility in the classroom: it can be used as a stand-alone teaching tool or to supplement work in other subject areas.

Students perform an experiment in which they wrap a rubber band around their fingers and across the back of their hand and try to disentangle themselves. As a class, students discuss their thoughts and reactions and relate to real animals. Older students will write a short story about an entangled animal.

Students listen to descriptions of marine animals and then identify marine debris items that could harm them.

Students perform experiments to examine whether or not trash can float, blow around, or wash away. The effects of these characteristics on marine debris in the environment are then discussed.

Students will first define marine debris, discuss its possible impacts, and then sort household trash items into different categories to learn about different sources of marine debris. Older students then use statistics and graphing to better understand the types of marine debris that are collected each year.

In this lesson, students make observations about what is in their classroom trash receptacle (or various trash items brought by instructor). Students then go outside to collect trash from the surrounding area and record what they find using the NAMEPA Trash Data form.

This lesson plays on students’ creativity by asking them to design a machine that collects debris in the ocean without impacting wildlife.

In this lesson, students are introduced to marine debris and participate in a role-playing exercise acting as beachgoers, boaters, homeowners, factory managers, or managers of a waste disposal company. Students discuss their role and how they can manage or prevent marine debris. Students then make a commitment to decreasing their plastic consumption.

Students will review key marine debris vocabulary using BINGO. They will explore and discuss different solutions to and prevention for the marine debris problem. Students will also brainstorm new creative solutions through art. Students will be asked to make a commitment to decreasing their plastic consumption by signing a Plastics Pledge.

Students will participate in a hands-on activity where they will be asked to utilize parts of the scientific method including observing, hypothesizing, experimenting (classifying), and conclusion forming. Depending on grade level and ability, this may include graphing/charting and communicating results.

Students are introduced to the subject of marine debris, its composition, its impact on marine wildlife, and the land-to-ocean connection in an informative talk story session utilizing visual aids and activities.

In this lesson students will learn about which types of matter can decompose by conducting a simple experiment. Students will observe changes over time due to decomposition, notice patterns and classify materials based on their ability to decompose, and explain how matter changes through decomposition.