PS1: Matter and Its Interactions

While there are trash monitoring protocols for waterways and shorelines, less attention is paid to plans for addressing trash along urban streets. Marine debris education, activities and messaging are predominantly geared toward coastal areas, leaving out urban areas. 

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.

The classroom activity package Winged Ambassadors – Ocean Literacy through the Eyes of Albatross is available free online courtesy of Oikonos, in partnership with NOAA’s Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary and

Thank you for your interest in the Marine Debris Monitoring Toolkit for Educators! This resource was updated to align with the updated Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project (MDMAP) protocols, and the new version is now available as the MDMAP Guide for Educators.

Washed Ashore, in partnership with the NOAA Marine Debris Program, developed an integrated arts marine debris curriculum to educate school students about marine debris.

Nature’s Academy created this Standards-Based Curriculum as part of their Science Literacy Project, part of an effort supported by the NOAA Marine Debris Program.

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.

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. Flexible curriculum, appropriate for all ages.

This guide is designed for educators in both formal and informal education situations. It is a regional introduction to three main categories of marine debris: litter; derelict or abandoned boats; and lost or abandoned commercial and recreational fishing gear. Appropriate for grades 5-8.

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 learn about different trash items and define “marine debris” through a discussion about these items. Students then categorize debris and use statistics and graphing to describe the types and amounts of marine debris that are found each year.

Students perform an experiment to learn how different types of debris break down in the environment (degrade) and how weather and sunlight affect the rate of degradation.

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.

Experiment comparing the breaking points of several weights of fishing line.

<!--td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->  A listening and matching game where students connect descriptions of debris to the debris type.