Citizen Science

“Plastic Pollution and You,” published by New York Sea Grant, is a 15-lesson curriculum focused on marine debris sources, impacts, and solutions. These hands-on lessons and activities help students learn the different types of plastics, their impact on marine and freshwater ecosystems, and about ways to address and prevent plastic pollution.

Have you ever found litter on the beach and wondered what it is and where it came from? In this project, organized by Oregon Sea Grant and supported through funding by the NOAA Marine Debris Program, students focus on one particular item of marine debris and try to learn about the item's story. What was the item originally used for?

Marine debris is a pervasive, global problem and one that is felt locally in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI).

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.

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.

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 will plan, prepare for, execute, and report back on a cleanup in their local area.

Students use scientific models as a tool to evaluate the many kinds of risk tsunami marine debris poses. They then explore the risk posed by live organisms that have colonized tsunami marine debris.

Plastic pellets (also called “nurdles”) are small pre-production pieces that are shipped around the world to factories that melt them to produce a variety of products. Pellets are often lost during transit, and because they float can be found throughout the ocean and on beaches everywhere.

Students use a sampling protocol to collect, sort and quantify (by number or by weight) marine debris collected from a beach. The 5 Gyres lesson provides data cards for macro and micro marine debris. This activity is available for Grades 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12, within the "Composition and Abundance" unit. 

Utilizing field work and in-class activities, students will learn to identify, sort and classify marine debris in the Virgin Islands.

Have you ever found litter on the beach and wondered what it is and where it came from? In this project, organized by Oregon Sea Grant and supported through funding by the NOAA Marine Debris Program, students focus on one particular item of marine debris and try to learn about the item's story. What was the item originally used for?

Have you ever found litter on the beach and wondered what it is and where it came from? In this project, organized by Oregon Sea Grant and supported through funding by the NOAA Marine Debris Program, students focus on one particular item of marine debris and try to learn about the item's story. What was the item originally used for?

Have you ever found litter on the beach and wondered what it is and where it came from? In this project, organized by Oregon Sea Grant and supported through funding by the NOAA Marine Debris Program, students focus on one particular item of marine debris and try to learn about the item's story. What was the item originally used for?

Students will record what type of plastic pollution they find in their community as they walk through their neighborhood, around their school, or in a local park, shoreline or beach using a map. This data collection will indicate the type(s) of pollution found, identify its potential sources, and begin to think about local solutions to plastic pollution.