Art

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. 

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

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

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.

Simple upcycling activity making a fish mobile out of aluminum cans.

Students will find creative new uses for common debris items like bottle caps. 

Students will begin to understand the impact marine debris has on their own comunities and lives. 

Students synthesize what they have learned about marine debris and incorporate their knowledge into a presentation or display that helps others both 1) understand the problem and 2) take actions that contribute to solving the problem.

Students engineer an artistic and sturdy item from single-use plastics that might otherwise end up in landfills or as marine debris, effectively removing these plastics from the waste stream. This activity is available for Grades 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12, within the "Solutions" unit. 

In this lesson, students follow a scientific data collection procedure to collect and analyze debris at their school campus. They compare their results to a larger existing marine debris database in California, and make connections between campus debris and marine debris using the concept of watersheds. This activity is available for Grades 4-5, within the "Sources and Transport" unit. 

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.

After creating the masks, take the opportunity to spread the message by sharing what you’ve learned. Post the faces in the hall and write out messages, put them on the stage and share their messages with the school, or use them to present what was learned to the larger community at a local event!

This lesson will begin with an introduction to the mosaic technique and then students will create the background (skin) of the plastic and earth masks.