Life Science

This lesson includes discussions and activities meant to help students process and analyze their cleanup experience. Students will reflect on the strangest trash item collected and tell the story of its journey to the cleanup site using a medium of their choice (writing, drawing, skits, etc.).

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

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

This lesson covers different impacts of marine debris on the ecosystems and human communities, including ingestion, entanglement, and our own experiences. Students will complete two activities:

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 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.

Students use photographs of regurgitated albatross boluses to perform a “virtual dissection” and analysis, comparing the amounts of prey and non-prey items found in several boluses. They then use what they have learned to create a model of a bolus, with which they can educate others. This activity is available for Grades 6-8 and 9-12, within the "Impacts" unit. 

Students relate the location of plastics in the water column to the feeding behavior of various marine organisms. They discuss how marine debris can cause problems for different animals inhabiting a variety of ocean depths.

Students learn about at least two possible impacts of microplastics on the marine environment. They calculate the surface area of rectangular prisms of various sizes and create an argument that the greater surface area of small plastic pieces can potentially accumulate more toxins.

Students will explore the mathematical concept of probability in the context of marine debris in the ocean. Using a spinner with items an animal could potentially ingest, students calculate the probability that the animal will encounter marine debris instead of food.

Students focus on one characteristic of some marine debris – the “loop” shape – and learn how marine debris items with this shape negatively impact sea lions. This activity is available for Grades 4-5, within the "Impacts" unit. 

Students use a model to make observations about how an animal entangled in marine debris might be affected. Then they play a game that demonstrates how plastics in the ocean can be ingested by animals. This activity is available for Grades 4-5, within the "Impacts" unit. 

Students perform an experiment to learn how different types of debris break down over time and how they are their degradation is affected by environmental conditions. This activity is available for Grades 6-8 and 9-12, within the "Composition and Abundance" unit. 

Students relate the location of plastics in the water column to the feeding behavior of various marine organisms. They discuss how marine debris can cause problems for different animals inhabiting a variety of ocean depths. This activity is available for Grades 4-5 within the "Impacts" unit, and for Grades 6-8 and 9-12 within the "Composition and Abundance" 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.