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Description
Ocean Wise has created The Ocean Plastic Education Kit for High Schools to encourage educators to bring ocean literacy into the classroom. This easy-to-use resource provides a variety of lesson plans with curriculum connections to Chemistry, Environmental Science, Earth Sciences, Contemporary Indigenous Studies, Geography, and many more to educate, equip and empower students to be ocean stewards.
This series of lessons is designed to extend students’ knowledge and understanding of plastics, their history and composition and an understanding of the environmental impacts of plastic waste on a global scale. Students will learn about the socio-economic and scientific factors contributing to the omnipresence of plastics and the environmental footprint of plastics.
The kit follows the overarching theme of interconnectedness, integrating decolonization practices with scientific conservation and Indigenous knowledge. The student workbook provides opportunities for students to research and refer to traditional ecological knowledge concepts. Throughout the resource, students will consider critical questions parallel with engaging activities informed by Western Science and Indigenous Knowledge. A Thought Book section will prompt students to journal about each lesson using a series of reflection questions. Through this reflection, students examine their role in mitigating plastic pollution and consider various perspectives on these issues. Finally, students are encouraged to become change makers within their community. Each lesson offers a way to Take Action and an opportunity for students to use the skills, tools and knowledge acquired during the lessons.
The educator’s guidebook provides detailed guidance on how to conduct classroom activities and their specific curriculum connection. Each lesson includes background information for teachers, several videos, websites, guiding questions, reflection questions, workbook activities and opportunities to Take Action. The student workbook provided is an easy-to-use online tool with interactive activities such as creative literary writing, problem-solving, and discussion/reflection questions to accompany each lesson.
Each lesson follows the same format throughout the kit, with critical questions and reflections built into the activities section.
Lesson 1 – The History of Plastics
Lesson 2 – How Plastics Travel to the Ocean
Lesson 3 – Big or Small, Plastics Have a Huge Impact
Lesson 4 – Plastics at the Wheel, Driving Through Ocean Currents
Lesson 5 – Plastics and Climate Change, A Never Ending Cycle
Lesson 6 – Cleanup Your Shoreline for a Cleaner Ocean
These activities prepare students with the knowledge, tools, and skills needed to break their plastic pattern and become changemakers within their community.
General Assessment
Strengths
- Each lesson offers background information, links and teaching activities to engage students through a variety of approaches
- The resource easy to implement and visually appealing
- Excellent quantity of resources to watch, visit or read as well as additional resources to support the learning
- External links are up to date
- The lesson design is very effective in connecting the learning to the students lives
- The students workbook is a tool designed for students to accompany lessons from the teacher's guidebook
- The students workbook is an editable pdf so no need to print any worksheets for students
Weaknesses
- No strategies are suggested for students with learning difficulties
- No assessment tools or rubrics are provided
Recommendation of how and where to use it
The resource aims to engage teachers and students to raise awareness of marine litter and its impacts on communities and wildlife. It empowers students to take action on plastic pollution as individuals in their homes and communities. Teachers can use the resource to address science outcomes associated with ecosystems and in social studies and geography classes to emphasize the link between human activity and plastic pollution. The activities promote how plastic pollution is connected to climate change, social justice and Indigenous Knowledge.
Relevant Curriculum Units
The following tool will allow you to explore the relevant curriculum matches for this resource. To start, select a province listed below.
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- Alberta
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- Grade 9
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- Science
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- Biological Diversity
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- Biological Diversity
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- Yukon Territory
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- Grade 9
- Step 3Select a subject
- Science
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Science 9: The biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere are interconnected, as matter cycles and energy flows through them.
- Science 9: The electron arrangement of atoms impacts their chemical nature.
- Social Studies
- Step 4Relevant matches
- 1750 to 1919: Emerging ideas and ideologies profoundly influence societies and events
- 1750 to 1919: The physical environment influences the nature of political, social, and economic change.
- Grade 10
- Step 3Select a subject
- Science
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Energy is conserved and its transformation can affect living things and the environment
- Social Studies
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Social Studies 10 - Canada and the World: 1914 to the Present: Worldviews lead to different perspectives and ideas about developments in Canadian society
- Social Studies 10 -Canada and the World: 1914 to the Present: Historical and contemporary injustices challenge the narrative and identity of Canada as an inclusive, multicultural society
- Grade 11
- Step 3Select a subject
- Chemistry
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Chemistry 11: Atoms and molecules are building blocks of matter
- Chemistry 11: Organic chemistry and its applications have significant implications for human health, society, and the environment
- Environmental Science
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Environmental Science 11: Changing ecosystems are maintained by natural processes.
- Environmental Science 11: Complex roles and relationships contribute to diversity of ecosystems
- Environmental Science 11: Human practices affect the sustainability of ecosystems
- Environmental Science 11:Humans can play a role in stewardship and restoration of ecosystems
- Science
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Earth Science 11: The transfer of energy through the atmosphere creates weather and is affected by climate change
- Earth Science 11:The distribution of water has a major influence on weather and climate.
- Grade 12
- Step 3Select a subject
- Environmental Science
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Environmental Science 12: Human actions affect the quality of water and its ability to sustain life.
- Environmental Science 12: Human activities cause changes in the global climate system
- Environmental Science 12: Living sustainably supports the well-being of self, community, and Earth.
- Environmental Science 12: Sustainable land use is essential to meet the needs of a growing population
- Science
- Step 4Relevant matches
- Anatomy and Physiology 12: Homeostasis is maintained through physiological processes
- Specialized Science 12: Biodiversity is dependent on the complex interactions and processes between biotic and abiotic factors
- Specialized Science 12: Chemical reactions are due to energy changes that result from the breaking and re-formation of bonds
- Specialized Science 12: Climate change impacts biodiversity and ecosystem health
Themes Addressed
Air, Atmosphere & Climate (1)
- Climate Change
Ecosystems (2)
- Appreciating the Natural World
- Biodiversity
Human Rights (1)
- Social Justice
Indigenous Knowledge (1)
- TEK -- Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Waste Management (1)
- Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Water (1)
- Marine Environments
Sustainability Education Principles
| Principle | Rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Consideration of Alternative Perspectives | Very Good | The resource provides critical and guiding questions in parallel with engaging activities informed by Western Science and Traditional Knowledge. The resource follows the overarching theme of interconnectedness, integrating decolonization practices with scientific conservation and Indigenous knowledge. Students reflect on ways TEK can be applied to better understand the impacts and solutions to the world's plastic problems. |
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives:
| ||
| Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions | Good | The issue of plastics in the oceans has economic, environmental, and social implications. The resource effectively links the environmental challenges associated with the overuse of plastics in society with the choices made by consumers. The lesson plans and activities support the environmental dimension by helping students understand the positive environmental impacts of removing plastic pollution from the ocean. Some of the videos discuss the economic costs linked to clean-up operations, litter removal, reduced fishing catches, and a decline in coastal tourism and impact on related industries. Social costs include a potential reduction in the recreational values of the marine environment. |
| Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions: Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.
| ||
| Respects Complexity | Very Good | The lessons present the dynamic of economic and social factors that have given rise to the mass production and demand for plastic products and the complex problems these factors have created for the environment. As plastics infiltrated the market and were transformed into products, they were almost always favored by consumers over their more expensive and intricate traditional material counterparts. Plastic leaves quite an impact on our environment. With properties which make them virtually impossible to decompose and instead break up into millions of microparticles, they have managed to infiltrate ecosystems, food chains, and even humans. With most plastics taking thousands of years to decompose, landfills are overwhelmed. Plastics are invading areas other than landfills, rivers, forests and the ocean, harming animals and humans. Although the reputation of plastic has suffered, people, organizations, companies, and governments have become increasingly aware of the environmental impacts of this material. Despite the mistrust most of society has towards plastic, it remains a pillar of modern life. |
| Respects Complexity: The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected. | ||
| Acting on Learning | Very Good | Each lesson ends with ways to take action. Students are encouraged to become change makers within their community. The resource aims to empower students through active approaches and creative problem solving that address individual or smaller-scale behavioral change, but also through actions that can positively influence large systemic issues. |
| Acting on Learning: Learning moves from understanding issues to working towards positive change — in personal lifestyle, in school, in the community, or for the planet
| ||
| Values Education | Very Good | Through journaling in their thought books, students explore their connection to the concepts covered in the lessons. They are encouraged to write, draw, and get creative. Through this reflection students consider their role in mitigating plastic pollution and how the plastic waste they produce can harm marine environments and coastal Indigenous communities. Students are asked What would you do to help solve the plastic crisis? Students create a system that will help solve the plastic crisis. They conduct research and refer to traditional ecological knowledge concepts. Their inspiration and thought process is detailed in their workbook. |
| Values Education: Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values. | ||
| Empathy & Respect for Humans | Good | The resource emphasizes that plastic pollution harms Indigenous communities and is infiltrating the natural ecosystems that sustain their traditional way of life. Students discuss ways plastic pollution interferes with Inuit Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), including how pollution would impact their cultural ways of life (hunting, fishing, etc.). The resource follows the overarching theme of interconnectedness, integrating decolonization practices with scientific conservation and Indigenous knowledge. The thought book component prompts students to journal on interconnectedness and consider its connection to each lesson’s focus. Through reflection, students will consider their role in decolonization and how Indigenous peoples are fighting to sustain and cultivate their Traditional Ecological Knowledge in the face of many other environmental pressures. |
| Empathy & Respect for Humans: Empathy and respect are fostered for diverse groups of humans (including different genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences, etc.). | ||
| Personal Affinity with Earth | Very Good | The videos do an excellent job in revealing the impact of plastics on our oceans in such a way as to encourage a personal connection to the natural world. Students get outdoors to find plastic waste in the schoolyard or surrounding area. They dissect a seafood species to have a look for microplastics. They are invited to organize or participate in a Shoreline, Schoolyard or Community Cleanup. Shoreline cleanups are a valuable tool for environmental remediation and conservation. They directly address the issue of plastic pollution by contributing to the physical removal of litter from an environment which has the potential to transport it anywhere in the world. Whether it be on the shoreline of a river, stream, lake, ocean, or any other waterway, shoreline cleanups are effective in preventing plastic pollution from continuing their journey and harming wildlife. |
| Personal Affinity with Earth: Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.
| ||
| Locally-Focused Learning | Very Good | Students are encouraged to become change makers within their community. Activities such as taking students outside to collect litter from the school yard and surrounding area are suggested. They are invited to seek out a plastic reduction partner or to encourage their favourite business or restaurant to be plastic wise and to organize or participate in a shoreline clean up in their area. |
| Locally-Focused Learning: Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community.
| ||
| Past, Present & Future | Very Good | Plastic and other forms of pollution are ending up in our marine life, making their way into the food chain. Plastic in the food chain ends up in our bodies when we eat fish and other seafood. The videos provide an understanding of the history and composition of plastics. Individual action must be coupled with systemic change, so the resource aims to engage students through active approaches and creative problem-solving. Through these lessons, students are encouraged to become leaders of change – starting in the classroom and in their community. |
| Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future. | ||
Pedagogical Approaches
| Principle | Rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Open-Ended Instruction | Very Good | The resource aims to empower students through active approaches and creative problem solving. Students are encouraged to share their opinions during discussions, reflections in their journal entries, and during Take Action projects. |
| Open-Ended Instruction
: Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer. | ||
| Integrated Learning | Good |
Please note that although this resource is developed with a focus on aligning to the BC curriculum, there exists a lot of overlap across provincial curricula and lesson activities possess room for interpretation so different curriculum objectives can be met, making this kit applicable throughout Canada. |
| Integrated Learning: Learning brings together content and skills from more than one subject area
| ||
| Inquiry Learning | Satisfactory | Each lesson offers ways to take action to work towards a solution and invites teachers and students to create their own. Teachers are provided with critical/guiding questions at the beginning of each lesson. The Thoughtbook activities do provide reflection questions/problems to solve such as What makes plastics a threat to the environment and Indigenous culture? |
| Inquiry Learning: Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.
| ||
| Differentiated Instruction | Very Good | The resource includes a variety of instructional approaches. Students compose a creative literary piece which tells the story of a piece of plastic becoming an ocean pollutant as it travels to the ocean. They can use any literary style, including songs, poetry, short stories, plays, comic strips, etc. They dissect a seafood species searching for microplastics, create a system prototype to help solve the plastic crisis and prevent plastics from entering our ocean based on Traditional Ecological Knowledge concepts. Students participate in a waterway cleanup and record the different types of garbage on data cards |
| Differentiated Instruction: Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.
| ||
| Experiential Learning | Very Good | The suggested activities have the students participate in hands-on experiences.
|
| Experiential Learning: Authentic learning experiences are provided
| ||
| Cooperative Learning | Good | Students participate in small group activities such as dissecting a seafood species and creating a literary piece. Another activity has them imagine that their class had access to many different resources and support from the government, scientists, Indigenous communities, and companies worldwide. What would they do to help solve the plastic crisis? They also participate in large group activities such as a schoolyard clean-up. |
| Cooperative Learning: Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.
| ||
| Assessment & Evaluation | Satisfactory | There are no explicit tools for assessment provided. Teachers could use the reflective journal pieces for assessing student learning as well as posters/ literary pieces/presentations students completed in some of the other activities. |
| Assessment & Evaluation: Tools are provided that help students and teachers to capture formative and summative information about students' learning and performance. These tools may include reflection questions, checklists, rubrics, etc. | ||
| Peer Teaching | Good | Students read an article and are assigned a different reason regarding plastic pollution. Students complete a report about how the physical activities and chemicals released during their designated plastic lifecycle stage contributes to climate change. They present their report to the class. Students are also invited to take the pledge to reduce their plastic footprint. The resource suggests they talk to someone they know about the pledge to see if they can inspire action in others around them. |
| Peer Teaching: Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.
| ||
| Case Studies | Good | The videos provide information regarding how water within the different oceans moves across waterways, carrying animals, plants, nutrients, and unfortunately, plastic. Students will also contemplate the ongoing impact that plastic pollution and related environmental issues have on Indigenous populations around the world. |
| Case Studies: Relevant case studies are included. Case studies are thorough descriptions of real events from real situations that students use to explore concepts in an authentic context. | ||
| Locus of Control | Good | Each lesson ends with ways to Take Action, but the resource also invites educators and students to create their own Take Action projects. |
| Locus of Control: Meaningful opportunities are provided for students to choose elements of program content, the medium in which they wish to work, and/or to go deeper into a chosen issue. | ||
