This comprehensive resource focuses on educating students about the importance of removing shoreline litter to help create healthy waters for everyone, including the wildlife and the communities that depend on them. Through a variety of practical, hands-on activities and a shoreline 'clean up', students make connections to the natural world and learn how to be active stewards of animal, plant and human communities. These activities allow students to engage with nature and experience how they can bring positive change to their environment.
Students will:
As a culminating activity, students will reflect on their actions and the positive impact they have made as a result of taking part in the Shoreline Cleanup.
Students learn to classify objects according to their properties and characteristics. They sort and classify items found in the shoreline cleanup based on the needs of living things and human health
The following tool will allow you to explore the relevant curriculum matches for this resource. To start, select a province listed below.
Principle | Rating | Explanation |
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Consideration of Alternative Perspectives | Good | The resource allows the students to reflect on their individual role in shoreline litter. The activities show the students how they can make a difference in the world while learning about the importance of environmental stewardship and conservation. Students are not influenced to any particular point of view. |
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives:
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Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions | Very Good | The hands-on activities allow the students ample opportunity to discuss and brainstorm solutions to shoreline litter. They become more aware of the harmful effects of shoreline litter on both aquatic ecosystems and people. |
Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions: Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.
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Respects Complexity | Good | The activities demonstrate effectively the complexity of shoreline litter issues. The activities present the many problems and implications which affect the inhabitants of the shoreline. |
Respects Complexity: The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected. | ||
Acting on Learning | Very Good | The shoreline cleanup is a great opportunity for the students to get outside and reconnect with nature. They learn how they can make a difference by participating in a shoreline clean up. |
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
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Values Education | Good | The students are provided with age appropriate questions to reflect upon their own values such as: How it felt to have their shoreline littered. What sort of responsibility do humans have to protect plants and animals from harm? How can we help the shoreline? |
Values Education: Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values. | ||
Empathy & Respect for Humans | Poor/Not considered | Not considered in this resource. |
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 activities develop students’ personal connections to the natural world. On the shoreline journey, students will discover that they are active stewards of animal, plant and human communities. |
Personal Affinity with Earth: Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.
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Locally-Focused Learning | Very Good | The shoreline clean up allows students to make positive and dramatic contributions in their community. |
Locally-Focused Learning: Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community.
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Past, Present & Future | Good | Students compare items people wasted in the past and the properties of these materials. Ex: trash “past and present”, what source materials were used? How do they degrade over time? What are the environmental impacts of trash in the past vs. now? |
Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future. |
Principle | Rating | Explanation |
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Open-Ended Instruction | Very Good | The learning activities provide students with opportunities to engage in scientific inquiry. Students raise questions about the issues and gather evidence through many types of investigations including observing and doing experiments. |
Open-Ended Instruction
: Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer. | ||
Integrated Learning | Good | The resource integrates many different subjects through hands-on learning activities connected to the Arts, Science, Mathematics, Language Arts. |
Integrated Learning: Learning brings together content and skills from more than one subject area
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Inquiry Learning | Good | Students become material scientists and experiment with items found in their schoolyard and their classroom environment. They collect, make observations, analyze, sort and count waste materials into recyclables, non-recyclables and compost. The students will then use the data they collected to design bar graphs or pictographs to represent their findings and then reflect on what they have learned. |
Inquiry Learning: Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.
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Differentiated Instruction | Good | The hands-on activities do address a variety of learning styles, but no accommodations are suggested for students with learning difficulties. |
Differentiated Instruction: Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.
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Experiential Learning | Very Good | The resource provides the students with the opportunity to appreciate and explore the shoreline before they participate in the shoreline clean up. |
Experiential Learning: Authentic learning experiences are provided
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Cooperative Learning | Satisfactory | |
Cooperative Learning: Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.
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Assessment & Evaluation | Good | Each section lists opportunities for assessment contained within the lesson. Brainstorming and discussion portions of lessons may be used as formative assessment tools for comprehension and interpretation of supporting photographs, illustrations and oral readings. Students may be assessed on their choice of relevant animals or plants, on their willingness to participate in class discussions and on their contributions to the shoreline design and development. |
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 | Satisfactory | Activities such as 'Think Pair Share' are provided as well as opportunities to share their reflections with the group. |
Peer Teaching: Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.
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Case Studies | Good | Students are introduced to the Shoreline Cleanup’s Dirty Dozen. It's a list of the twelve items most commonly found during shoreline cleanups across Canada. |
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 | Suggestions to extend the learning are provided in the resource. The students are given ample opportunities to extend their learning in areas that interest them. |
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. |