The Plastic Education Toolkit is a series of seven related classroom lessons during which students will be made aware of their own plastic use and how their actions will have a direct impact on the environment around them. Through these interesting lessons, the hope is that youth will become leaders of change.
Lesson 1: After watching the videos 'Oceans are Life' and 'The Majestic Plastic Bag', students will reflect in their workbook and have a discussion on what it means to be respectful to the environment.
Lesson 2: Students will discuss their favourite foods and relate them to simple and complex food chains, they will draw a out a food chain, and explore what happens when plastic is added to the food chain. In this lesson there is also the option to take it to the lab, and dissect a seafood species.
Lesson 3: After watching the video 'How does plastic end up in the ocean?' students will answer questions on movement of objects to the ocean, and make a list of how they can reduce their use of single use plastics at home. There is also the option to do a 3 day plastic challenge where students keep track of all the single use plastic they use. They then write a blog about their experience.
Lesson 4: Students will do a brainstorm with the words Ocean Ecosystem, organize a shoreline clean-up in their area. Students do not have to live near a beach to host a clean-up, and explore everything they wash down the drain.
Lesson 5: Students will be introduced to the hydrologic cycle, do some science experiment on warm and cold currents in the ocean, and discuss how plastic heats up the ocean and changes the climate.
Lesson 6: Students will watch the video 'What happens to Microplastics in the Ocean', go for a walk around the school in search of different types of litter or recycling, decide if each piece of litter or recycling was made with plastic and categorize them, sort through those that contain plastic and divide them into smaller groupings. There is also the option to take students to the labs where they can try their hand at making Casein Plastic.
Lesson 7: Students will visualize they are at the ocean, write a love letter to the see, watch 'it's not you it's me', build a campaign in their community for a topic related to preventing plastic in the ocean, and create a pitch for their campaign.
In addition to the teacher's guide, a unit plan and a student workbook can be found here.
This resource would be perfect to use in Science classes when discussing ecosystems or to highlight World Oceans Day in early June.
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 |
---|---|---|
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives | Very Good | Throughout the varied activities provided by this resource, students will get the chance to form opinions on plastics in oceans. |
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives:
| ||
Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions | Good | |
Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions: Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.
| ||
Respects Complexity | Very Good | A wide range of information is provided to students to gain a true understanding of the impact of human activity on Earth's oceans. |
Respects Complexity: The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected. | ||
Acting on Learning | Very Good | Every lesson has an action item that students have to complete. For example, I pledge to reduce using single use plastic. As well, the end goal of the resource is to make a campaign for their community on the subject of preventing plastic in the oceans. |
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 | Throughout the lessons, students are asked to answer reflection questions where they can express their own beliefs and opinions. |
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 | This resource has a focus on healthy oceans. Some of the activities take students outside for a shore-line cleanup. |
Personal Affinity with Earth: Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.
| ||
Locally-Focused Learning | Very Good | Throughout this resource, learners are made aware of how their actions affect the oceans. As well, students will be building a campaign for their community to prevent plastic in the ocean. |
Locally-Focused Learning: Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community.
| ||
Past, Present & Future | Good | |
Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future. |
Principle | Rating | Explanation |
---|---|---|
Open-Ended Instruction | Good | Students have the chance to voice their own opinions in the reflection questions that are provided in every lesson. |
Open-Ended Instruction
: Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer. | ||
Integrated Learning | Satisfactory | While this lesson is mostly geared towards science classes, there is a multitude of other subjects that appear like literacy with letter writing. |
Integrated Learning: Learning brings together content and skills from more than one subject area
| ||
Inquiry Learning | Satisfactory | |
Inquiry Learning: Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.
| ||
Differentiated Instruction | Good | This resource has a variety of activities that meets the needs of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. However, there are no strategies included for learners with difficulties. |
Differentiated Instruction: Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.
| ||
Experiential Learning | Satisfactory | This lesson plan is information based and has some activities. Students will also do some simulations through labs. |
Experiential Learning: Authentic learning experiences are provided
| ||
Cooperative Learning | Satisfactory | For some activities, students must work in small groups. |
Cooperative Learning: Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.
| ||
Assessment & Evaluation | Very Good | For each lesson, formative and summative assessment ideas are provided. A rubric for the unit as a whole is also provided. |
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 | The end goal of this resource is to have students build a campaign for their community to prevent plastic in the oceans. |
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 | Multiple videos of real situations are used during the lessons. |
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 | Very Good | |
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. |