After watching a short online video that recaps the enormous scale of accumulating plastic waste in our oceans, student teams are challenged to devise a method to remove the most plastic microbeads from a provided commercial personal care product—such as a facial cleanser or body wash. They brainstorm filtering methods ideas and design their own specific procedures that use teacher-provided supplies (coffee filters, funnels, plastic syringes, vinyl tubing, water, plastic bags) to extract the microplastics as efficiently as possible. The research and development student teams compare the final masses of their extracted microbeads to see which filter solutions worked best. Students suggest possible future improvements to their filter designs. A student worksheet is provided.

This lesson will introduce students to plastics and microplastics, allowing them to identify various categories of microplastics and how they can reduce the amount of plastic that is used. Students will learn how the consumption of plastics impacts the environment.

Marine micro-plastics are a relatively recent issue in research (Thompson et al. 2004), in the media and in education and, due to novelty and relevance, they are a suitable topic for addressing Ocean Literacy within science teaching to different age groups.
In fact marine micro-plastics can be used to introduce Ocean Literacy and environmental science, but also traditional science subjects like biology, chemistry and Earth science, with a system approach focused on "understanding the Ocean's influence on humans and human influence on the Ocean".

Inspired by the growing public interest for marine micro-plastics and by the lack of specific teaching activities in our country (Italy), we developed a vertically articulated curriculum on micro-plastics for students aged 5-15 years.
Our proposal is based on a number of practical activities realized with different language and communication styles to be suitable for different age groups.

This unit is the first in the MSXR209 series of five units that introduce the idea of modelling with mathematics. This unit centres on a mathematical model of how pollution levels in the Great Lakes of North America vary over a period of time. It demonstrates that, by keeping the model as simple as possible extremely complex systems can be understood and predicted.

This inquiry lab is useful for monitoring water pollution in a freshwater system using direct and/or indirect methods.

In a class demonstration, students observe a simple water cycle model to better understand its role in pollutant transport. This activity shows one way in which pollution is affected by the water cycle; it simulates a point source of pollution in a lake and the resulting environmental consequences.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Plastics have countless uses. However, the mismanagement of plastic waste has resulted in widespread ocean pollution, which could persist in the marine environment for hundreds of years. But growing research suggests that certain microorganisms could be harnessed to break down this waste. The key is verifying whether plastic-degrading microorganisms actually occur in the biofilms that colonize the surfaces of plastic particles, or the “plastisphere", and understanding their temporal characteristics. Recently, researchers found a high diversity of microbes that varied in their community composition over time when cultured on different types of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic. They also found evidence of PET degradation by these microorganisms based on a combined proteogenomic and metabolomic approach, which confirmed that two newly identified isolates from these communities are able to degrade PET using different pathways, one of which may be novel..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Macroalgae and their surface microbes closely interact in integrated assemblages called holobionts. However, the interactions within these holobionts and the effects of environmental factors, especially in the context of coastal pollution, remain unclear. To clarify this issue, a recent multiomics study investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of the holobiont of Taonia atomaria, a Mediterranean seaweed at sites with different levels of trace metal pollution. At all geographical sites, the surface bacterial communities were highly specific to the seaweed. The density and diversity of bacteria living on the seaweed at each site generally increased with the progression of time toward summer, but the proportions of core taxa and specific algal-enriched taxa decreased, suggesting the arrival of new colonizing bacteria. Notably, besides temperature, the copper concentration in the seawater was a key environmental factor shaping holobiont dynamics..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This lab exercise is designed to provide a basic understanding of a real-world scientific investigation. Learners are introduced to the concept of tropospheric ozone as an air pollutant due to human activities and burning of fossil fuels. Students analyze and visualize data to investigate this air pollution and climate change problem, determine the season in which it commonly occurs, and communicate the results.

Students explore the causes and effects of the Earth's ozone holes through discussion and an interactive simulation. In an associated literacy activity, students learn how to tell a story in order to make a complex topic (such as global warming or ozone holes) easier for a reader to grasp.

Students are introduced to acids and bases, and the environmental problem of acid rain. They explore ways to use indicators to distinguish between acids and bases. Students also conduct a simple experiment to model and discuss the harmful effects of acid rain on our living and non-living environment, as well as how engineers address acid rain. In an associated literacy activity, students learn how persuasive techniques are used to develop an argument, and create an environmental case study.

This video adapted from KTOO explores the impact of oil contamination on the herring population of Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1999, 10 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

This lesson will allow students to explore an important role of environmental engineers: cleaning the environment. Students will learn details about the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which was one of the most publicized and studied environmental tragedies in history. In the accompanying activity, they will try many "engineered" strategies to clean up their own manufactured oil spill and learn the difficulties of dealing with oil released into our waters.

This hands-on experiment will provide students with an understanding of the issues that surround environmental cleanup. Students will create their own oil spill, try different methods for cleaning it up, and then discuss the merits of each method in terms of effectiveness (cleanliness) and cost. They will be asked to put themselves in the place of both an environmental engineer and an oil company owner who are responsible for the clean-up.

Students learn about oil spills and their environmental and economic effects. They experience the steps of the engineering design process as they brainstorm potential methods for oil spill clean-up, and then design, build, and re-design oil booms to prevent the spread of oil spills. During a reflective session after cleaning up their oil booms, students come up with ideas on how to reduce oil consumption to prevent future oil spills.

Looking at models and maps, students explore different pathways and consequences of pollutant transport via the weather and water cycles. In an associated literacy activity, students develop skills of observation, recording and reporting as they follow the weather forecast and produce their own weather report for the class.

Students work in engineering teams to optimize cleaner energy solutions for cooking and heating in rural China. They choose between various options for heating, cooking, hot water, and lights and other electricity, balancing between the cost and health effects of different energy choices.

For students that have already been introduced to the water cycle this lesson is intended as a logical follow-up. Students will learn about human impacts on the water cycle that create a pathway for pollutants beginning with urban development and joining the natural water cycle as surface runoff. The extent of surface runoff in an area depends on the permeability of the materials in the ground. Permeability is the degree to which water or other liquids are able to flow through a material. Different substances such as soil, gravel, sand, and asphalt have varying levels of permeability. In this lesson, along with the associated activities, students will learn about permeability and compare the permeability of several different materials for the purpose of engineering landscape drainage systems.

With the rate at which we are depleting the environment and all that it has to offer, nothing is going to be left to survive on. That is why it is important for the younger generation to know the current issues about our environment. In this way they would be able to save our environment.Not only that we would be able to make a change and make our environment a better place.

Students write an essay explaining what stormwater is, how stormwater gets polluted, and two actions we can take to keep the stormwater clean. Students will read an article, view a video, and study a diagram to build  knowledge of stormwater pollution. Then write an essay to share at the Parent Information Night. Includes Teacher directions and scoring notes.