Lesson 1: A Planet Full of Plastic
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Download the Lesson 1 Student Workbook
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Activities from Lesson 1 of the Wave of Plastic have been pulled out below for the ease of use with at home education. Please download the complete Teacher/Facilitator Guide and Student Workbook for meaningful instruction assistance and structural support for implementing the complete lesson and/or unit.
Key Ideas
- Increasing human populations impact the consumption and the disposal of plastic products we use in everyday life.
- ‘Per capita consumption’ refers to the average amount used by a single individual with respect to a larger population.
- Per-capita consumption and disposal of plastic waste has both short-term and long-term effects.
- Mass production of plastic is increasing rapidly. Even as recycling rates increase, the amount of plastic waste that ends up in landfills is increasing at a much faster rate. Other choices, such as reducing the amount we use and refusing to consume items (like single-use plastic), can help to lower consumption rates.
- Students can take action to mitigate the impact of per-capita consumption and disposal of plastic by engaging communities and informing perspectives.
Lesson Overview
Activity 1- Personal Waste Inventory
Background
Objectives:
- We will ask questions and make observations about how our choices regarding the consumption and disposal of materials contribute to issues of plastic pollution.
- We will conduct inventories of the amount of waste we create in a given day.
Students will:
- Download the Personal Waste Inventory worksheet (pdf).
- Collect an inventory of the waste they produce in one day (suggested homework activity).
- Respond to the Personal Waste Inventory questions in their Student Workbooks.
Directions
Step 1- Monitor the types and amount of waste that you generate in one day.
Step 2- Use this chart (the Personal Waste Inventory worksheet) to record items that you used, why you used them, the materials from which they are made (for example: paper, food waste, plastic, cotton, etc.), and what you did with them when you were finished.
Discussion
Discuss and/or record your answers to the following questions:
- What was something that surprised you about your inventory? Why?
- Was this a normal day for you in terms of what you used and threw away? Why or Why not?
- How do you think your inventory would compare to someone of a different age (infant vs. child vs. adult)? Why?
- If you had to keep all your waste for a year (you could not throw anything away), what are some things you might change? Why?
Activity 2- Personal Waste Inventory Graphing
Background
Objectives:
- Communicate scientific ideas about issues of plastic pollution orally, graphically, and textually.
Students will:
- Download/retrieve the following resources: Plastics article, U.S. and World Population Clock website, World Population video, Plastic Waste Generation web map, graph paper
- Download the Plastic Use Table (preview to the right)
- Use the EPA Plastic Waste Graph and Chart to answer questions about per-capita plastic consumption
Directions
Step 1- Summarize the information in your Personal Waste Inventory (PWI) using this table
Step 2- Create a bar graph from your PWI table to display the variety of items of each material that were thrown away, using graph paper or a spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel.
Step 3-Fill out the Plastic Use Table and review the online sources
Step 4-Use the EPA Plastic Waste Graph and Chart to think about your own plastic waste production and to answer the Discussion Questions below.
Discussion
Discuss or record answers to the following questions about per-capita plastic consumption:
Steps 1 & 2
- How many pieces of plastic did you throw away in one day?
- How many pieces of plastic did your family throw away in one day? You can get this number by adding up each member of your household’s PWI, or you can estimate it by multiplying your number of pieces of plastic times the number of people in your household.
- Based on the data that you and your household collected, estimate the number of pieces of plastic that the neighbors on your street or in your apartment building discard in one day. Does that number surprise you? Why or why not?
Steps 3 & 4
- According to the graph and chart, what happened to most plastic trash that was collected in 2015? Why do you think that is?
- How do you think a graph and chart of the amount of plastic waste collected THIS year would compare to 2015? Explain your answer.
Activity 3- World Population and Plastic
Background
Objectives:
- Communicate scientific ideas about issues of plastic pollution orally, graphically, and textually.
Students will:
- Analyze a variety of resources to make sense of per-capita plastic consumption
- Reflect on the resources provided through group discussion and/or written responses
Directions
Step 1- Watch this video about the world’s population: World Population video
Step 2- Explore data in this map: Plastic Waste Generation web map
Step 3- Use what you learned about plastic consumption from the previous resources to fill out the Plastic Consumption Table about how and why different types of plastic are used and what people used in replacement of plastic for these items in the past.
Discussion
Discuss the following questions:
- According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, an estimated 18.2 million people were living in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in 2017. By 2040, experts predict the watershed’s population will grow to 21.1 million people (source: https://www.chesapeakebay.net/state/population). If we continue to use and dispose of plastic in the way we do now, what impact(s) do you think this population increase could have on the environment and society in the Chesapeake Bay watershed?
- What are some ways that society could keep levels of plastic production and waste from increasing with the growing world population?
Activity 4- Waste Reduction Roundabout Game
Background
Objectives:
- Critically, creatively, and collaboratively brainstorm and discuss choices for reducing plastic waste.
Students will:
- Explore alternative choices for the consumption and disposal of common plastic items through a musical-chairs inspired activity
Directions
Follow the Instructions below for a “musical chairs” inspired game about plastic waste.
Prior to beginning the activity:
- Read the definitions for “reduce”, “refuse”, “reuse”, and “recycle” from this box
- Collect a variety of clean plastic waste from different categories (e.g. water bottles, plastic caps, plastic bags, food containers, to-go containers, to-go cups, plastic straws, food wrappers, product packaging, mailing packaging, etc.)
- Get 20 notecards or study pieces of paper and divide them into 4 piles ( 5 cards/pieces of paper each)- write either “reduce”, “reuse”, “recycle”, or “refuse” on one side of the cards, with each pile representing a different word
- Spread the plastic waste around the room
- Distribute the notecards around the room in proximity to the plastic waste items, with the blank side of the cards facing up
Procedures:
Step 1- Use lights or music for each round of the game. When the lights are off or the music is on, walk around the room. When the lights come on or the music stops, stop in place and pick up 1-2 plastic items and the nearest notecard
Step 2- Read the notecard and then write on the back of the card the names of the plastic items you picked up and they could be recycled, reused, reduced, or refused, depending on the word on the notecard
Step 3- After everyone has had some time to privately brainstorm, allow a few students to share:
- the item
- the choice written on their card
- the alternative choices they brainstormed
Step 4- Do a couple rounds and encourage idea sharing and question-asking!
Tips: To spark more engaging and thought-provoking discussion, once a student has shared their ideas, open the discussion for other students to contribute additional ideas, thought processes, etc. Additional questions for the group or individuals could include:
- Does anyone else have ideas how this item could be ‘r_____’?
- What if the card had been ‘r____’ instead?
- Are there any labels on the item to provide disposal instructions or other information?
- What purpose did this item have before it was trash?
- Do alternatives to this plastic item exist?
Discussion
Discuss the following questions:
- Will each alternative waste reduction choice be appropriate for every item?
- What do these items have in common (besides that they are all made of plastic)?
- Did you observe any trends while we discussed these options?
- What are some short-term and long-term impacts these items could have on Earth’s systems?
- How might changes in per-capita use of plastic items change these impacts?
Activity 5- Engaging Others
Background
Objectives:
- Take action by engaging our communities with “public service announcements” in the form of persuasive posters, flyers, or social media posts.
Students will:
- Create public service announcements in the form of posters, flyers, or social media messages to persuade others to consider choices regarding the consumption & disposal of plastic waste
Directions
Step 1- Design either a poster, a flyer, or a social media post (limit 280 characters) that could persuade others to make a choice to better dispose of plastic trash in a way that helps decrease the problem of accumulating trash in our environment. Your poster should include a description of the choice and an explanation for why that choice is important.
Discussion
Discuss and/or record your answers to the following questions:
- Who will be the audience for your poster, social media message, or flyer? Explain why you chose that audience.
- What do you hope will happen as a result of sharing your poster, flyer, or social media post with your audience?
- Why do you think the choice you chose for your public service announcement is the most impactful? Use evidence from the resources you’ve reviewed to support your answer.