Oceans Elementary Lesson Plan

Objective This lesson will encourage students to think about the ocean environment, ocean pollution, and environmental stewardship through the exploration of how waste in our world affects oceans.

Title Waste in Our Water

Subject Environment

Grade level Elementary (Alberta Grade 4)

Time duration 2 class periods

Materials • The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen (1992)

• Video: The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor (Optional) • A House for a Hermit Crab by Eric Carle (1987) • Chart paper • Drawing paper plus markers, crayons, coloured pencils • Large Plastic Tub • Oil (Vegetable or Canola) • “Pollutants” (bits of scrap paper, fishing line, dirt and/or sand,

plastic eating utensils, six pack rings, etc.) • Cotton balls (one for each student) • Oceans video (5:28) • Presentation Rubric (included in this lesson)

Learning Activities Preparation • Read the book The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor and discuss what

students know about oceans, and what they would like to find out. Use a chart to document students’ thoughts. Keep this chart posted on the wall in the classroom.

• Encourage students to think about what would happen to plants and animals if the ocean became dirty or polluted. Share with the students that taking care of something that belongs to everyone is called stewardship. It is everyone’s responsibility to help take care of the oceans.

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Learning Activities Activity1: Waste in Our Water

1. Define (or review) for the class pollution as waste that causes harm to the natural environment. Ask the students to brainstorm what kind of pollution they might see around their school or home.

2. Share with the students that oceans are affected by pollution as well. Tell the students you are going to demonstrate how pollution affects the ocean and things that live in it. Fill a large container with water. Discuss with the children about clean water and ask them what they know about clean water. Relate it to the ocean.

3. Begin pouring oil (vegetable, canola, whatever oil you have on hand) into the water, talk about pollution of the oceans. Ask students what might happen to plants and animals that live in the ocean if things that did not belong there were put into the ocean?

4. Add other “pollutants” (e.g., paper, fishing line, dirt, paper products, plastic eating utensils, whatever you have on hand) and mix the water so that it becomes somewhat murky.

5. Give each child a cotton ball, and ask them to pretend the cotton ball is a seal, turtle, fish or dolphin. Have the children run a cotton ball through the water.

6. Ask them what happened to their “ocean animal” (The oil and some of the debris stayed on the cotton ball). Students should then discuss what might happen to the animal. (It might not be able to breath or swim.)

7. Give students the definition of stewardship (the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to a person’s care). Explain that by helping take care of the oceans and other waterways they are acting for the common good and are demonstrating good stewardship of the Earth. Discuss ways in which the children can take care of the ocean. (By not littering, picking up things that don’t belong on the beach, using products that have less packaging materials, etc.)

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Activity2: Waste in Our Water Presentations

1. Divide students into small groups. Let students know that they will be reading about a topic related to oceans and then choosing to either perform a skit or give a mock news report about that topic. Assign each group a topic so that the class is evenly presenting on the following three topics: Pacific garbage patch, where does our waste go, and plastic pollution.

2. Hand out fact sheets to each group about their given topic. Consider making enough copies of each fact sheet for the entire class (to hand out following the presentations).

3. Students give five minute presentations, either as a skit or as a news report, to share information about their given topic. You may want to ensure that each topic is represented with at least one skit and one mock news report.

Assessment Groups can be assessed on:

• Group work skills • Creativity with presentations • Presentation Rubric • Involvement in class

Activities for Extension

and/or Integration

1. Show students the Oceans video.

2. Give students a piece of drawing paper. Tell them that you want them to create a picture with a description to put in a class book that explains how people can keep the ocean clean, or what pollutants do to ocean animals.

3. Collect the children’s art work and create a class book. Ask each child to share their page of the book with the whole class.

Subject and Level Learning Outcomes

(Alberta)

This classroom activity will help students understand concepts introduced in Alberta’s grade 4 science curriculum, Waste in our World. In particular, it addresses the general learner expectation of recognizing that human activity can lead to the production of wastes.

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Resources http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/problems/pollution/ http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/photos/ocean-pollution/ http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/pollution.html http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/oceans/?gclid=CKes9o-97bMCFYVFMgodYyAAmg http://education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/?ar_a=1

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Right now, there is a g igant ic “soup” of trash f loat ing somewhere between Cal iforn ia, Hawaii and Asia . This is cal led the North Pac if ic Gyre, or more commonly referred to as the Great Pacif ic Garbage Patch . I t i s a swi r l i ng co l lect ion o f p last i c debr i s , or garbag e, in the m idd le o f t he Paci f i c Ocean that i s b igger than the s ta te o f Texas! About 80% of the t rash in the Great Pac i f i c Garbage Patch comes f rom act i v i t i es on land. L i t t er l i ke p last i c bot t l es , bot t l e caps, and candy wrappers can end up in s torm dra ins or i n r i ve rs and s t reams that empty in to a bay or the ocean. Th e rest o f t he t rash in the Garbage Patch (20%) comes f rom act i v i t i es a t sea. Every year, about 100 m i l l i on conta iners are sh ipped ove r the wor ld ’s o ceans. One of t he sh ipp ing routes i s between Asia and North America. There are f requent , severe s to rms a long th i s route , which cause hundre ds of conta iners to go overbo ard ea ch yea r. P last i c tends to make up a large part o f ocean debr i s . S ince p last i c i s buoyant , or ab le to f l oat , i t can eas i l y t rave l l ong d is tances on oc ean cur rents . I n addi t i on to be ing buoyant , p last i c i s a l so pers is tent . That means i t l as ts a very , very , very long t ime wi thout natura l l y break ing down or decompo sing in to smal ler part i c les or t i ny p ieces. P lants l i ke a lgae, p lankton, and seaweed make up the beginn ing o f t he food cha in for an imals such as shr imp, f i sh , j e l l y f i sh , b i rds, sea tur t l es , o t ters , do lph ins, sharks, and whales When p last i cs end up in our ocea n, they o f ten appear as food to an imals and become a dangerou s part o f t he food cha in . Imagine a p last i c bag f l oat ing in the ocean. I t can look just l i ke a je l l y f i sh , which sea tur t l es and do lph ins love to eat ! When these an imals eat p last i c bags, i t can choke them. I t can a lso f i l l t he i r s tomach w i th t rash that doesn ’ t d igest or move through the i r bod ies to pro v ide them wi th the nut r i t i on needed to surv ive.

FACT SHEET: OCEANS

Plastic Pollution

Plast ics , l ike d iamonds, are forever. One of t he most ser ious threats to our ocean s i s p last i cs po l lu t ion. Plast i c const i t u tes approx imate ly 90% of a l l t rash f l oat ing on the ocean ’s surface. Unl i ke o ther t ypes o f garbage, p last i c does not biode grade ; i ns tead, i t photo-degrad es w i th sunl ight , break ing down in to smal ler and smal ler p ieces, but they never rea l l y d i sappea r. These p last i c p ieces are eaten by mar ine l i f e , wash up on beaches, or b reak down in to m icrosco pic p last i c dust , a t t ract ing more debr i s . P last i c poses a s ign i f i cant threat to the health o f sea creature s, both b ig and smal l . Over 100,000 mar ine mammals and one m i l l i on seabirds d ie each yea r f rom ingest ing or becoming entangled in p last i c . P last i c i s a l so unusual l y tox ic once i t enters the ocean env i ronment . Organisms at t he bot tom of the food cha in , such as p lankton and kr i l l , i ngest the chemica ls a long w i th the m icroscopic p last i c part i c les. As larger f i sh consume the smal ler ones, the chemica ls work the i r way up the food cha in . U l t imately , people consume the largest f i sh , hav ing a devastat ing e f fect on human heal th . I t t akes 500-1000 yea rs for p last i c to degrade. Even i f we s topped us ing p last i cs today, they w i l l remain w i th us for many generat ions, threaten ing both human and ocean heal th .

• 8% of the wor ld ’s o i l i s used for p last i c product ion. • 267 spec ies a round the wor ld are harmed by p last i c . 44% of seabi rd , 43% of

ocean mammals, and 86% of sea tur t l es ingest or become tangled in p last i c . • Nurd les are smal l p last i c pe l le t s that are the base of p last i c product ion and

manufactur ing. They are found in sandy be aches wo r ldw ide and threaten count less mar ine l i f e that acc identa l l y eat them.

FACT SHEET: OCEANS

Where does our Garbage Go?

Did you know that the lit ter on land can end up in the oceans? Marine l it ter is hard to see because much of it f loats under the surface of the water. The only p lace that we can rea lly see mar ine lit ter is on the shorel ines. Water qua l i t y gets worse as l i t t e r re leases po isons a nd chemica ls . People and an imals can get s i ck f rom dr ink ing and us ing the d i r t y water . People and an imals can get a l so s i ck f rom eat ing large f i sh that have eaten other sea creature s ( l i ke je l l y f i sh) that have eaten t i ny b i t s o f p last i c . Mar ine l i t t e r can b lock p lants f rom get t ing l i ght . No l ight s tops photosynthes is , which i s an important part o f t he earth ’s l i f ecyc le . Sea creature s can get tangled up in rope, w i re and p last i c bot t l e r i ngs for food 60-80% of mar ine waste comes f rom land. Th is inc ludes waste f rom run-of f , s tormwater dra ins, a i r -born debr i s an d i r res ponsib le d isposal o f garbage by be ach goers and c ampers. 80% of mar ine l i t t e r i s p last i c . L i t t er ends up in the oceans when

• People go to the beach, have a p icn ic or BBQ and l i t te r b lows in to the water .

• Li t ter dropped on the gro und i s washed in to s torm dra ins eventua l l y end ing up in the oceans.

• Winds b low garbage f rom landf i l l s i n to the oceans. • People throw garbag e ( l i ke o ld t i res) i n to the sea ( i l l ega l dumping). • Accidenta l conta iner sh ip sp i l l s dur ing s torms (hur r i c anes, t yphoons ).

P last i c l i t t e r i s one of t he most common t ypes of mar ine debr i s and can take up to 1 ,000 years to bre ak down.

FACT SHEET: OCEANS

4 3 2 1 All group members participate equally.

All group members participate.

Some group members participate.

Only 1 or 2 group members participate.

Group members help each other as needed.

Group members help each other as needed.

Some group members speak clearly and are easy to understand.

Most group members are hard to understand.

All group members speak clearly and are easy to understand.

Most group members speak clearly and are easy to understand.

Some group members speak clearly, but are difficult to understand.

Only 1 or 2 group members speak and can be understood.

All group members speak to the entire audience.

Most group members speak to the entire audience.

Group members speak to only part of the audience.

Most group members speak only to part of the audience.

Information is presented in an organized way.

Information is presented in an organized way.

Information may be only partially organized.

Information is presented in a disorganized way.

Oral presentation includes many details.

Oral presentation includes some details.

Oral presentation includes few details.

Oral presentation includes few or no details.

Presentation is visually organized and complete.

Presentation is organized and complete.

Presentation is complete.

Presentation is disorganized or incomplete.

Total: _____

PRESENTATION RUBRIC

Name: _____________________ Date: ___________________