Plastic Pollution – Ocean Solution: classroom lessons

Notice the shapes 5 minutes

Show the turtle. Let children name the animal and point to familiar objects inside its outline. Explain that an artist arranged these shapes to make a picture. It is not a photograph of things inside a turtle. Ask, “Where have you seen a wrapper or a bottle being used?”

Tell a wrapper story 8 minutes

Draw a path, a wrapper and a stream on the board. Invite a child to trace a possible movement with a finger. Then show a second ending where an adult collects the wrapper. Explain “litter” as waste left loose in a place where it does not belong. Children draw one possible journey in the first box on their handout. They need not copy a detailed scene.

Choose a helpful change 7 minutes

Ask, “What could help keep the wrapper out of the stream?” Discuss putting a used wrapper into the right bin and asking an adult for help when a bin is full. Explain that adults must arrange for bins to be emptied. Moving a wrapper behind a bush leaves it loose; ask what might happen when wind or rain arrives.

Keep responsibility shared: children can ask for help, and adults manage collection and safe disposal. Do not ask children to pick up unknown litter.

Draw another ending 10 minutes

In the second box, children draw a change that could keep the wrapper out of water. Ask them to show a person or action as well as the place. Invite them to include an animal that needs the water. They can tell an adult, “This helps because…” while the adult writes their words.

Tell, change and try again 5 minutes

Partners point to what changed between the pictures. Ask each child to add a detail if the action is hard to see. Then offer a new example aloud: “A bag is loose beside a pond, and the bin is full. What could you ask an adult to do? Why?” Listen for a reason connected to keeping loose litter away from water.

Look closely 5 minutes

Show the turtle illustration. Ask students to name objects they recognize, then describe the animal they form. Ask: “What message might the artist want us to think about?” Accept different interpretations supported by details in the image.

Separate the picture’s message from evidence about the world. The turtle is an artistic arrangement. It does not show what one real turtle swallowed or prove how often animals encounter litter.

Follow a possible route 10 minutes

On the student page, draw arrows from a street to water. Label what could move the wrapper. Add a place it might stop before reaching the sea. Partners should explain why their route is possible, rather than saying every wrapper follows it.

Ask: “Would being far from the coast always keep litter out of the ocean?” Use the river connection to explore the question. Check local drainage information before presenting this example as your school’s actual route.

Choose where to act 10 minutes

Compare three choices: a school reduces unnecessary wrapping; a family uses a suitable container repeatedly; a local service collects waste before bins overflow. For each, ask who can act, where it changes the journey and what it does not fix.

Students mark where their action could help: before an item becomes litter, or at a later point on the route. Write or explain what changes beside that point. Encourage a reason: “This could help because…” More than one choice can be useful. Avoid presenting a purchase as something every family must make.

Make the action visible 15 minutes

Students sketch an animal and show one action that could help keep plastic out of its habitat. The image should connect the action to the journey they investigated. Arrows, a before-and-after scene or a short caption can make that connection clear.

They may invent their own arrangement of drawn objects or paper shapes. Ask them to develop their own image rather than trace the example turtle. A collage communicates an idea; making one does not itself prevent litter from reaching water.

Explain and revise 5 minutes

Partners explain their images. The listener asks, “Where does your action change the journey?” Each student then adds or changes one detail to make the explanation clearer.

Check understanding with a new example: an overflowing bin beside a stream. Ask students to suggest an action and explain why it fits. Listen for reasoning they can transfer to this situation.

Read the image 5 minutes

Show the turtle and ask pairs to separate what they can observe from what they infer. “The artist used bottle shapes” is an observation. “These bottles were found inside a turtle” is an unsupported inference. Ask what a viewer might mistakenly conclude from an environmental image.

Map the system 10 minutes

Sketch a route from a school snack area toward water. Include collection and retention as branches. Mark where reducing unnecessary wrapping could act, then where covered bins and reliable collection could act. Identify who would need to carry out each action and one practical constraint, such as food protection, cost or collection capacity.

Test a claim against observations 15 minutes

Find the mean before and after the change: add the counts in each pair and divide by two. Then write one statement the counts support. Compare “In this fictional investigation, fewer wrappers were counted after the bins changed” with “Covered bins prevented plastic from reaching the ocean.” What would the second claim require that these observations do not provide?

Ask what else might change the count: wind, rain, attendance, the snacks served, or cleaning before the count. Choose one factor to record and one way to make a follow-up comparison fairer. Do not ask students to handle litter or enter drains or waterways.

Choose an action and communicate it 15 minutes

Compare reducing unnecessary wrapping with improving bins and collection. On the handout, record who acts, why each could help and one limitation. Recommend an action or a justified combination. Acknowledge what the counts have not tested.

Plan an artwork with a short claim and a caption explaining the mechanism. Students may use a route, contrasting scenes or an animal made from their own drawn objects. Keep observations and predictions distinguishable. If using these counts, label them “Fictional school investigation”; do not present them as measurements from your school. A sketch and explanation are enough for this session.

Challenge and revise 10 minutes

Exchange sketches. The reviewer identifies the claim, checks its evidence and asks one question about its limits. Students revise the image or caption and explain why. For an exit response, introduce a new situation: the bins stay covered but collection is missed for three days. Would their recommendation still work? What should change?

Define the problem Session 1 · 10 minutes

Show the turtle illustration. Ask what it communicates and what it cannot establish. Groups choose a more precise outcome than “save the ocean”: for example, less unnecessary packaging used, fewer loose wrappers at school, or less litter entering a local stream. Discuss why measuring one does not automatically measure the others.

Interrogate the headline Session 1 · 15 minutes

Find the percentage fall in Area A's raw count: (before − after) ÷ before × 100. Then calculate wrappers per 100 snack servings in each row: wrappers ÷ servings × 100. How does Area B change your interpretation? The ratio is a way to compare counts with activity; it is not proof that every wrapper came from a counted snack.

Rewrite the headline to reflect what was measured. Explain why neither the raw count nor the adjusted comparison measures ocean plastic or isolates the effect of the bins.

Compare actions and trade-offs Session 1 · 20 minutes

Compare reducing unnecessary wrapping with improving bins and collection. For each, identify where it acts, who controls the change, what must be in place and a possible burden. Consider food protection, affordable access, staff time and the reliability of collection. A reuse proposal also needs a workable return and cleaning system.

Use the handout to recommend one action or a combination. Distinguish the general mechanism supported by the source reading from local assumptions that still need checking. The fictional bin comparison does not test packaging reduction. Avoid assigning a numerical benefit to an untested option.

Plan a useful check Session 2 · 10 minutes

Choose an outcome close enough to the proposed action to measure. Describe what adults would record, where and when, a comparable area or period, and one important factor to track. Explain what finding would make the group revise its recommendation. A safe classroom plan is sufficient; conducting a waste audit is not required.

Discuss how totals hide day-to-day variation. Would further observations, records of wind and cleaning, and comparable snack provision make the comparison more informative? They would still need careful interpretation.

Make an evidence-based visual argument Session 2 · 20 minutes

Create a sketch for a school audience with a recommendation, an explanation of how it could help, and a caption stating an evidence limit. Use a route, a clearly labeled comparison or original object-based artwork. Label fictional data if using it. Do not depict invented results as a real school's success.

Partners check whether the image promises more than the words support. Does a larger animal imply a measured population gain? Does an arrow imply a route nobody has checked? Revise the image and caption together.

Defend and revise Session 2 · 15 minutes

Present the recommendation and measurement plan to another group. Each listener asks about one assumption or practical burden. Record a revision and its reason. Finish with a new situation: the next month shows fewer wrappers on the school grounds but more beside the collection point. Does that establish success? Explain what to investigate before repeating the claim.