Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Part A: The problem with waste

40+ minutes

Part B: Mapping the litter

10 minutes

Reflection

Part A: The problem with waste

Step 1

Share the following image with students and invite them to complete a SEE THINK WONDER routine around the image (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Invite students to share their responses with a classmate. You could then invite a handful of volunteers to share their discussion with the class.

Step 2

You can then pose the following questions to the class:

What do you already know about the problems of waste?
- Suggested answers/discussion points: Depending on the material that the waste is made from, it can have different impacts. Waste made from paper or cardboard can break down within a couple of months, while food can take a couple of weeks. Metal can take 100 years and glass can last forever! But it is plastic that is the real problem; plastic never really breaks down, it just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces. This is particularly problematic when the plastic is in the ocean. Find out more about waste breakdown rates here.
How does plastic waste affect our oceans?
- Suggested answers/discussion points: Plastic waste pollutes marine environments in a number of ways. Some animals think that plastic waste is food and try to eat it; this can make them very ill. Other types of plastic waste release chemicals that can pollute water or soil or harm plants and animals.
How does plastic waste end up in our oceans?
- Suggested answers/discussion points: You might think that plastic waste in our oceans gets there because waste blows off the beach or is dropped from boats. But actually, this waste comes from all across the country, not just coastal areas. The wind blows plastic rubbish out of littered streets and landfills and from trucks and trains on their way to landfills. It gets into rivers, streams, and storm drains and then gets carried by tides and currents out to sea.

Step 3

Now share the following clip with students:

The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary (youtu.be/GLgh9h2ePYw)

Once complete, engage them in a discussion around this clip, considering the following questions:

What was this clip about?
What were some of the places the ‘majestic plastic bag’ visited?
What information in this clip was new to you? (If you need more information about the problems with plastic, you could share the Plastic Pollution Factsheet with students.)
What did you like about this clip?
What questions do you still have about this clip?

Explain to students that they are now going to create their own map of the trail a piece of litter might take as it leaves their schoolyard and travels to the sea.

Part B: Mapping the litter

Step 1

Based on the idea that ‘no matter where we live, our litter can end up in the ocean,’ students will now create a map of how a piece of litter might travel from their schoolyard to the ocean:

'Imagine that a piece of plastic sandwich wrap blows out of the rubbish bin—what path might it take to get to the sea?'

You can also explain to students that the aim isn’t to create a perfectly accurate path that a piece of litter might take; rather, the aim is for students to understand that litter does get carried to the sea by waterways and the wind, and that students will be making a representation of this journey to share with an audience. Hopefully, this will help members of their community to understand why it is important to dispose of waste responsibly.

Step 2

The first thing to think about is how litter might escape your schoolyard. You could head outside to:

Identify a place where you might find litter in the yard.
Observe or recall the direction the wind frequently blows.
Locate stormwater drains (these often drain into local waterways).

Ensure that students keep a record of this information.

Step 3

Next, invite students to work in pairs/small groups to find your school on Google Maps. They can then spend some time looking for things like:

nearby small waterways that a stormwater drain might empty into
the closest river that the small waterways might flow into
the closest beach where the river might meet the sea.

Students can then begin roughly mapping the course of their litter. If waterways aren’t always visible, you could consider suggesting that the litter gets blown a greater distance. Alternatively, you could suggest that the litter gets collected, placed in a bin, and transported to a landfill site where it gets blown away again. Invite students to think creatively about their litter trail—the aim isn’t to be factually correct, but rather to demonstrate an understanding of the concepts being explored!

Step 4

Students could then work collaboratively to create a picture map or animation that shows their piece of litter and the route it might take to get to the sea. The map could include:

You could also encourage students to annotate their map, or narrate their animation in a way that tells a story about their litter. They should try to make this story as interesting or engaging as possible (e.g. they could tell the story from the perspective of the litter, or use a David Attenborough style narration as we saw in The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary).

In addition, the story should aim to convince the audience that disposing of waste or avoiding it is important to our environment.

Encourage students to create a rough draft of their work and submit this for feedback from their peers. They can then incorporate this feedback before producing their final versions.

Step 5

Invite students to present their maps or animations. If possible, provide students with an opportunity to share their message with a real audience (e.g. other students at your school, or the wider community). This reinforces the message that the work and ideas that students have about creating a cleaner future are valid and important, and may help to sow the seeds that inspire further action in the future.

Reflection

Step 1

Share the following image with students (also available here) and explain that we can use this to help us think about the waste we create:

Look at the most preferable action on the chart, Avoid, and invite students to think about what they could personally do to avoid creating waste.

Students can work independently or in pairs to complete the following sentence starters (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Instead of using a plastic bag …
Instead of using individually wrapped snacks …
Instead of plastic sandwich wrap …
Instead of a single-use plastic bottle …
Instead of a plastic straw …
Instead of disposable plastic cutlery …
Instead of individual sauce packets from the canteen …
Instead of …

Step 2

Students could share their thoughts with the class.

Differentiated learning

Extension

Students could conduct independent research to create a short booklet that accompanies their map or animation. The booklet could contain information about the problems of waste, what actions are already being taken, and what individuals can do to help.

Providing additional learning support

Students requiring support should be incorporated into mixed-ability groups. Maps could be created in a variety of ways, including being created online through a platform like Padlet, or by hand in a collage style.

Take it further

You could work with students to organise a Clean Up event for your local community, using the student works to invite participation from the community.

Teacher reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Clean Up - Map The Litter Trail

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