The 2023 Marine Debris Calendar is available! This year’s calendar features artwork from thirteen students in kindergarten through eighth grade from nine states and two U.S. territories, all winners of the “Keep the Sea Free of Debris” art contest.
Artwork by Magdalene F. (Grade 8, Florida), winner of the Annual NOAA Marine Debris Program Art Contest.
Back to School!
Whether you're teaching in the classroom yourself, supporting homeschool or after-school learning, or just looking to refresh your resources for the fall, you can find many marine debris education materials on the For Educators page of our website. We've also packed this newsletter with even more helpful resources!
And be sure to check out this issue's activity: Setting strong recycling routines for your school or classroom community!
Enthusiastically,
Alexandria Gillen,
NOAA Marine Debris Program Education Specialist
Back to School Blogs
Artwork by Kelsen S. (Grade 3, Hawai'i), winner of the Annual NOAA Marine Debris Program Art Contest.
As you prepare for a new year of learning, check out the many educational resources for students and teachers available on the Marine Debris Program blog. Here are just a few of our back-to-school topics:
The ideas, projects, and strategies from One Cool Earth's Marine Debris Prevention Best Practices Manual can help set the tone for marine debris prevention right from the start of the school year (Credit: One Cool Earth).
Created by One Cool Earth with funding provided by the NOAA Marine Debris Program, this Marine Debris Prevention Best Practices Manual is a comprehensive guide to help establish lasting change on school campuses. It covers tips and tricks for engaging students in assessing school waste, bringing student leaders together into “Green Teams,” and supporting the entire school community with marine debris prevention. Learn creative ways to minimize waste in the classroom, in the cafeteria, in school gardens, and on the playground. These strategies are accompanied by case studies, standards-aligned lesson plans, videos, and other resources.
These Laysan albatrosses are very excited for you to integrate ocean and climate literacy into your teaching this year! (Credit: NOAA.)
Check out the Ocean Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts, Climate Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts, and a variety of supporting documents to support ocean and climate literacy in the classroom this year!
Many scientists and educators collaborated to produce these resources, building on efforts to define ocean and climate literacy and identify the principles and concepts that should be included in K-12 curricula. A practical resource for educators, these guides outline the knowledge required to be considered ocean and climate literate.
This issue of The Earth Scientist features stories from NOAA Planet Stewards educators and their stewardship projects across the country (Credit: National Earth Science Teachers' Association).
Hot off the press! In the latest issue of The Earth Scientist read new stories of how NOAA Planet Stewards educators engaged their students, schools, and communities to affect real and lasting changes. Check out the two stories about marine debris prevention efforts!
One of the main questions asked by youth all over the world is: what can I do? If you’re a young person looking to get involved in ocean activism, Ocean Uprise Toolkits guide you on how to take action for the oceans in your community! These toolkits are action manuals designed to assist young people interested in protecting the oceans and getting their activism journey started.
Your photo could be featured here! Enter the Get Into Your Sanctuary photo contest by September 4 (Credit: NOAA).
Calling all photographers, regardless of skill level or experience, select your best photos to participate in the 2023 Get Into Your Sanctuary Photo Contest. We will be accepting submissions in a number of categories, including Sanctuary Views, Sanctuary Life, Sanctuary Recreation, Sanctuaries at Home, and Sanctuaries Around the World.
Remember to practice responsible recreation when taking your photos. When photographing marine mammals and other protected species, always follow wildlife viewing guidelines to ensure that you are not disturbing these animals.
Artwork by Xhian R. (Grade 2, U.S. Virgin Islands), winner of the Annual NOAA Marine Debris Program Art Contest.
The National Ocean Sciences Bowl, managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, is a nationally recognized and highly acclaimed high school academic competition that provides a forum for talented students to test their knowledge of the marine sciences including biology, chemistry, physics, and geology. Teams consist of a coach and 4–5 students in grades 9–12.
Prevention of marine debris is one of several priorities for the current Marine Debris Foundation grantmaking oportunity (Credit: NOAA).
The Marine Debris Foundation has launched its first call for proposals, focused on strengthening, enhancing, and improving domestic and international efforts that address the adverse impacts of marine debris on the economy, environment, and/or maritime safety. Proposed projects should fit into one or more of the following marine debris/plastic pollution focal areas: reduction, prevention, removal, and/or assessment.
The NOAA Ocean Acidification Program is pleased to announce the launch of the FY24 Education Mini-Grant Program! This is a competitively-based initiative that supports coastal and ocean acidification education programs. Priority goals include engaging diverse audiences in ocean acidification education and outreach, matching ocean acidification communication needs with existing research, education and outreach activities, while developing innovative approaches for community involvement.
The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) are the highest honors bestowed by the United States government specifically for K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teaching. The award recognizes those teachers that have both deep content knowledge of the subjects they teach and the ability to motivate and enable students to be successful in those areas. Since the program's inception, more than 5,200 teachers have been recognized for their contributions in the classroom and to their profession.
This year's awards will honor science, technology, engineering, or mathematics teachers working in grades K-6.
Check out marine debris projects around the country at the "In Your Region" page.
Featured Activity: Refresh Your Recycling Routines
Building a routine of recycling responsibly starts with engaging students in understanding and sharing how and where to dispose of their waste apporpriately (Credit: Hawai'i Wildlife Fund).
Getting back to school means setting positive routines for the year ahead. Between hand-raising, hallway transitions, and homework, it can be difficult to prioritize classroom waste management over classroom behavior management. In this issue of the Education Newsletter, we're sharing tips on how to make recycling responsibly a part of your classroom culture.
1. Do the "Homework"
Recycling responsibly starts with knowing what can be recycled in your area. Reach out to your school's facilities staff to find out how waste is disposed, and what materials can be recycled. If they are available, have them visit your classroom to build relationships with your students and help the class better understand the life cycle of their waste. Alternatively, work with your students to research what can be recycled on your own!
STEM Connection: Exploring different types of materials is a great way to engage learners in physical sciences at any age. For Elementary School students, try categorizing example items by their material type. For Middle or High Schoolers, use the scientific method to make and test predictions about an item's material.
Some types of plastic bottles are recyclable, but you'll need to research what can be recycled in your area (Credit: NOAA).
2. Choose the "Look"
Decorating and personalizing the classroom can be a big part of classroom culture. By incorporating your recycling station into the overall look of your space, you can show students that taking care of our waste is key to participating in the community. You can have students design and decorate signs with instructions on recycling properly, or you can even have them decorate the bin itself!
STEM Connection: Turn your recycling station into an Engineering Challenge by giving students materials to design their own recycling bin. Consider problems like "How will we make sure people only recycle appropriate materials?" and "How can we make it easy and fun so that everyone wants to recycle right?".
Students in Prince George's County, Maryland, decorated the garbage cans on their campus to make sure visitors threw away trash responsibly (Credit: Alice Ferguson Foundation).
3. Track Progress
By assessing what your class is throwing away and whether they are sorting their waste correctly, you can track how well your routines are working.
A waste audit is a great and easy activity to really examine our impact, and start thinking intentionally about the waste we produce.
Decide how you are going to record your waste. The Trash Tracker worksheet in An Educator’s Guide to Marine Debris is a great place to start your waste audit.
Write down everything your classroom throws away or recycles everyday for the next week.
At the end of the week, have the students tally all the waste they threw away and brainstorm ideas on how they can reduce their trash that may become marine debris.
You can learn more about schoolwide waste audits and other ways to help prevent marine debris at school on our How to Help at School page.
STEM Connection: The data collected during your waste audit is a great way to incorporate meaningful math into your classroom. Use your data for word problems, graphing, statistical analysis, or any math concept that you are covering!
Sorting waste for an audit can be icky sometimes, but is a great opportunity to get outside and build community! (Credit: One Cool Earth.)
4. Extend the Learning All Year
There are many ways you can make sure your recycling routines stick throughout the school year and beyond. Try a few of these ideas to extend the learning!
Try a Campus Debris Survey to see how much trash is getting into your schoolyard
Use outreach campaigns like Trash Shouldn't Splash to connect with the wider community and let your students share their work with others.
Take a field trip to your local waste processor to further explore where trash or recycling goes once it leaves the classroom.
Start a Green Team for student leaders to inspire and coordinate additional marine debris prevention efforts in the community.
Have fun! Celebrate the hard work of recycling responsibly through the Recycling Relay or other marine debris education games.
Student Green Teams can support other campus sustainability efforts, like schoolyard gardens, reducing food waste at lunch, and more! (Credit: One Cool Earth.)
