LDOE Marine Debris and Microplastics

Quality: Excellent Technology: Jamboard, Google Slides, Zoom 

Curriculum Used: Marine Educator curriculum

My mission this summer was to find activities to supplement my oil and gas production/T2 safety system classes. While attending TLS this summer I was told about this professional development. This semester my oil and gas production class created posters about petroleum based products and we discuss marine debris in T2 Safety Systems. Plastic is a petroleum based product. Not to mention it caught my attention, I love classes like this. I get engaged and sometimes forget my main objective.

LDOE Environmental Education did another excellent job. Our facilitator was very knowledgeable. You can tell she has an passion for teaching and saving the environment. Knowing your content and having passion are two important characteristics for teaching especially if you are a science teacher. Unfortunately, I missed the first hour of this professional development due to a prior commitment. My recap will start from the second hour and until the end. Please forgive me if I have miss some details.

I envy environmental science teachers. You guys have some of the best innovating curriculum available. You can walk outside and see a phenomena. This instructional model does this. The instructional model used in this professional development is called MWEE-Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences. This model combines science standards with outdoor field experiences so students can understand the environment better. We learned that there are 4 elements in the MWEE instructional model: Issue definition, outdoor field experiences, synthesis and conclusions, and stewardship. I love this. This model levels the playing field for students and is culturally responsive. This is hands on science at its best. Students get to go outside and collect samples, use equipment that is similar to the equipment used in environmental laboratories, create, and analyze their own data. We work through all four elements of the process. I love that she gave more than enough resources. This curriculum can easily be modified for your student needs. 

Here are my key takeaways: 

What is a MWEE?

"Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences, or MWEEs, are the cornerstone upon which the region’s environmental literacy efforts have been built. MWEEs connect standards-based classroom learning with outdoor field experiences to create a deeper understanding of the environment. Through MWEEs, students of all ages develop a sense of environmental ethics and stewardship that will be essential to the long-term sustainability of our local watersheds and will serve as the foundation of a lifelong relationship with the environment." Baybackpack 

There are 4 elements: 

1. Issue Definition (What problem do we see?) 
2. Outdoor field experiences (Where do we collect data?) 
3. Synthesis and Conclusions (What does our data tell us?) 
4. Stewardship (What can we do the help?) 

Video: Introduction to MWEE 

1. Issue Definition (What problem do we see?)

• Driving Question for the Investigative Phenomena 
• What are the solutions to reducing plastic waste in the ocean? 
• Where is the "missing 99% of ocean plastic?" 
• Benefits: Students will get to participate in: Problem Based Learning-MWEE Field Experience: beach and local watersheds,  class investigation, independent research,  citizen science,  stewardship projects
• Investigative Phenomena-Data Table-Marine Debris of Lake Pontchartrain Completed-Notice, Wonder, and Surprise Chart via Jamboard 
• Why so many small plastic items-drainage in New Orleans 
• Can categorize types of plastic fragments in their data 
• Plastic fragments-unrecognizable tiny piece of plastic 
• Some straws can be identified by local business-possible student investigation. 
• Students can go to businesses to ask how they can cut back on straw usage. 

2. Outdoor Field Experiences-Pontchartrain Conservancy Project 

• Has a partnership with Pontchartrain Conservancy-NOAA BWET Project 
• Where student independent driven research takes place. 
• Students sampled water and sand at Pontchartrain Beach in New Orleans 
• Has an filtration process 
• Has an laboratory available for lab analysis 
• Video: Why do we study microplastics? 
• Students learn to distinguish between organic and inorganic sample 
• You can take your students somewhere local 
• We viewed a video on water sampling and filtration 
• We discussed what would be some of the challenges and opportunities for implementing MWEE at our school 
• Teachers mentioned: Field Trips and Technology 
• NOAA and Louisiana Sea Grant-Grants for Bus Funding 
• Getting experts to speak with students instead of using technology 

 3. Synthesis and Conclusions Microplastics. What does the research tells us?

• Listened to a podcast by Dr. Marc Benfield (LSU)-River of Plastic and watched video Micro and Nano Plastic Research-Oregon State University 
• We then viewed lesson samples form Oregon Coast STEM and MDP Viewed: Lesson 2- Small plastic, Big problems-Oregon Coast STEM and NOAA Lesson page 22: Trash Tracker, NOAA Educators Guide to Marine Debris 
• I love the fact that students were given data tables to get evidence and make conclusions as well.
• Well written and can be used in every grade band 
• Nano plastics and Microplastics- Dr. Mark Benfield is willing to come out and speak to students.
• Students may be able to see microplastics at school depending on microscopes available at school. 
• If not available contact, Pontchartrain Conservatory
• Filtration flask, density -available to be loaned out Pontchartrain Conservancy 
• Marine Educator curriculum 
• News Article: Impacts of Microplastics on Marine Life. National Geographic

 4. Stewardship (What can we do to help?). 

Lesson 3: Mitigating Microplastics How can we change our habits? How can we help others change?

• Engineer Design Project: Student comes up with ways to answer the essential question 
• Student uses data to design a solution to reduce microplastics 
• We were given graphic organizers with 4 categories 
• Discussed laws that we have to reduce microplastics 
• Curriculum has graphic organizers to assist students in organizing information during the design process.