Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes

Tune In: What do we know about rubbish?

20 minutes

Find Out: Rubbish investigations: exploring sensory tables

15 minutes

Take Action: Rubbish in our oceans

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will..

Students learn about rubbish as a material and how rubbish can be harmful in our oceans.

Success criteria

Students can..

identify materials rubbish can be made out of (i.e. plastic, metal, rubber)
follow a sequence to find out how rubbish reaches the sea.

Tune In: What do we know about rubbish?

Preparation: Collect a range of rubbish materials, such as shopping bags, juice containers, hard plastic lids, paper, cardboard, small paper boxes, tin foil, cans, plastic cling wrap, wrappers, yogurt containers, etc. Before students arrive, arrange the plastics and rubbish on separate tables, grouping each material together. Make sure that the materials are clean and safe for students to handle. Please use recycled materials where possible to reduce the waste created through this lesson.

Step 1

Begin by inviting students to participate in a turn and talk activity:

Turn and talk is a strategy used to initiate a classroom discussion where all students are actively involved at once. In pairs, students take turns speaking and listening in response to the questions below. With early years students, it is good to model this with another student before they start their own turn and talk time. This technique allows you to activate and assess prior knowledge about the topic. It is easy to observe, involves everyone and it is also a good way to provide peer to peer learning so students can listen and learn from each other. It is also an opportunity to clarify language and introduce new concepts.

Use the following questions in your turn and talk activity, posing one question at a time:

What is rubbish?
Where does rubbish come from?
Where does rubbish go?

Step 2

Move around the class and listen to some of the discussions that are taking place. Create a brief summary of the ideas that surfaced during the turn and talk time. Record these responses on the board for all students to read.

Find Out: Rubbish investigations: exploring sensory tables

Step 1

Explain to students that rubbish comes in all shapes and sizes and is made of many different materials. In this next activity, tell students they will be developing their scientific inquiry skills by investigating the properties of materials. Students will be asked to investigate what plastic, paper and metal (e.g. foil) can do.

Depending on age and ability, students can work individually or collaboratively in small teams (one to three students). Mixed ability groups work well in this activity.

Step 2

Give each student or group a copy of the Student Worksheet and invite students to visit each sensory table to work out the properties of the waste materials displayed. Students need to use their sense of sight to record what they see, and use their sense of touch to squash, pull and stretch the materials and record their findings on the Student Worksheet.

Step 3

Once complete, regroup students and engage them in a brief discussion about their findings. Use these guiding questions:

What did you find out about the rubbish items?
Where do these items come from? What were they made to do?
What could they be made into if they are recycled?

Discuss with students that recycling can change items from soft plastics into hard plastics by adding heat and changing their shape. Plastics can be made into lots of different items like park seats, clothing, etc. Aluminum cans and metal can be recycled and turned into new cans.

Step 4

Now watch the following clip as a class. This will help to cement some of the vocabulary and concepts explored in this activity:

How recycling works! - Kids Sci (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlRVPum9cp4)

Once complete, invite students to share their thoughts about this clip. Use this as an opportunity to clarify concepts and vocabulary. Consider the following questions in your discussion:

What did you see in this clip? What happened?
What information was new to you?
What did you find interesting or important?
Were there any words in this clip you hadn't heard before or don't know the meaning of?
What questions do you have about this clip?

Tip: You could record student thoughts and use some of these ideas to guide further discussion or inquiry.

Take Action: Rubbish in our oceans

Step 1

Now, discuss with your students that when plastics items are found in our oceans it is called pollution. In fact, large areas of the ocean are full of plastic pollution. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of these areas. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a large area of plastic pollution swirling around in the Pacific Ocean (consider directing students to a map). Most of the plastic pollution in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from the land: currents carry the pollution from the land to the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

One example that illustrates the potential for plastics to travel our oceans for a long period of time are the shipping container of rubber duckies lost at sea in 1992. Over 20 years later, and some of these toys have traveled half way around the world. They have been sited in Hawaii, Alaska, South America, Australia, Scotland, and Newfoundlands. Read more about the shipping container of rubber duckies here: What can 28,000 rubber duckies lost at sea teach us about our oceans?

So what is rubbish made of and why is it ending up in the ocean? As a whole class watch the following clip:

How much plastic is in the ocean? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFZS3Vh4lfI)

You could also watch the following clip until 1:34:

Corporate responsibility (https://vimeo.com/1056609430/02c62611af)

Step 2

Ask the students the following questions, listening to responses and recording their ideas on the board.

What did you see in this clip? What happened?
Were there any words in this clip you hadn't heard before or don't know the meaning of?
How does plastics get to the ocean?
Why is this a problem for living things?
What other interesting or surprising things did you find out from these clips?
What questions do you now have about this clip?

Reflection

Step 1

Arrange students in a circle. Facilitate a class discussion highlighting students' learning in this lesson. Ask students to think of one thing they knew about rubbish and pollution before they started this lesson.

Step 2

Next, invite students to think of one thing they learned about rubbish and pollution during this lesson.

Step 3

Finally, ask student to think about what they can do to reduce plastic and rubbish reaching the ocean. Invite students to 'pair-share' their thoughts with the person on their right.

Assessment

Teachers can use the following items as part of their formative assessment.

Participated in developing communication skills by taking part in turn and talk discussions.
Completed worksheet with a table to record their observations.
Made observations at the sensory tables using sight and touch.
Watched a video clip for understanding.

For summative assessment, visit the Drawing Conclusions lesson: Blue: Ocean Guardians Caring For Our Oceans – F to 2.

Take it further

Invite students to apply their learning in a real world context by participating in the lesson: Ocean Guardians Being Turtle-Friendly - Social Action - Year F, 1 & 2.

A Little Bit Of Rubbish Goes A Long Way

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Summary

Learning intentions

Students will..

Success criteria

Lesson guides and printables

Lesson Details

Skills

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Info

Related Professional Learning

In this lesson