Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes	Part B: The Final Straw
5 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Begin this lesson by inviting students to share what they know about single-use plastics by engaging them in a barometer activity.

Statements for barometer activity (including suggested discussion points):

I know what single-use plastics are.
Suggested discussion point: Single-use plastics are plastics that are used only once before being thrown away.
Single-use plastics can cause problems for our environment.
Suggested discussion points: Single-use plastics use a lot of energy and resources to make. Sometimes single-use plastics are designed to only be used for 15 minutes (like a plastic bag to get your supermarket shopping home in) and then to be thrown away. This seems like a big waste of the energy and resources required to make them. Also, even though many types of single-use plastics can be recycled, a lot don’t get recycled. When littered, these waste items can end up being blown into waterways and carried into the sea where marine animals mistake them for food, and the chemicals in them end up polluting marine environments.
I know some different types of single-use plastics.
Suggested discussion points: Some examples of plastics designed for single-use include drink bottles (such as water, fizzy drinks and juice), milk bottles, plastic bags, cosmetic containers, food packaging, cotton buds, plastic cutlery, lolly wrappers and straws.

You could use these Single-use Plastics Images to show students different types of single-use plastics.

Step 2.

Now explain to students that in this lesson they will be exploring one particular kind of single-use plastic – plastic straws. Invite students to suggest what they already know about plastic straws, in particular the kinds of problems they can cause in our environment. Record students' suggestions on the board.

Part B: The Final Straw

Step 1.

Students will now watch a clip from War On Waste. In this clip, we explore some of the sources of straws and their impacts on our environment. View on iTunes or Clickview.

Episode 1, The Battle Continues - 5:33 to 7:10

Once complete, invite students to complete a SEE THINK WONDER routine around this clip (questions also available on the Student Worksheet). Students can then share their observations with the class.

Step 2.

Students could watch another clip from the same episode of War On Waste. In this clip we see the impacts of plastic waste on turtles. Note: Some of the footage in this clip might be upsetting for some students; however, it does offer valuable insights into the real impacts of single-use plastics on marine environments. If you are uncomfortable about sharing the clips with students, you could instead provide them with this Straws and Turtles Factsheet to read and annotate.

Episode 1, The Battle Continues - 39:35 to 43:47

You could engage students in a guided discussion around this clip using the following timings and suggested discussion points:

Start at 39:35.
39:49 - Can anyone name the seven species of marine turtles? Which ones live on the Great Barrier Reef?
Suggested answer: Flatback Turtle, Green Turtle, Loggerhead Turtle, Olive Ridley, Leatherback, Hawksbill Turtle and Kemp's Ridley. Australia is home to six of these species, with only the Olive Ridley not being a visitor to Australian waters.
40:50 - Angie has floating syndrome. Floating syndrome is air trapped under the shell of a turtle. If a turtle eats a plastic bag, the bag can get caught in their digestive tract, and the ingested plastic creates a buildup of gas in the turtle’s system, causing them to float. This means they struggle to dive underwater to feed, to avoid predators and it leaves them more vulnerable to being hit by boats. Floating syndrome can also be caused by an impact (for example being hit by a boat) or from being attacked by a predator.
41:37 - "It is a tragedy that someone used a plastic bag for like five or ten minutes, and Angie's going to be stuck with it for years." What do you think or feel about this statement?
43:27 - It's not just turtles that are struggling. Other animals that are also impacted by plastic waste in our oceans include whales, dolphins, seabirds, dugongs, sharks, rays and seals.
43:47 - End.

Once finished, engage students in a brief discussion around the parts of this clip/factsheet that they found most important or interesting, and any questions they have about what they saw. Through this process invite students to summarise what they learnt about the environmental impacts of plastic straws.

Part C: Straws In Our Community

Step 1.

Remind students of the first clip where people went 'straw-kelling' at Manly Beach, finding a lot of straws from lots of different places, such as cafés, fast food restaurants and slushy drinks.

Pose the following question to students:

What might be the alternatives to these plastic straws?

Students should be encouraged to suggest the following:

No straws – as discussed in the first clip, “...unless you have a disability, you don't really need to use a straw, you have a mouth for a reason".
Reusable straws – straws made from stainless steel or glass that can be washed and reused.
Biodegradable straws – such as paper straws or straws made from pasta (https://www.pastastraws.org/), bamboo (https://theotherstraw.com/) or actual straw (https://stroh.com.au/)!

Step 2.

Explain to students that Molly – the young girl in the War On Waste clips – started a campaign against straws called ‘Straw No More’.

If students are interested, they could watch more about Molly and her campaign here – Straw No More | Molly Steer | TEDxJCUCairns (https://youtu.be/Rr5Py1r9xjw)

In the rest of this lesson students will take the message of this campaign to their own schools and communities:

“My name is Molly Steer and I am 11 years old. And I'm on a mission to encourage every school in Australia (and one day, across the whole world) to stop using single-use plastic straws in their school tuck shops and canteens. Why? Because straws really do suck!” (Source: https://www.strawnomore.org/)

Students can work in groups to create a communication piece to encourage people to stop using plastic straws. There are several options for this process, based on age and time:

Conduct further research into the impacts of straws and create a factsheet that can be shared in the school newsletter.
- Older students could focus on how straws (and other types of plastic waste) impact on the growth and survival of marine animals; they could use this information to provide a justification for any proposed alternatives.
- Younger students could focus on why straws made from alternative materials have a lower impact on our environment.
Create an artwork that reflects their own ideas or feelings about this topic.
- These artworks could be shared with the community to drive support for reducing the impacts of single-use plastics.
- Artworks can be accompanied by a short artist's statement to explain the message and artistic intentions of the artist.
- Students could work independently, in pairs or as a class to create their artworks.
- If students need inspiration you could share this image of McChokey from the War On Waste. McChokey is a turtle made of straws, and it was made to share a message that straws (and other types of plastic waste) that end up in our oceans are harmful to animals.
Year 6 - Survey people in their community to find out if they use straws, why do they use them? Students then use the results of their survey to inform their ideas for change. Steps could be:
- Use the following factsheet to design survey questions: Survey Design Tips
- Survey their community (either school or broader community)
- Analyse the results of their data and create graphs/charts to communicate results.
- Use results to suggest ways to stop using plastic straws (e.g. if those surveyed say they need a straw to prevent spillage, students could propose they bring their own reusable straw or that the store provides straws made from something other than plastic for those who really need them)
- Create a flyer or poster that addresses the reasons for using straws suggested by the community and proposing alternatives to plastic straws based on the reasons given
- Students could work as a class to design and conduct their surveys and work in groups to analyse and present the data and propose solutions based on their results.

Step 3.

Allow students time to create their communication pieces.

Step 4.

Before sharing with an audience, invite students to share their work with others in their class. This could be done with each group presenting their work to the class or you could use a gallery walk format for sharing work and providing feedback:

Allow students time to incorporate feedback before sharing with your main audience.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to complete the pledge statement (also available on the Student Worksheet):

I pledge to stop using plastic straws because…

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

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

War On Waste - Plastic Straws And Our Environment

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