Microplastics- Teacher’s Resource

Objective: For students to explore the current environmental issues in Ontario, Canada and around the world.

Materials Needed:

• Student activity sheets (provided below)

• Computers, phones, tablets, etc.

• Teacher resource (provided)

Time Needed:

• Approximately 1 class period

Prep:

• Complete one of the following lessons:

  • ​Geography: A. Physical Patterns in a Changing World

  • Geography: B. Natural Resources around the World: Use and Sustainability

  • Science: A. Understanding Structures and Mechanisms

  • Science: B. Understanding Matter and Energy

• Book computer lab, computer carts, etc.

• Print off student activity sheets (1 per person)

Guiding Questions:

• Why do different people have different responses to the environment and the opportunities and challenges it presents?

• Why do we need to consider various perspectives when determining the impact of human activities?

• Why would people continue to use methods that contribute to destroying our environment when there are more environmentally safer ways?

• Why is it important for companies to find out what consumers want now and what they might want and/or need in the future?

• What would be the impact on depleted fisheries in a developing nation versus Canada?

Execution:

• Organize students into groups of 3 to 4

• Hand out student activity sheets

• Have students use the provided websites to access the information

• Once students are complete the activity sheet, discuss as a class, or have them hand in (answers are provided for you in the teacher resource, please note, students do not have to  answer word for word, as long as they have a general idea)

Integrated Expectations across subject matters:

Language: Reading

• Read and demonstrate an understanding of informational texts using a range of strategies to construct meaning.

Language: Media Literacy

• Use overt and implied messages to draw inferences and construct meaning in media texts;

• Identify whose point of view is presented or reflected in a media text, citing supporting evidence from the text, and suggest how the text might change if a different point of view were used.

Science

• Analyze the effects of human activities on habitats and communities.

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Resources used:

Videos

Ewing, B. (Director). (2018). Canada's Plastic Pollution Problem - Take Action [Video file]. Retrieved December 8, 2020, from

News, S. (Director). (2018). Dirty Business: What really happens to your recycling [Video file]. Retrieved December 8, 2020, from

K. (Director). (2018). Plastic Pollution: How Humans are Turning the World into Plastic [Video file]. Retrieved December 8, 2020, from

News, C. (Director). (2019). Tracking your plastic: Exposing recycling myths (Marketplace) [Video file]. Retrieved from

Websites

Pope, S. (2020, July 06). Researchers find microplastics in nearly every sample taken in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. Retrieved December 07, 2020, from

Case - Microplastics. (n.d.). Retrieved December 07, 2020, from http://www.waterkeeper.ca/cases-microplastics

Canada, O. (2020, September 29). Drowning in Plastic: New Report Shows Canada Contributes Disproportionately to the Global Plastic Disaster. Retrieved December 08, 2020, from

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Newspaper Articles

Semeniuk, I. (2020, June 18). Canadian Arctic awash in microplastics, study finds. Retrieved December 07, 2020, from

Desai, D. (2019, August 27). It's raining plastic in Canada, scientists say. But no one knows the source or toxicity. Retrieved December 07, 2020, from

Government Sources

Canada, E. (2020, October 07). Canada one-step closer to zero plastic waste by 2030. Retrieved December 07, 2020, from

Canada, H. (2020, October 09). Government of Canada. Retrieved December 07, 2020, from

Parks Canada Agency, G. (2018, October 25). Microplastics: More than a drop in the ocean. Retrieved December 07, 2020, from

JavaScript is required to view this site. (n.d.). Retrieved December 07, 2020, from

Worksheets

Teacher's Resources