a 2 minute video describing the problems that albatrosses face when they ingest plastic.

Students act as engineers to learn about the strengths of various epoxy-amine mixtures and observe the unique characteristics of different mixtures of epoxies and hardeners. Student groups make and optimize thermosets by combining two chemicals in exacting ratios to fabricate the strongest and/or most flexible thermoset possible.

Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash. Now he's drawing attention to the growing, choking problem of plastic debris in our seas. A quiz, thought provoking question, and links for further study are provided to create a lesson around the 7-minute video. Educators may use the platform to easily "Flip" or create their own lesson for use with their students of any age or level.

Polymers are a vital part of our everyday lives and nearly all consumer products have a plastic component of some variation. Students explore the basic characteristics of polymers through the introduction of two polymer categories: thermoplastics and thermosets. During teacher demos, students observe the unique behaviors of thermoplastics. The fundamentals of thermoset polymers are discussed, preparing them to conduct the associated activity in which they create their own thermoset materials and mechanically test them. At the conclusion of this lesson-activity pair, students understand the basics of thermoplastics and thermosets, which may entice their interest in polymer engineering.

Geographic information systems (GIS), once used predominantly by experts in cartography and computer programming, have become pervasive in everyday business and consumer use. This unit explores GIS in general as a technology about which much more can be learned, and it also explores applications of that technology. Students experience GIS technology through the use of Google Earth on the environmental topic of plastics in the ocean in an area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The use of this topic in GIS makes the unit multidisciplinary, incorporating the physics of ocean currents, the chemistry associated with pollutant degradation and chemical sorption to organic-rich plastics, and ecological impact to aquatic biota.

Les océans de la Terre et le cycle interconnecté de l'eau et des cours d'eau sont essentiels à tous les organismes vivants de la Terre. Pourtant, la santé de ces océans et, par le fait même, le bien-être de toutes les formes de vie sur Terre, est en grande partie menacée par les impacts de l'activité humaine. Le plastique est omniprésent dans nos océans et il va falloir une transformation profonde de la conscience et des activités de l'humanité concernant les océans pour assurer une vie saine et durable sur cette planète

Nous croyons que c'est possible! Mais nous avons besoin de votre aide. Nos jeunes doivent être sensibilisés à leur propre utilisation du plastique et à l'impact direct de leurs actions sur l'environnement qui les entoure. Grâce à ces ressources, nous espérons que les jeunes deviendront des leaders du changement - et tout cela commence dans votre salle de classe.

Disponible aux niveaux maternelle, primaire et secondaire, et pour éducateurs francophones et anglophones.

Boîte à outils pour enseignants
Liens vers les normes d’apprentissage prescrites par province
Plan unitaire pour enseignants
Cahier d’exercices pour les étudiants

Students take part in a hypothetical scenario that challenges them to inform customers at a local restaurant of how their use and disposal of plastics relates/contributes to the Great Pacific garbage patch (GPGP). What students ultimately do is research information on the plastics pollution in the oceans and present that information as a short, eye-catching newsletter suitable to hand out to restaurant customers. This activity focuses on teaching students to conduct their own research on a science-technology related topic and present it in a compelling manner that includes citing source information without plagiarism. By doing this, students gain experience and skills with general online searching as well as word processing and written and visual communication.

Learn more about the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, including information on the sources and impacts of shoreline litter and what our national network of volunteers are doing to make a positive difference! Explore interactive maps that contain data from cleanups across Canada in 2017 and discover the most common items found on shorelines. We also provide ideas for how you can get involved by reducing your use and leading a shoreline cleanup in your community!

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is an intriguing and publicized environmental problem. This swirling soup of trash up to 10 meters deep and just below the water surface is composed mainly of non-degradable plastics. These plastic materials trap aquatic life and poison them by physical blockage or as carriers of toxic pollutants. The problem relates to materials science and the advent of plastics in modern life, an example of the unintended consequences of technology. Through exploring this complex issue, students gain insight into aspects of chemistry, oceanography, fluids, environmental science, life science and even international policy. As part of the GIS unit, the topic is a source of content for students to create interesting maps communicating something that they will likely begin to care about as they learn more.

Empowering our children to change the world!
LSF is transforming Canada’s education system through innovative programs that empower youth and educators to create more sustainable communities.

Teacher resources include:
PD Workshops
Pedagogical Resources
Lesson Plans
Engaging Students in Action

Plastic is in the ocean. We all know it. But how did it get there? Why did no one see it coming? Is it really that big of a problem? Learn more through exploring this interactive map and receive challenges to help you tackle the plastic problem in your own community.

Educator Tool Kits - a comprehensive, bilingual education program designed to educate students across Canada. Themes connect to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The program provides educators across the country with a Teacher tool kit and Student workbook for 7 lesson unit plan, including assessment rubrics, curriculum links for all Territories and Provinces, and dozens of explaining videos, all in one convenient place.

Teachers Leading Change - lessons, curriculum, resources

Grades 2/3, 7/8 & 10/11

The following file contains the assets (or resources) to accompany the Sask DLC Environmental 20 course. Please note that this is not the content of the course, but the assets used to support and deliver it. The files are organized in a zipped folder. You can download it and extract the files. Links are provided to other resources that may also be useful. 

After a brief history of plastics, students look more closely as some examples from the abundant types of plastics found in our day-to-day lives. They are introduced to the mechanical properties of plastics, including their stress-strain relationships, which determine their suitability for different industrial and product applications. These physical properties enable plastics to be fabricated into a wide range of products. Students learn about the different roles that plastics play in our lives, Young's modulus, and the effects that plastics have on our environment. Then students act as industrial engineers, conducting tests to compare different plastics and performing a cost-benefit analysis to determine which are the most cost-effective for a given application, based on their costs and measured physical properties.

Students learn that engineers develop different polymers to serve various functions and are introduced to selectively permeable membranes. In a warm-up activity, they construct models of selectively permeable membranes using common household materials, and are reminded about simple diffusion and passive transport. In the main activity, student pairs test and compare the selective permeability of everyday polymer materials engineered for food storage (including plastic grocery bags, zipper sandwich bags, and plastic wrap) with various in-solution molecules (iodine, corn starch, food coloring, marker dye), assess how the polymer’s permeability relates to its function/purpose, and compare that to the permeability of dialysis tubing (which simulates a cell membrane).

Teach your students how to make plastic out of milk in this hands-on lesson plan! You will conduct a simple milk-transforming experiment to explore how plastics can be derived from a natural resource such as milk. Students will perform their own experiments and can even create a product from their resulting organic casein polymer.
This resource states that it is appropriate for grade 6-8 however I am going to use it with the grade 5 Properties of Matter unit.

Through an adult-led field trip, students organized into investigation teams catalogue the incidence of plastic debris in different environments. They investigate these plastics according to their type, age, location and other characteristics that might indicate what potential they have for becoming part of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP). Students collect qualitative and quantitative data that may be used to create a Google Earth layer as part of a separate activity that can be completed at a computer lab at school or as homework. The activity is designed as a step on the way to student's creation of their own GIS Google Earth layer. It is, however, possible for the field trip to be a useful learning experience unto itself that does not require this last GIS step.

In a student-led and fairly independent fashion, data collected in the associated field trip activity are organized by student groups to create useful and informative Google Earth maps. Each team creates a map, uses that map to analyze the results, adjusts the map to include the analysis results, and then writes a brief summary of findings. Primarily, questions of fate-and-transport of plastics are are explored. If data was gathered in the field trip but the teacher does not desire to do the mapping activity, then alternative data presentation and analysis methods are suggested.