Plastic pollution
Plastic
Four free lessons for ages 9 to 15
Only 9% of the world's plastic waste is recycled, and the Philippines is home to many of the rivers carrying the most plastic into the sea. These four lessons follow plastic from our homes to the ocean, look at what it does to sea life, and end with students taking action.
- Ages
- 9 to 15
- Time
- About an hour per lesson, plus an optional project
- Subjects
- Science, maths, English and social studies
- Hands-on
- Mystery bags, a microplastic hunt, a plastic tracker and a real clean-up
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Lesson 1: Where does plastic go?
Mystery bags of everyday plastic, how plastic reaches the sea through rivers, why sachets are such a problem, and why the famous 450-years posters can't be trusted.
- Ages
- 9 to 15
- Time
- 60 minutes
- You need
- A bag of clean, used plastic items per group
-
Lesson 2: Plastic and ocean life
How plastic tangles and poisons sea animals, a rubber band escape challenge, a microplastic hunt in a cup of sand, and ocean hero stories.
- Ages
- 9 to 15
- Time
- 60 to 75 minutes
- You need
- Rubber bands, sand samples, jars and a sieve
-
Lesson 3: How much plastic do we use?
Students track their own single-use plastic, chart the class results, then follow plastic across the ocean to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
- Ages
- 9 to 15
- Time
- 20 minutes, then 45 minutes a few days later
- You need
- Just the printouts
-
Lesson 4: Take action on plastic
Who can fix the plastic problem, what Philippine law says, and a class project: a clean-up with data, a campaign or an upcycling challenge.
- Ages
- 9 to 15
- Time
- 60 minutes, plus time for the project
- You need
- Gloves and sacks if you run a clean-up
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Bring your students to the reef
We host school groups at our base in Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental, for diving or snorkelling, beach clean-ups and tree planting alongside our conservation team. Every visit follows our child protection policy.