VIMS – Marine Science: Microplastics

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JASON Learning and VIMS have partnered to give students compelling information about our diverse waterways and the environmental impact of common but destructive practices with plastics and waste. Your students will learn how we can all work together to better protect our health and aquatic environments with the VIMS – Marine Science: Microplastics Curriculum and the Beyond the Water Bottle: Minimizing Microplastic Pollution Design Thinking Challenge. These resources will educate, motivate, and challenge your students with a focus on personal responsibility as well as an emphasis on Marine Science and the environment.

Examples of Key Concepts & Vocabulary:
Design thinking, citizen science, microplastic debris, life cycle analysis, decomposition, circular economy, environmental impact, and prototype.

Appropriate Age Levels:
Grades 6-12

Included Materials:

Mission 1: Beyond the Water Bottle: Minimizing the Microplastic Pollution
Plastics have dramatically improved the quality of almost every aspect of our lives. We simply cannot live without them, but how might we live smarter with them? In this challenge, students are guided by VIMS Researcher Meredith Evans Seeley as they learn about the pervasive nature of microplastics and flesh out a solution to reduce plastic debris in their community to protect our health and aquatic environments better.