Lesson overview
In this lesson, students develop their understanding of how human actions can have a negative impact on the marine environment. The context of this lesson is investigating the amount of microplastics that students use every day in personal hygiene products.
Learning outcomes
- Define microplastics (Foundation)
- Give sources of microplastics (Foundation)
- Define and use the term 'microplastic' correctly (Developing)
- Describe how to use sampling techniques (Competent)
- Apply sampling techniques (Competent)
- Switch between multiples of units (Expert)
- Use standard form (Expert)
Lesson steps
- Brief from Dr Matt Cole (5 mins)
Use the slides to set the context and share the learning outcomes. - Where do microplastics come from? (10 mins)
Using the slides, students learn what microplastics are and where they come from.
Using the slide-based traffic lights game to assess students’ learning. - Practical work (25 mins)
Students investigate how much microplastic is in different personal hygiene products. - Summary assessment worksheet (15 mins)
Students demonstrate their learning by answering questions on Student Sheet 3b. - Self-reflection (5 mins)
Students reflect on their learning by composing a tweet, complete with appropriate hashtags and emojis.
Home learning
Using Student Sheet 3c, students conduct a survey at home to see which of their own personal hygiene products contain microplastic.
Flip it
Ask students complete the hunt prior to the lesson. Use this as a discussion point in Step 1 to illustrate how prolific microplastic use is.