Students will launch the Earth Day action project by building shared background knowledge about litter, waste, and community solutions, then gather firsthand campus evidence and record an initial evidence-based position about how the school should reduce litter and improve recycling or composting systems.

Students will weigh competing ideas about how to reduce campus litter, collect quick field evidence, and write an early position supported by initial reasons, observations, and a respectful response to another view.

Students will gather and evaluate evidence from community partner materials, school observations, and research sources; sort support and counterevidence for their chosen position; and build a clear claim with sub-claims, evidence, reasoning, and a respectful response to another view.

Students will strengthen their evidence-based Earth Day arguments by using Critical Friends critique, revising PSA and presentation materials, rehearsing responses to counterarguments, and completing a public defense before reflecting on how evidence shaped their thinking and action plans.

Students will present their Earth Day action products to authentic audiences, defend their proposed school solutions with evidence, gather audience feedback through QR codes and commitment responses, and complete a final reflection about caring for the planet and the changes they can make in their school and community.