Students investigate the question, “How can we make the ocean cleaner and keep more plastic out of the ocean?” by connecting their love of beaches and ocean animals to the impacts of pollution, ocean currents, and ecosystem change. With insights from Heal the Bay and beach cleanups, teams compare solutions and develop an educational campaign, plastic alternative, or model pollution-cleaning robot within set criteria and constraints. Students submit proposals and drafts for peer, teacher, and partner feedback, then revise their work using scientific evidence. At an open house, teams present their final product to families and the school community, explaining how it can reduce plastic pollution or protect ocean resources.

Students will explain how plastic pollution and ocean currents affect ocean ecosystems, animals, and natural resources. Using evidence from Heal the Bay and beach cleanups, they will investigate how communities protect the ocean and address, “How can we make the ocean cleaner and keep more plastic out of the ocean?” Teams will compare solutions using criteria and constraints, then create an educational plan, plastic alternative, or model pollution-cleaning robot. Students will use feedback to revise drafts and proposals and communicate their final solution to families and the school community at an open-house exhibition.

Student teams will create an ocean-plastic problem map showing how pollution and currents affect marine ecosystems, then develop and compare solution sketches using agreed-upon criteria and constraints. Teams will submit a proposal and prototype draft for peer, teacher, and Heal the Bay or beach-cleanup partner feedback, then revise using the critique. Each team will produce either a model cleaning robot, a prototype plastic alternative, or an education campaign with clear actions for reducing pollution. At the open house, students will present their final product, scientific evidence, testing results, and recommended community action to families and school members.

Transform the classroom into a shoreline scattered with clean, safe plastic items and images of ocean animals affected by pollution. Teams complete a timed “beach cleanup,” sort what they collect, and observe how floating plastic moves in a small current model. A Heal the Bay educator or short field video connects the simulation to local beach cleanups and invites students to identify impacts on ocean ecosystems. Conclude by introducing, “How can we make the ocean cleaner and keep more plastic out of the ocean?” and collecting students’ first solution ideas.

At an open-house “Cleaner Ocean Design Expo,” teams present a tested cleaning-robot model, plastic alternative, or pollution-reduction education plan to families, school community members, and Heal the Bay or beach-cleanup partners. Each display answers, “How can we make the ocean cleaner and keep more plastic out of the ocean?” and explains how pollution and ocean currents affect ecosystems and animals. Students share drafts, partner and peer feedback, revisions, test results, and how their solution meets limits on materials, time, and cost. Visitors provide feedback and choose one realistic action they will take to reduce plastic pollution.