Students will launch the project by modeling an ocean trash vortex, examining competing perspectives on plastic pollution, and drafting an initial evidence-based argument that they will test and refine throughout the project.

Students will examine competing claims about responsibility for ocean plastic pollution, analyze evidence from Trash Vortex and A Plastic Ocean, trace plastic through interconnected human and Earth systems, and complete an initial position packet that will guide later research and the required argumentative essay.

Students will investigate competing explanations and solutions for ocean plastic pollution in a specific Eastern Hemisphere context. They will evaluate varied sources, collect confirming and disconfirming evidence, compare possible interventions, and create a documented evidence matrix that supports their later argumentative essays.

Students will build, critique, and revise evidence-based arguments about responsibility for ocean plastic pollution and context-appropriate solutions in the Eastern Hemisphere. They will complete an argumentative essay and revision appendix while refining their team systems map and preparing evidence-based responses to likely challenges.

Students will strengthen their evidence-based defenses through peer critique, then present and submit their final arguments and context-specific ocean-plastic solutions at an authentic-audience summit.