Students investigate how water scarcity and plastic pollution connect local water use to watersheds, ocean gyres, ecosystems, supply chains, policy, and communities in the Eastern Hemisphere. Launched by a plastic-ocean documentary, the trash vortex, and reflection on what people expect from water, teams pursue the question, “In what ways can our school and community respond to water scarcity to create a model of sustainable water use that inspires others globally?” With guidance from water-treatment staff, water employees, and biologists, students conduct credible research and a school water or waste audit, analyze root causes, and iteratively design a PSA, argumentative essay, poster, image, or practical solution. Students set goals and document progress in logs and journals, using organizers, exit tickets, conferences, and peer and teacher critique to revise before presenting to peers, teachers, families, and community members.

Students will explain how water scarcity and plastic pollution connect local water systems to Eastern Hemisphere communities and global oceans through watersheds, currents, gyres, material breakdown, and food webs. They will conduct short research using credible scientific and civic sources, analyze water-use or waste-audit data, and evaluate environmental impacts, policies, economics, and cultural or historical perspectives. In equitable teams, students will use root-cause analysis and feedback from water-treatment employees, biologists, peers, and teachers to design, test, and revise a feasible method for monitoring and minimizing human impacts on water. Students will advocate for sustainable water use through an evidence-based PSA, argumentative essay, poster, image, or prototype presented to peers, teachers, families, and community members, while documenting goals, progress, setbacks, and revisions in journals, logs, organizers, exit tickets, and conferences.

Teams will create a school water-and-plastic audit, watershed pathway map, root-cause analysis, and research organizer using credible local and global evidence. Each team will design and test a sustainable water-use solution, such as a monitoring method, waste-reduction prototype, policy proposal, or community action plan, with guidance from water treatment staff, biologists, or water employees. Students will transform their evidence and solution into a PSA, podcast, poster, argumentative article, or product prototype, revising drafts through peer and teacher critique. Journals, project logs, exit tickets, conference notes, and peer feedback will document progress, and final products will be presented to peers, teachers, families, and community members at a public water event.

Begin with a short, age-appropriate plastic-ocean documentary clip, then reveal sealed samples of clean-looking water and simulated “polluted” water that students observe but never touch or taste. Teams map how local plastic waste can travel through watersheds and currents into an ocean trash vortex, then record what they expect safe, sustainable water systems to provide. A water-treatment employee or biologist presents a brief community challenge connecting plastic pollution, water scarcity, and local water use before introducing the essential question. Students create a class “notice, wonder, need to know” board and complete a journal entry and exit ticket naming one question, one possible solution, and one collaboration goal.

Host a community Water Solutions Expo where teams present PSAs, argumentative essays, posters, data visualizations, or prototypes connecting local water use and plastic waste to global impacts. Peers, teachers, families, community members, and representatives from the water treatment plant—including biologists and water employees—rotate through presentations and provide feedback on scientific evidence, feasibility, and cultural or historical considerations. Students invite visitors to support one concrete school or community action, while selected articles or PSAs are submitted to a local news outlet and displayed in the library or on the school website. Each student closes with a brief journal reflection and conference explaining how audience feedback could improve the proposed solution.