Figure 5: Plastic bags with organisms representing different levels of the food chain
pated. After completing the kit, students said that the ocean basin activity in Activity 3 was their favorite part. One stu- dent said, "This was awesome! Very fun to learn about plastic and how it affects the ocean." Another one said, "Awesome project! This was very informational." Lastly, we assessed awareness of the plastic pollution prob- lem with a 1–5 Likert scale, with 1 being not very aware, and 5 being very aware. A two-tailed paired samples t-test demonstrated a significant difference between the average awareness before completing the activity (M = 3.87, SD = 0.68, n = 47) and after completing the activity (M = 4.66, SD = 0.23, n = 47), t(46) = 6.93, p < 0.01. Thus, student knowl- edge and awareness about the plastic pollution problem sig- nificantly increased after completing the activities in the kit, with most students answering a 5 (very aware).
Summary The Plankton to Plastic Pollution kit represents a collabora- tion between university scientists, undergraduates, and edu- cational specialists with the aim of educating students about the origins and problems with plastic pollution. This self- guided, inquiry-based kit invites students to participate in the process of science by investigating natural patterns. Scientific participation takes the form of graphing and analyzing data, making predictions about the future based upon past data, creating scientific illustrations to make precise observations and measurements, using and evaluating models, collecting and sharing data, and applying new knowledge to journaling exercises. It is our hope that Plankton to Plastic Pollution will help students develop an awareness of the threats plastic pol- lution poses for Earth’s oceans and encourage them to make more sustainable decisions each day.
Acknowledgements Funding for this project was provided through a grant from the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Lan- guage Program, U.S. Department of Education, awarded to the Office of International Programs, Colorado State University.
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Andrew Warnock, Lynne Judish, and Courtney Butler make up the Education and Outreach Center (EOC) at Colorado State University. This is an entity of the College of Natural Sciences where both Zoë Tauxe and Andrew Allsup are students. Andrew Allsup is a Student Assistant and Pre-service teacher working at the EOC. He met Ursula Quillmann while attending one of her classes. Mike Viney is a retired school teacher of 30 years and has worked for the EOC in his spare time for over 20 years. All of these individuals have come together to form the plastics team.
Endnotes:
1. Toxicologic Threats of Plastic. United States Environmental Protection Agency, accessed 17, October, 2018:
https://www.epa.gov/trash-free-wa- ters/toxicological-threats-plastic
2. Takada, H., 2013, Microplastics and the threat to our Seafood, Ocean Health Index, accessed 17, October, 2018: http://www.oceanhealthindex. org/news/Microplastics
3. Thompson, R. C., Y. Olsen, R. P. Mitchell, A. Davis, S. J. Rowland, A. W. G. John, D. McGonigle, and A. E. Russel, 2004, Lost at Sea: Where is All the Plastic? Science, v. 304, n. 5672, p. 838.
4. Jamieson, A. J., L. S. R. Brooks, W. D. K. Reid, S. B. Piertney, B. E. Narayanaswamy, and T. D. Linley, 2019, Microplastics and synthetic parti- cles ingested by deep-sea amphipods in six of the deepest marine ecosys- tems on Earth, Royal Society Open Science, v. 6, n.2.
5. Sam, M., 2018, Trashing the Tanks, American Scientist, v. 106, n.6, p. 340- 343.
6. Parker, L., Planet or Plastic? National Geographic Website, accessed 17 July 2019,
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plas- tic-planet-waste-pollution-trash-crisis/#close
7. Jambeck, J.R., R. Geyer, C. Wilcox, T.R. Siegler, M. Perryman, A. Andrady, R. Narayan, and K. L. Law, 2015, Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean, Science, v. 347, n. 6223, p. 768-771.
8. Plastic bioaccumulation in the food web, GRID Arendal, accessed 17, October, 2018,
http://www.grida.no/resources/6917.
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Photo by Sam Harsh
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