Recommended:  Grade 5
Time needed:  50 min. class period
 Overview :    Students will learn first hand of the severity of our plastic problem  and 
                           also how it effects their own community.
   Vocabulary
                               *Diversity
                              * Microplastics
                              * Disposable
                              * Biodegradable
                              * Gyre
     Objectives :
                              *Students will be able to understand the problem of plastics in our society today.
                              *Students  will see for themselves the diversity in trash.
                              *Students will develop a way to solve the problem.
       Project Materials:
                                * Trash that has been cleaned
                                * Calculator
                                * Paper,  map of the two floating islands of plastic and trash in our Pacific Ocean.
                                * Recyclables, cardboard, art supplies
                                 * Scale
         Resources:  ( Multimedia)
                                  * www.nationalgeographic.com ( video on "The Reality of Plastics" )
                                   * www.ourworldindata.org
                                   * www.sloactive.com
                                   * Map of the two floating islands of plastic and trash in our Pacific Ocean
                                      ( www.nationalgeographic.org )
            Before the Lesson/ Background Information:
                                      Before the lesson trash will be collected and cleaned by the students and myself. 
                                      I would speak to the class before the lesson about how our products of plastics
                                      have taken over our lives and how we became a wasteful nation. 
             Part 1:  25 minutes
                             * Students will get to see and examine our trash ; how diverse it is , weigh each bag 
                                 and add totals.  They would calculate times 12 months, then 10 years.
                              * Next they will watch a small video of  "The Realities of Plastics" from the National 
                                  Geographic site.
               Part 2:  25 minutes
                                   * Students will brainstorm ideas on how to design and engineer a device in which 
                                    takes plastics and converts it into something useful or to do away with it 
                                    completely.   They will work in groups and use recyclable materials which are
                                     found in the school lab such as cardboard, recyclable bottles, tape, etc......
                                     when finished they present to the class and explain how it was made,  what real
                                      life materials would be used to manufacture  their device, its function and how it 
                                       can be put to good use.  
                 Next Generation Science Standards:
                                         NGSS-3-5-ETS1-1
                                          NGSS-3-5-ETS1-2
                                           NGSS-3-5-ETS1-3