STORY
Amir and his friends were enjoying helping Mick and the local Coastcare group volunteers pick up rubbish, remove weeds and plant native seedlings along the sand dunes every month. They were learning a lot and becoming more aware of the impact of their actions. They decided to ask their school principal if Mick can share his knowledge with the wider school community. Amir knew the school community needed to see Mick’s treasure box full of unlikely items that he had removed from our waterways over the years. Wouldn’t it be great if more people noticed how much household rubbish ended up in our beaches or waterways? People need to be aware that their actions on land directly impacts our coasts.
Australia is home to the over 10,000 beaches and no part of Australia is more than 1,000km from the ocean. Our coasts are impacted by our actions on land. Rubbish and microplastics can be found washed up on almost every Australian beach.
This learning activity is the second part of a sequence of 2 individual learning activities focused on caring for our coasts. The order of these learning activities are: beach survey and beach clean-up.
For children to:
- discover what microplastics are
- learn how microplastics end up in our waters
- understanding the impacts of microplastics on estuaries, wetlands and the coastal habitats
- appreciate that what happens on land can impact our rivers and oceans.
This activity can be undertaken at any time of year. Conduct the beach survey at low tide. Don’t do the beach survey during stormy weather or rough seas.
Did you know?
Pollution and rubbish get washed into our rivers and waterways with stormwater runoff and end up on our coasts and oceans.
Did you know?
Around the world, more 1.15 million tonnes of plastic ends up in our coasts and oceans.
Did you know?
Microplastics are small pieces of plastic less than 5mm in size. Microplastics can be harmful to the marine environment and animal health.
Did you know?
The Australian Coastline including Tasmania is over 25,000 kilometres.
Introduction
This learning activity investigates microplastics, where they are found and how they end up in our coastal waters.
*Time allocation does not include travel time to the beach and coordinating the groups and equipment.
Checklist
Instructions
Step 1 (5 mins)
Discussion: what rubbish?
Refer to the top 10 types of rubbish found in the marine environments on the activity sheet. Discuss why they are in the top 10 and their impacts to the marine environment.
How many of these are plastic?
Step 2 (5 mins)
Beach survey: set up
Locate each group 100m apart on the high tide mark. Record the date, time, location, group names and weather on your activity sheet. Take a photo of your site.
Each group measures out 10m with the tape measure or rope. Place the hula-hoop at the 0 point.
You’re ready to start!
Step 3 (30mins)
Beach survey: observation and collection
- Take a photo of survey point 1
- Record the rubbish and natural debris you find within the hula-hoop circle on the activity sheet
- Use the spade to fill up the sieve with a sample of sand from within the hula-hoop
- Gently shake the sand through the sieve
- Record in the data sheet if there are microplastics present
- Put rubbish in the garbage bag for disposal
- Empty sample of microplastic into the bucket
- Repeat steps at the 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 metre mark.
Step 4 (5 mins)
Beach survey: pack up
Collect all equipment and rubbish from your sites. Recycle rubbish where possible. Take samples of microplastic back to school.
Extension Activity
Sort through and classify the microplastics found during the beach survey. This could be by size or shape (fragments, fibres, beads, foams, pellets). Review your collection and devise a way to represent what you have collected. You could use infographics to communicate this.
Link your clean-up project to Coastcare Week, Landcare Week, Clean up Australia Day or the Marine Environment Litter Program. Share your work and successes to encourage others to care for the coast.
Curriculum and Framework Links
SCIENCE
Year 7: ACSSU111, ACSSU112, ACSSU116, ACSHE120, ACSHE121, ACSIS124, ACSIS125, ACSIS130, ACSIS131, ACSIS132
Year 8: ACSHE135, ACSIS140, ACSIS145, ACSIS146,ACSIS234
Year 9: ACSSU175, ACSSU176, ACSIS164, ACSIS165, ACSIS170, ACSIS172, ACSIS174
Year 10: ACSSU189, ACSHE191, ACSHE194, ACSIS199, ACSIS204, ACSIS206, ACSIS208
BIOLOGY
Unit 1: Biodiversity and the interconnectedness of life
EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Unit 1: Introduction to Earth systems
Unit 3: Living on Earth – extracting, using and managing Earth resources
Unit 4: The changing Earth – the cause and impact of Earth hazards
HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Year 7: ACHASSI152, ACHASSI155, ACHASSI154, ACHASSI155, ACHASSI156, ACHASSI158, ACHASSI159, ACHASSI160, ACHASSI161, ACHASSI162, ACHASSK183, ACHASSK185, ACHASSK187
GEOGRAPHY
Year 7: ACHGK037, ACHGK038, ACHGK040, ACHGK042, ACHGS047, ACHGS048, ACHGS049, ACHGS050, ACHGS051, ACHGS052, ACHGS054
Year 8: ACHGK048, ACHGK050, ACHGK051, ACHGK053, ACHGS055, ACHGS056, ACHGS060, ACHGS062
Year 9: ACHGK065, ACHGS068, ACHGS070
Year 10: ACHGK070, ACHGK073, ACHGK074, ACHGK075, ACHGS079
Unit 1: Natural and ecological hazards
Unit 2: Sustainable places
Unit 3: Land cover transformations
HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Year 7 & 8: ACPPS073
ETHICAL UNDERSTANDING
Exploring values, rights and responsibilities
PERSONAL AND SOCIAL CAPABILITY
Social awareness
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Outdoor Learning
CROSS CURRICULUM PRIORITY
Sustainability
Reference List
ONLINE RESOURCES
Discover more about Marine Debris Research with the CSIRO.
PRINTABLE RESOURCES
Learn about the scope and purpose of the CSIRO marine debris research.
Discover how debris is transported from the coastal margin to the ocean.
WATCH
Watch the short video from CSIRO How can we solve the ocean plastic crisis? (3 minutes)
We value your feedback
When you have finished this learning activity, please tell us what you think with our survey.
Your feedback will help Landcare Australia improve the activities in the Junior Landcare Learning Centre.
Why not try one of our other Junior Landcare learning activities?
Love Letters to the Land
Biodiversity|First Nations Perspectives|Food Production|Waste Management
Creating a worm farm
Waste Management
Caring for our coasts: beach clean-up
Waste Management
Waterways: clean-up
Waste Management