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In: American Players Theatre, audience participation plays, Cassandra Bissell, Door County, Door County Public Library, environmental messaging, Gilmore Fine Arts School, Ginny Carlton, marine debris education resources, Marine Debris Program, Me and Debry play, National Sea Grant College Program, Neil Brookshire, NOAA

Actors Neil Brookshire and Cassandra Bissell practice their lines for “Me and Debry,” a play about marine debris held at the Door County Public Library in 2022. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

What is marine debris, what are its impacts and what can we do about it? These are the central messages of a play written on behalf of Wisconsin Sea Grant by David Daniel with American Players Theatre of Wisconsin.

“Me and Debry,” (pronounced “debris”), is a half-hour, whimsical, audience-participation play about litter (marine debris) in the Great Lakes. It had its “world premiere” in Wisconsin’s Door County in October 2022 and was performed three times at the Gilmore Fine Arts School in Racine, Wisconsin, for fifth- and sixth-grade students in May 2023.

The play’s script has been fine-tuned through these performances and is now available for others to use for free, complete with props.

Ginny Carlton, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s education outreach specialist, recently discussed the play and why schools or other educational institutions might be interested in performing it.

Ginny, what is marine debris and what message does the play offer about it?

So, a lot of times people think about gasoline or oil on the water because we often see that on the news. Technically, from NOAA’s perspective (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), that isn’t marine debris. It’s obviously pollution, but the definition requires marine debris to be a solid. It can be anything from something really small, like a microplastic, to something quite large, like a derelict fishing vessel.

Often, environmental messaging can be sort of depressing and doom and gloom. We wanted to provide students with an uplifting message. One of the lines in the play is, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” This particular line is repeated a couple times during the play, so that hopefully, the students come to understand that they can have a positive role in at least considering what to do and making a change that would have a positive impact.

Ginny Carlson (left) instructs Racine elementary students in an environmental stewardship day project at Quarry Lake County Park as part of the marine debris project that the “me and Debry” play came from. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

What is special about the play compared to other marine debris educational materials?

Two reasons: one, it presents the material in a slightly different messaging format. Rather than reading a textbook or watching a video, it has an opportunity for interaction. There’s a lot of audience participation built into the play script. There are four central roles that are performed by members of the audience. One is a crane, another is a kayaker, a fish and a kid. Then beyond those four central roles, there’s also audience participation opportunities when the play starts to talk about what we call the eight R’s. Many teachers and students are already familiar with three of the R’s. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The play introduces five others for the students and the educators to think about. (Rethink, Refuse, Repurpose, Refurbish and Repair)

I think another reason is that it has the potential of getting people up moving and actually doing, and inspiring action beyond the actual performance. So, providing an opportunity for the students to consider their own behavior and their own impact on this issue and potentially making some minor adjustments in what they’re doing. Obviously other educational curriculum and formats also attempt to do that, but for some reason, I think just having the audio and visual together and having live interactions with people brings it one step further along than just listening to a teacher talk about it or with a PowerPoint or watching a video, perhaps.

Also, the script design itself is a rhyming format, and that tends to grab people’s attention, and it somehow helps people to remember the content better than just having it in regular prose.

Do actors in the play need to memorize lines?

Even with the actors that were at Door County and in The Gilmore Fine Arts School, we told them that there was no need for them to memorize lines. They could do what they called a reading performance, which means that you can have the script in hand. The desire is to have you pre-read it, so you’re not standing and reading like a storybook-style program, but that you have some familiarity with the script ahead, but have it there to provide a refresher as you move along.

What do students get out of the play in addition to marine debris education?

Students get an opportunity to do some public speaking. I think oftentimes students don’t have the opportunity to publicly speak in front of their peers and or other individuals. So that can be a real confidence-booster to have the opportunity to do that.

They also have an opportunity to consider different worldviews and different perspectives. So, by including the characters of the crane and the fish our intention and hope was that perhaps the students  or youth that are watching the performances and interacting with the performances would understand how humans can and do impact other organisms and our responsibility to them — a stewardship message that is part of the play as well.

The “Me and Debry” script is now available to use for free. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

How do people get the script if they want it?

The easiest way to obtain it is to simply download it from our Wisconsin Sea Grant Education website. We have it available in English, and then the four main character parts for the audience members are in English, Spanish, and Hmong translations as well. The eight R materials for audience participation, they’re available in English, Spanish, and Hmong directly from our website. We also include all that material in a costume kit and an educational kit that you can make a request to have sent to you within Wisconsin. That link is also on the education website. So, you simply make a request for the materials to be interlibrary loaned to you.

The kit has costumes for the two primary actors. Basically, a T-shirt and a pair of oversized sunglasses, so it’s not elaborate costuming. And similarly, it has costumes for the four main characters. And then supporting props for the various eight R topics.

Does it cost anything?

No. Just like our other educational kits at this time, there’s no charge. We will ship it on our cost, and we also pay for the return shipping.

Me and Debry, is part of a two-year project funded by Wisconsin Sea Grant with grants from the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the state of Wisconsin.

The post Marine debris play script available for free first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/marine-debris-play-script-available-for-free/

Marie Zhuikov

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In: Adam Bechle, Anne Moser, coastal erosion, Ginny Carlton, green breakwall, Liz Sutton, Max Morgan, nature-based design, R/V Neeskay, shipboard science workshop 2023, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

The calendar will soon flip to 2024. Our staff members are ready to tackle new projects in the coming months. Before they move more deeply into the new year, however, some staff members took a moment to retain the glow of their favorite 2023 project. Adam Bechle shared his thoughts. He’s our coastal engineering outreach specialist.

My favorite project for 2023 was helping organize a shipboard science workshop for educators in Milwaukee. Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Anne Moser and Ginny Carlton organized this annual professional learning opportunity through the Center for Great Lakes Literacy. This year, I was invited along to help bring a coastal engineering focus to the workshop.

The centerpiece of this workshop was two days aboard the R/V Neeskay, the research vessel of the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Science. The Neeskay was an excellent platform from which to explore the coastal processes and engineering that shape Milwaukee’s lakefront.

Our itinerary was planned in close collaboration with the Neeskay’s Captain Max Morgan and the SFS’s Manager of Outreach Programs Liz Sutton. Our journey took us through three unique environments: the inner harbor, outer harbor and open Lake Michigan.

Adam Bechle instructs educators during the Shipboard Science Workshop in 2023. Image credit: Anne Moser

At each location, participants measured water quality, temperature and lake-bottom sediments. These observations helped us understand how waves, currents and other processes impact the three environments. We also got to see underwater video of the different habitats along the lakefront, which have been mapped on UW-Milwaukee’s Harbor Maps. This included a look at the species that inhabit Milwaukee’s “green breakwall,” which was designed to provide aquatic habitat benefits.

Back on land, we introduced the educators to a hands-on wave tank activity to take back home to their learners. In this activity, learners use a simple wave tank to explore how a sand beach responds to different waves and water levels. Learners then get to design, build and test a coastal structure to slow erosion. Using what they learned, several participants took a nature-based approach to their design.

This project was full of good things: A cohort of enthusiastic educators to work with; productive collaboration with great partners; two days of beautiful weather on Lake Michigan. I learned a lot about Milwaukee’s lakefront and left feeling energized about future work.

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/shipboard-science-workshop-earns-favorite-project-status/

Adam Bechle

On:
In: American Players Theater, Cassandra Bissell, David Daniel, Door County, Ginny Carlton, marine debris education, Me and Debry play, Milly Zantow, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Neil Brookshire, U.S. Department of Commerce

Script will soon be available for others to use

Actors Neil Brookshire and Cassandra Bissell perform “Me and Debry,” a play about marine debris held at the Door County Public Library in the Donald and Carol Kress Pavilion. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

What empowers people to help the environment and rhymes at the same time? Answer: “Me and Debry,” a half-hour, whimsical, audience-participation play about litter (marine debris) in the Great Lakes.

The play had its “world premiere” in Wisconsin’s Door County in October before a full house at the town library in Egg Harbor. Starring in it were two local actors: Cassandra Bissell and Neil Brookshire. They live just two blocks away from the library and the play was for a good cause, so lending their talents to it, “seemed like a no-brainer,” said Bissell.

Brookshire said he was drawn to the play because his father was an environmental economist who specialized in water resources research and his mother worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “So, I have a personal family history of being aware of these kinds of issues and information. One of the reasons we live up here is we like nature. We like the water, so we naturally want to do anything we can to spread awareness to keep it clean.”

Wisconsin Sea Grant staff member Julia Noordyk (right) and her family members Ethan (left) and Zander (center) study their script for an audience participation part of the “Me and Debry” play. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The actors described the play, produced by David Daniel with American Players Theater, as an “information play” and their parts as vaudevillian characters who banter with each other to lighten the subject matter and make the information easier for the audience to take in.

“I’m Jerry Bardo Apam Napat Sesquipedalian Cornelius Watershed Dubry,” said Bissell. “And in the vaudevillian act of the duo, I’m the really long-winded talky one. And Neil is…”

“Beck,” Brookshire deadpanned.

“He’s much more to the point and has fewer words,” Bissell said.

Brookshire highlighted the play’s audience participation, which includes prewritten parts for a kayaker, young person, crane and fish. “Any time you involve an audience, people are going to remember better because it wasn’t just something they observed, it was something they participated in.”

The project was led by Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Education Outreach Specialist Ginny Carlton, who described the variety of marine debris. “It’s a solid found in our waters. It’s not perhaps the most common pollutant that you think about when you think of pollution in our waters. It’s not oil slicks on the water. It’s these solid things that can be really tiny – like microplastics – or really big – like derelict fishing vessels.”

Carlton described the performance as “Wonderful. The actors really brought it to life with all the different nuances they added.”

After the play, audience members visited learning stations around the room that featured art and science activities involving marine debris. These included experiments to determine different types of microplastic pollution, a table with information about Milly Zantow, who helped create Wisconsin’s recycling mandate, and a station where people could decorate their own reusable tote bag.

Wisconsin Sea Grant Education Coordinator Anne Moser (center) staffs a water education station that was one of several learning activities available after the play. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov

Carlton said the play will be performed again next spring with the Gilmore Fine Arts Middle School in Racine and that the script will soon be available for other groups to perform.

Besides environmental messages, the play instills a sense of hope and empowerment in the audience.

“Now we know how we can help,” said Brookshire playing his Beck character. “You and I right here can always make a difference.”

“You are the difference,” said Bissell playing her character. “You’re what our watershed needs! One who knows their actions have impacts on the land and the inland sea.”

“If it’s to be, it’s up to me!” said Beck.

“That is the truest creed,” said Jerry Bardo Apam Napat Sesquipedalian Cornelius Watershed Dubry.

“Me and Debry,” (pronounced “debris”) is part of a two-year project funded by Wisconsin Sea Grant with grants from the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the state of Wisconsin.

The project, called, “The Play’s the Thing: Using Drama as an Introduction to Marine Debris Prevention and Meaningful Stewardship Experiences” harnesses the power of storytelling to engage, educate and inspire performing artists and community members to be committed stewards of their Great Lakes watershed. In addition to the performance, the project includes marine debris prevention workshops, cleanup events, and public outreach and education activities.

Neil Brookshire and Cassandra Bissell practice their lines before the play. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov

The post Whimsical marine debris play debuts in Door County first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Marie Zhuikov

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In: Center for Great Lakes Literacy, Ginny Carlton, Grandparent's University, place-based education, Racine Unified School District, Trash Trunk, Wisconsin Historical Society

By Eva Ryan, University of Wisconsin-Madison

To further celebrate the Wisconsin Sea Grant 50th anniversary, I had the opportunity to interview Ginny Carlton, education outreach specialist. Ginny gave me insights into the changes in her field from the past 50 years and hopeful changes for the next 50.

Carlton provides learning opportunities to an array of different people including K-12 students and teachers, as well as catering to other audiences through programs like Grandparent’s University. The education branch also hosts webinars that are open to the public. Some of these webinars have recently been associated with the Center for Great Lakes Literacy (CGLL). The CGLL allows Sea Grant education specialists from across the Great Lakes basin to collaborate and produce educational products and programs. For example, the Trash Trunk is an educational kit that explores what marine debris is, its impacts and what can be done about it.

Ginny Carlton. Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

“I think that’s one of the really wonderful things about Sea Grant; the education isn’t just left to me,” Carlton said. “As the education outreach specialist, I have the opportunity to work with a lot of our other colleagues at Sea Grant.” For example, Anne Moser, Adam Bechle and Carlton are collaborating on a NOAA-funded grant project that provides seventh grade students in the Racine Unified School District with educational opportunities related to coastal engineering concepts.

Though Carlton started her position at Sea Grant in 2019, she has observed several changes within the education field from the past 50 years. One of the details she listed was research into neural science, specifically the way people process and retain information.

Another change in the education field is a greater focus on place-based education. While early educational movements, such as nature study and conservation education, acknowledged ecological differences between one location and another, place-based education expands the concept of place beyond just geography. Place-based education uses aspects of the students’ environment like culture, ecology and economy to make connections between their education and local community.

Though the education field has made strides in becoming more inclusive and optimal for student learning, there are always improvements to be made. “I hope we find ways to more fully open learning opportunities to everybody,” Carlton said. She noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the fact that not everyone has the same opportunities as others all of the time.

“At Sea Grant, we’re very fortunate because we have wonderful partners who can, and do, help with the work,” Carlton said. Sea Grant works with a variety of partners to design, promote, deliver and evaluate diverse educational offerings and products, which in turn helps all of us to reach a larger audience with important educational messages about the Great Lakes and people’s relationships to them. For example, a recent project, ROVe the Great Lakes, created in partnership with the Wisconsin Historical Society, features the work of maritime archaeologists who use remotely operated vehicles in their work.

Despite this impressive feat, Carlton has her sights set on further improving her field. “We have to work collaboratively to meet the needs of as many people as we possibly can,” said Carlton, “In this way, we advance our mission to promote the sustainable use of Great Lakes resources and reach our vision of thriving coastal ecosystems and communities.”

 

The post How far education has come and where we hope it’s going first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Wisconsin Sea Grant

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In: Elizabeth White, Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve, Ginny Carlton, Manitowoc beach cleanup, Marie Zhuikov, Titus Seilheimer, Wisconsin Point beach cleanup, Yael Gen

Birders on Wisconsin Point look for rare jaegers. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The third weekend in September is traditionally a time for beach cleanups by communities in the Great Lakes. Volunteers scour beaches and shorelines for trash as part of the International Coastal Cleanup. Our Sea Grant staff members got in the spirit, participating in cleanups spanning across the state, from Wisconsin Point in Lake Superior, to Madison, to Manitowoc on Lake Michigan.

Marie Zhuikov and Russ Maron on Wisconsin Point. Image credit: Russ Maron

The event on Wisconsin Point featured a twist: birding. Besides being a good time to collect trash, this season offers a narrow window for Wisconsin birders to see parasitic jaegers, fast-flying pirates of the water bird world, as they migrate past Wisconsin Point from the arctic tundra to southern climes.

The “parasitic” part of their name comes from their food-stealing habits. They are categorized as “kleptoparasites,” which means they steal food from other seabirds.

The Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve (FOLSR) took advantage of the timing to invite Jaegerfest birders and FOLSR members to cleanup the beach when they weren’t on the lookout for birds.

Science communicator Marie Zhuikov and her husband have attended many beach cleanups in the past, but never one that combined jaeger-watching. On a calm and quiet Saturday morning, they joined the professional birders and their high-powered spotting scopes.

Dried bee balm flowers. Image credit: Yael Gen, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Zhuikov and her husband had better luck finding trash than birds. Alas, no jaegers were to be seen, although many ring-billed and herring gulls floated serenely in the lake. The duo moved to the end of the point and collected two bags of trash from the beach. The most interesting finds? A single Birkenstock sandal and fireworks debris.

Their efforts became even more impressive with the addition of four other bags of garbage plus a car bumper that others had collected and left bagged near the parking lot. All total, their haul weighed 160 pounds!

Their colleagues editor Elizabeth White, educator Ginny Carlton and graphic designer Yael Gen participated in a more botanical cleanup at the Lakeshore Nature Preserve on the Madison campus. They began by collecting seeds from dried bee balm plants. Gen said they pulled the seed heads off and saved them in paper bags. “If you turn one upside down and shake it, the seeds resemble ground pepper,” she said. The seeds will be used for a class and to reseed other areas of the preserve.

Titus Seilheimer and his sons with one of their beach cleanup finds in Manitowoc. Image credit: Amy Seilheimer

Next, they got a workout clearing an invasive buckthorn thicket along the shores of Lake Mendota using loppers and saws.

Fisheries specialist Titus Seilheimer and his family worked on Silver Creek Beach in Manitowoc. “We typically organize two cleanups per year, spring and fall,” Seilheimer said. “We had two other volunteers for our cleanup for a total of six. We removed 68 pounds of trash. That included two tires for most of the weight. We found fairly typical trash with 40 cigarette butts, small pieces of foam and plastic, shotgun shells and wads, bottle caps and plastic bottles.”

Way to go, Sea Grant staff! You cleaned up 228 pounds of trash, plus gobs of unwanted plants and provided seeds for the future. A commendable effort for one morning in September.

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Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: American Players Theater, Anne Moser, Ginny Carlton, NOAA Marine Debris Program, The Play's the Thing

Plastic pollution at the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area on Lake Erie demonstrates the problem of marine debris in the Great Lakes. Image credit: NOAA

Wisconsin Sea Grant is leading one of six projects recently funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program. The projects, announced today, focus on preventing the introduction of marine debris (trash, fishing gear and microplastics) into coastal and Great Lakes environments.

Wisconsin’s project is, “The Play’s the Thing: Using Drama as an Introduction to Marine Debris Prevention and Meaningful Stewardship Experiences.” Led by Ginny Carlton with help from Anne Moser and Jim Hurley, the project will harness the power of storytelling to engage, educate and inspire performing artists and community members to be committed stewards of their Great Lakes watershed.

The team will work with the American Players Theater to pilot a theatrical piece about marine debris science to educate and motivate change in two Lake Michigan communities (Racine and Egg Harbor, Wisconsin). In addition to the performance, the project includes marine debris prevention workshops, cleanup events, and public outreach and education activities. The script from the play will be available for use for Great Lakes education after the project is completed.

The other five projects are coming from Sea Grant programs in Florida, Georgia, Hawai’i, Illinois-Indiana and Puerto Rico. They were awarded $300,000 in federal funds, matched by nonfederal contributions, bringing the total investment to approximately $600,000. The activities begin this summer and continue for up to two years.

See the full list of projects.

“The continued effort between Sea Grant and the Marine Debris Program leverages the strengths of both programs to effectively address marine debris challenges nationwide,” said National Sea Grant College Program director Jonathan Pennock. “We look forward to seeing these new and creative strategies for marine debris prevention.”

This is the second year that Sea Grant and the Marine Debris Program offered a joint funding opportunity. Projects funded in the first year were aimed at reducing marine debris across the U.S.

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Marie Zhuikov

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In: Anne Moser, Center for Great Lakes Literacy, Ginny Carlton, marine debris education resources, NOAA Marine Debris Program, Trash Trunk

If you’re among the many who are looking for online learning materials for use at home, you might want to check out the Trash Trunk. This new learning kit focuses on trash found in our waterways, otherwise known as marine debris. Its free lessons are applicable for learners at levels kindergarten through adult in both formal and informal educational settings.

Wisconsin Sea Grant Education Outreach Specialist Ginny Carlton explained how the idea originated. “The topic for the trash trunks came from things we were seeing happening across the Great Lakes Basin. Marine debris is an emerging issue. There was consensus among the partners that this would be a worthwhile topic.”

Sea Grant programs in Ohio and Michigan, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric (NOAA) Marine Debris Program joined Wisconsin Sea Grant staff in creating the trunks as part of their work for the Center for Great Lakes Literacy.

True to form, the team recycled lessons previously created by other educators, picking the best of the best materials about the impact of trash in both fresh and salt waters. “We used materials from groups like NOAA, the Ocean Conservancy, the Alliance for the Great Lakes and other institutions,” Carlton said.

The kit contains an educator’s guide with 14 lessons, sturdy informational display cards and supporting materials needed to perform the activities. Those activities are organized into three sections, which address the origins of marine debris, its impacts and what can be done. Educators can select a single lesson or develop a unit using Trash Trunk content, supplemental materials and common classroom supplies.

Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Senior Special Librarian and Education Coordinator Anne Moser has been doing marine debris activities with children for a while now. “They absolutely LOVE this topic!” she said. “It’s very action-oriented. They can embrace the topic and make changes, especially with their waste and plastic consumption at home, which I think kids find inspiring.”

Trash trunk assembly in process in Carlton’s home. Image credit: Ginny Carlton, Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Carlton organized materials for the 35 trunks at home in her living room, since she is working from home due to COVID-19. “They did take up a little bit of space for a while. It was worth it. I think these resources will be well-used by the teachers and students across the Great Lakes Basin,” she said.

Besides finding space to assemble the trunks, figuring out what would fit inside the trunks was another challenge. “There’s a limit as to what you can fit in the tote box,” Carlton said. “I ordered supplies in waves just to make sure that what we wanted to include would actually fit.” These include tools that teachers might have difficulty in obtaining, such as a digital microscope, thermometers, a 100-foot measuring tape, and a manual luggage scale to weigh collected marine debris. Examples of reusable items are also included, like a mug, lunch totes and beeswax wrap, which is a substitute for plastic wrap.

Much to the UPS driver’s dismay, Carlton distributed all the trunks at the same time from her home to Sea Grant programs in the other states that border the Great Lakes: Minnesota, Illinois-Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan. (Five trunks will be available in Wisconsin through the interlibrary loan system.) After some masterful rearranging, the driver was able to fit the trunks into his truck.

The trash trunks ready for shipping throughout the Great Lakes states. Image credit: Ginny Carlton, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Moser explained that due to COVID-19 quarantining requirements, the trunks are not available in Wisconsin right now but that the curriculum is available online. “If you have a student working at home, there are lessons they can use,” Moser said.

For more information about the Trash Trunk and other educational materials, please visit this resources page.

Funding for the trunks came from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative through the Center for Great Lakes Literacy.

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News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/trash-trunk-filled-with-learning-treasures/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Daniela Leon University of Wisconsin Superior, Ginny Carlton, Lorena Rios Mendoza, microplastic pollution teaching activity, Tania Pelamotti

Educators who participated in a recent six-week online workshop series about the Great Lakes and inland waters, “Trimming our Sails” were especially wowed by one presentation. “Plastic Debris Identification” was offered by Daniela Leon, an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Superior who is majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry.

Daniela Leon, submitted image.

Leon described a method to identify the common types of plastic, many of which make their way into lakes and break down into smaller pieces to form microplastic pollution. The method can be used in classrooms or at home and is especially geared toward high school students.

According to Ginny Carlton, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s education outreach specialist, one reason it’s important to know about the various types of plastics is because some float and others sink. “The differences in buoyancy means that a particular type of plastic will be found within a different vertical location of the water column. Where it is found influences the impacts it can have. For example, if it floats, then organisms that are surface feeders may be impacted,” Carlton said.

Identification of plastic types is also useful because it gives clues to the sources of the pollution – whether the plastic came from a fast-food container or from plumbing materials, for instance.

“Another reason . . . is that different chemical compounds can attach to different types of plastic,” said Carlton. These other chemicals basically attach to the plastic and ‘catch a ride’ through the water column or float across the water surface. The plastic acts like a magnet to gather up and concentrate various chemical compounds. Previous research has shown some of these chemicals are hazardous to human health.”

Leon’s activity uses simple materials like isopropyl alcohol, acetone, corn oil and plastic pellets. First come the tests to see how buoyant the plastic is. Students drop the plastic into water, then isopropyl alcohol, then the oil. Six types of plastic are commonly used in the plastic industry and each have different densities and abilities to float.

The next test is solubility or how long it takes the plastic to dissolve. That’s what the acetone is for. Students place the plastic into the acetone and record the length of time until it dissolves. As with the float test, the different types of plastic have varying solubility.

At the end of Leon’s presentation, the workshop teachers met in small groups. The high school teachers were enthused, saying they thought this exercise could be done by students even in virtual environments with supplies they have on hand at home.

Leon is mentored by professor Lorena Rios Mendoza at UWS. Mendoza was the main presenter for this part of the workshop and was also joined by another mentee, professor Tania Pelamotti. The workshop was organized by the Center for Great Lakes Literary (CGLL) and hosted by the Wisconsin and Minnesota Sea Grant programs.

The first four videos of the workshop series are now available on the CGLL YouTube page, including Leon’s session, which is contained in Workshop 4.

For more information about the toxicological effects of plastic, visit this webpage by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Original Article

Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/plastic-identification-activity-wows-educators/

Marie Zhuikov