Poster abstracts and manuscripts from the Third International ...

Zilligen, Jil and Barbara Miller
Save Our Seas Marine Debris Curriculum: Awareness to Action
Center for Marine Conservation, San Francisco, California, USA
The Center for Marine Conservation's Pacific Regional Office, in
conjunction with the California Coastal Commission, developed
"Save Our Seas," a comprehensive marine debris education program
for grades K-12. The education program consists of a new
curriculum anthology, a teacher training network, and grassroots
events. The program offers both practical approaches to restore
the environment, and a tangible first step toward empowering
students to become active in their community and world. Students
actively learn science concepts and develop an appreciation for
the environment, which in turn helps ensure their wise use of our
dwindling natural resources. Students personally tackle the
problem of marine debris, and have an opportunity to make a
difference in solving that problem.
Each unit of the curriculum begins with an activity illustrating
the importance of the marine environment and the potential harm
caused to this environment by marine debris. Subsequent
activities explore specific problems of marine debris in greater
detail, and each unit contains a cleanup activity designed to
expose students to their environment and the impacts of marine
debris first hand. The curriculum bridges the gap between
coastal and non-coastal communities with activities such as the
cleanup, which can be done at a beach or even in a parking lot or
playground, and a storm drain stenciling activity, both of which
illustrate the connection between litter on the land and impacts
on the marine environment. Additionally, these activities help
students realize their potential as involved members of their
community.
The teacher training network is led by workshop facilitators, who
are educators and environmental professionals trained by Center
for Marine Conservation and California Coastal Commission staff
to lead marine debris teacher training workshops. In addition to
familiarizing teachers with the marine debris curriculum, the
workshops expose teachers to a wide range of educational
resources and open lines of communication and information
exchange between the environmental community and teachers, as
well as encourage educators to build partnerships with local
agencies.