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ORCA’s Whale Education Month

Lesson Pack 3: Marine Litter

Learn more about one of the biggest threats facing

our wildlife today – marine litter.

Your students will investigate this huge threat

through the ORCA Whale Education Month materials,

games and activities, and what they can do to help.

Registered Charity Number: 1141728

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ORCA’s Whale Education Month

Marine Litter 3 – What can I do?

Welcome!

This teacher’s pack aims to educate and inspire students around the UK about the wonderful world of whales,

dolphins and porpoises, and the threats that they face. Included in this pack are all the resources needed to deliver a

fun, scientific class about the threat of marine litter to marine wildlife, with the hope of raising awareness of the

importance of conservation. ORCA’s Whale Education Month is running from the 1st – 31st October 2018, to coincide

with World Animal Day on the 4th October.

About ORCA:

ORCA are a UK based whale and dolphin conservation charity, dedicated to the protection of whales, dolphins and

porpoises (collectively known as cetaceans) and their habitats in UK & European waters. We and our volunteers help

protect these inspirational animals in a number of ways; by educating the general public through our Your Seas

programmes onshore and our Wildlife Officer programmes offshore, through our Marine Mammal Surveyor Training

Courses across the country, and, once trained, through our volunteer surveyors working on ferry and cruise ship

routes monitoring vulnerable whale and dolphin populations. We freely share our data with governments and other

research institutions. Our work is all about creating safer places for whales and dolphins, ultimately promoting the

health of the wider marine ecosystem.

ORCA provides whale and dolphin workshops for schools, as part of the ‘Your Seas’ educational programme. Being

based in Portsmouth, there is never enough time to visit as many schools as we’d like. This teacher’s pack will

provide the same engaging presentation and educational activities to students, whilst allowing teachers to be

trained and able to deliver the content themselves.

For more information, please visit our website www.orcaweb.org.uk

We believe that it’s extremely important for children to learn about the fascinating wildlife in our oceans and we

believe that those who are taught about the negative impacts of litter on our environment at an early age are more

likely to have a responsible attitude towards this, and other environmental issues, when they’re older. Through

these presentations, games and activities, children will learn about why marine litter is so harmful to wildlife and

what they can do in their everyday lives (no matter how big or small) to help minimise this threat.

There are three lesson packs;

1. Marine Litter – What is marine litter?

2. Marine Litter – How does marine litter harm wildlife?

3. Marine Litter – What can I do to help?

The below information is for the Marine Litter Pack 3 – What can I do?

Keep in touch!

We hope you enjoy taking part in ORCA’s Whale Education Month, and if you have any questions, please do not

hesitate to contact us;

info@orcaweb.org.uk, 02392 832565, ORCA, Brittany Centre, Wharf Road, Portsmouth, PO2 8RU

If you or your school uses social media, the hashtag is #WhaleEducationMonth and our Twitter

handle is @ORCA_web

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ORCA’s Whale Education Month There are a wide range of different materials, activities and games provided for ORCA’s Whale Education Month.

We have provided a PowerPoint presentation about marine litter for you to deliver to your class. Notes for the

presentation are below. Integrated into the presentation are slides with suggested activities.

The individual activities are in this document. We have also provided you with separate documents with the activity

sheets on (for ease of printing). It is up to you as to how many activities to integrate into the lesson.

Once you have delivered the presentation and activities, you can print off the certificate to proudly display in your

classroom!

Contents:

Activity Page Number Teacher’s notes for the PowerPoint Presentation: Marine Litter – What can I do?

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Activity: Eco-Warrior Quiz 5

Activity: Make One Small Change 6

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Teacher’s Notes: Presentation 3 – Marine Litter

Please note that this presentation follows on from Lesson 2 – How does marine litter harm wildlife?

The Teacher’s activity sheets are below, but they are also provided as separate documents for students

for ease of printing.

1 Introduction: Today, we will be learning about some of the dangers that whales, dolphins, and other marine wildlife faces in the ocean. This presentation has been provided by ORCA, who are a UK-based whale and dolphin conservation charity. The charity’s aim is to have oceans alive with whales and dolphins!

2 So we have already looked at how harmful marine litter is to wildlife in our oceans. Ask the class: What do you think WE can do in our everyday lives to minimise marine litter?

3 Activity 5: Eco-Warrior Quiz [takes approximately 30 minutes] This activity will help students realise how much plastic we all use in our everyday lives and introduce more ideas to help children understand more about what they can do to reduce their plastic usage and therefore marine litter.

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Students should now reflect on their consumption habits that generate marine litter and think about how small changes in these behaviours can prevent marine litter. Students can use the below bullet points to help them with their choices. As a class you can brainstorm using the four Rs. Examples are provided below; REFUSE – E.G. Refusing to use a plastic straw, saying no to plastic bags, not buying vegetables/fruit in plastic packaging REUSE – E.G. Taking a reusable bottle to school, reusing an ice cream tub as a lunchbox RECYCLE - E.G. Recycling all materials they possibly can REDUCE - E.G Buying paper cotton buds and not plastic cotton buds

5 Thank you for taking part! We hope that you now know lots about whales and dolphins and that you are encouraged to do small things in your life to help these creatures. Additional activities: Design a poster to raise awareness of marine litter Design a poster to show in your class/school/to display on your fridge to raise awareness about the impact of marine litter. Make sure to include;

- What is the problem? Who does it impact? - How can people help? What do you want people to do to help? - Use facts and figures - Use bright colours to attract attention

Or use the ‘Make one Small Change’ worksheet provided on page 6

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Activity: Eco-Warrior Quiz Read out the following statements to your students.

They can answer ‘Always’, ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Never’. If they answer ‘Always’, they receive 10 points, if they answer ‘Sometimes’

you receive 5 points, if they answer ‘Never’, they receive 0 points.

Students can use a scrap piece of paper to write down their answers (they will all get at least 5 points for this [see number 4]).

Teachers can take part, too!

1. I take my own bags to the supermarket and shops, avoiding using plastic bags

2. I take a reusable water bottle to school

3. I say no to plastic straws when I buy a drink

4. I use scrap paper or recycled paper for my school work

5. Instead of buying fruit and vegetables packaged in plastic, I buy loose fruit and vegetables with no plastic

packaging

6. I have taken part in a beach clean or litter pick (‘yes’ for 10 points, ‘no’ for 0 points)

7. I say no to balloons, and I never let balloons go/fly away

8. I recycle at home – paper, cans, plastic, glass

9. If I can’t recycle something at home, I take it to a recycling bank

10. I use the recycling bins at school

11. I do not drop litter, I put litter in the bin

12. I tell my friends and family not to litter

13. I use the compost heap in my garden

14. I only print out paper when really needed

15. I never flush anything plastic down the toilet (e.g. cotton buds, dental floss)

16. I use a non-plastic toothbrush (e.g. bamboo toothbrush)

17. I carry a non-plastic straw or cutlery with me (e.g. a spork, metal straw)

18. I do not use plastic glitter (for crafts or makeup)

19. I tell adults to use a reusable coffee cup and non-plastic tea bags

20. I have a plastic free lunch (e.g. no cling film, plastic wrappers [crisps, sweet, chocolate wrappers])

Ask them to swap their answer sheet with a class mate, who will tally up their score. The class can compare scores and think

about how they can all improve their scores.

0 50 Points – Try harder to help the oceans!

50 100 Points – A great start, but how can you improve?

100 120 Points – Good work! Keep it up!

120 200 – Very good! You are an ocean eco-hero! You can help others to become more environmentally friendly.

This is a good activity to do before and after a week/month or half term. See how much the students can improve their

score. There could be a prize for who can improve their score the most (some ideas at www.orcaweb.org.uk/orca-shop).

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Activity: Make one small change Do some research into one of these threats that whales, dolphins and porpoises face;

o Marine Litter

o Noise Pollution

o Chemical Pollution

o Overfishing

o Bycatch

Think about;

Why does this threat happen?

How is it harmful to marine animals?

Who is at risk? Which species does the threat affect the most?

Where in the world is this threat?

What can humans do to stop this threat happening in the future? Think about one

small thing that everyone could do in their everyday lives to help save our oceans.

Once you have completed your research, do one of the following;

o Make a poster to display at school, which raises awareness of the threats facing whales and your suggestions of how people can help stop this happening.

o Write a story about a whale in danger, and end it with a solution to the problem. A good example of this is ‘The Snail and the Whale’ book by Julia Donaldson.

o Write a poem about threats in our oceans and how we can help.

o Create an advert to be shown on a bus stop about how people can save the oceans.

o Create a t-shirt to raise awareness of the threats in our oceans.

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Thank you for taking part in

ORCA’s Whale Education Month!

If your school would like to fundraise or donate to help us

continue our vital research and education work, please visit

our website www.orcaweb.org.uk

Thank you for your support.