Join us and host Mark Rodrigue from Parks Victoria, as we learn about Marine Protected Areas.  Marine Protected Areas are vital to healthy oceans, but even pollutants, such as plastic, can impact these pristine seas.  This 45-minute event will be interactive and we will have time for question and answer!

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EarthEcho Expeditions: PlasticSeas - Engaging videos, STEM career close-ups and more!

STEM Design Challenges:

Plastic, Sort It Out!: In this investigation, students will design and create a Recycling Sorting Machine to eliminate the amount of waste that is incorrectly being sent to landfill. Students will use basic resources (recycled and/or reused items in the classroom, home, or their community) to engineer a solution to the growing problem of waste in our schools.

Nurdle Know-How: Students examine the nature of the problem and work collaboratively to create solutions to the issue of nurdles becoming evermore present in our oceans. Nurdles are small plastic resin pellets which are used to make many of the plastics we use every day. Unfortunately, they end up where they are not supposed to and cause a wide range of problems.  Nurdle Know-How is a series of activities that will ultimately prepare students to design and build a nurdle capture system to clean up their local bay, harbor, or coastal waters.

Microbeads, A Major Problem:
As the name suggests, microbeads are very small (microscopic) beads of plastic.  Since they are particles of less than 1mm, they are almost impossible to capture as they enter household drains. This leaves these small, solid balls of plastic to enter our aquatic ecosystems where they are ingested by organisms and accumulated within the food web.  In this activity, students are challenged to design and construct their own device to extract microplastics from cosmetic products such as facial cleansers, body wash, and toothpaste.

ReThink Your Plastic: Students will follow the engineering design process to design and create solutions to plastic packaging problems. They will create and adapt suitable and sustainable designs that will consider alternatives to plastic packaging for example juice boxes, plastic straws, straw wrappers, bin liners, and single-use containers.

Product Lifecycle: In this investigative assessment, students describe the life cycle of man-made products that include or originate from plastic and other materials, and evaluate how they may impact the environment. Students use a basic life cycle assessment – similar to assessments used by process engineers – that allows them to identify and order the different steps in the life cycle of a product. Using their analyses to compare the impacts of different products,
students develop ideas to reduce the environmental impact of the production process or lifecycle of the product.

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2/NGSS:

MS-PS1-3 Matter and its Interactions

Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.

MS-ESS3-3 Earth and Human Activity

Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.*

MS-ETS1-1 Engineering Design

Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

MS-ETS1-2 Engineering Design

Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

MS-ETS1-3 Engineering Design

Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.

MS-ETS1-4 Engineering Design

Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.

Australian Standards:

Science

›   ST2‑4WS investigates their questions and predictions by analyzing collected data, suggesting explanations for their findings, and communicating and reflecting on the processes undertaken

›   ST2‑5WT applies a design process and uses a range of tools, equipment, materials, and techniques to produce solutions that address specific design criteria

›   ST2‑13MW identifies the physical properties of natural and processed materials, and how these properties influence their use

›   ST2‑14BE describes how people interact within built environments and the factors considered in their design and construction

Mathematics

›   MA2‑1WM uses appropriate terminology to describe, and symbols to represent mathematical ideas

›   MA2‑2WM selects and uses appropriate mental or written strategies, or technology, to solve problems

›   MA2-5NA  uses mental and written strategies for addition and subtraction involving two-, three-, four- and five-digit numbers

›   MA2-6NA  uses mental and informal written strategies for multiplication and division

›   MA2‑9MG measures, records, compares and estimates lengths, distances, and perimeters in meters, centimeters, and millimeters, and measures compares and records temperatures

›   MA2‑10MG measures, records, compares and estimates areas using square centimeters and square meters

›   MA2-18SP selects appropriate methods to collect data, and constructs compares, interprets and evaluates data displays, including tables, picture graphs, and column graphs

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