Students will learn about the biology and ecology of a manatee as well as learn ways that humans impact and can protect manatees.
Microplastic Education Resources
Florida Microplastic Awareness Project:
K-12 Resources
Are you a teacher who is thinking about incorporating microplastics into their lesson plans? Or an informal educator looking for microplastics activities to do with youth? Start with the Florida Microplastics Awareness Project, then check out the curriculum materials below.
Resource Library
- Microplastics Awareness Activity
- Hands-on Activities for Plastics and Marine Debris Education is a series of three activities that can be used individually or in tandem either in a classroom or in association with a beach cleanup.
- Plastic Pollution and You. This interdisciplinary 15-lesson curriculum from New York Sea Grant is focused on a human-induced threat to the health of New York’s marine and freshwater aquatic ecosystems.
- Mitigating Microplastics This curriculum created by Oregon Sea Grant includes three lessons intended to engage 6-8 grade students with the issue of microplastics in the ocean, analyzing both the problem and possible solutions.
- Reduce Waste with DIY Beeswax Wraps. This activity was created by Hawaii Sea Grant
- The NOAA Marine Debris Program has many great marine debris-related activities for teachers, including The Educator’s Guide to Marine Debris in the Southeast and Gulf of America
- Mapping Friendly Floatees. In this lesson developed by NOAA, students explore ocean phenomena through the story of floating toys that traveled far and wide after a shipping disaster. They predict where the toys might have traveled, then use ocean current and prevailing wind information to revise their predictions.
- Engineering for Good. From PBS Learning, this multi-week, project-based learning unit for middle school science classrooms is focused on developing solutions for negative impacts of plastics on the environment.
- Plastic Pirates. This 68-page curriculum was developed by the German Ministry of Education. It covers a variety of topics related to plastic and plastic pollution. There is a summary for teachers at the end of each chapter with difficulty level and time needed for each of the activities within the chapter.
- Ocean Plastics Academy. Developed in collaboration with a broad coalition of educators, scientists and industry experts, Ocean Plastics Academy combines a suite of curriculum-aligned resources with practical activities that help schools radically reduce their use of single-use plastics. The resources have been designed to teach ages 5-16, aligned to the National Curriculum for England programmes of study for Science, Geography and Design & Technology.
- Plastic Challenge. This is a series of lessons which are designed to extend students’ knowledge and understanding of plastics and plastic waste on a global scale. The lessons target students in elementary, middle, or high school.
- PlasticSeas. In 2018, EarthEcho sponsored an expedition for teachers to investigate the topic of plastic pollution in Australia. A series of lesson plans (most designed for middle school, but one is for high school students) is available for download from the website. Lessons are correlated to Australian education standards and NGSS.
- Volvo Ocean Race Plastic Pollution Curriculum materials. Suitable for ages 6-12 with presentations, active learning components in teachers guide, worksheets and booklets. Available in 6 different languages.
- Washed Ashore Integrated Arts Marine Debris Curriculum. This 12-lesson curriculum connects science and art to help students understand the plastic pollution problem and communicate about it through art.
- Sampling for Microplastics in Beach Sand
Protocol for upper elementary school-age through adult volunteers.
Created by Maia McGuire, Florida Sea Grant
Updated 2026 by Carolyn Kovacs, contact [email protected]
Explore More Lesson Plans
Students will learn about the biology and ecology of cetaceans (whales and dolphins), and learn ways that humans impact and can protect cetaceans.
Students will learn about the biology and ecology of sea turtles and the ways that humans impact and can protect them.
Faculty Contact
For more information on this program, please reach out to the Florida Sea Grant experts below.
