PBS NewsHour: The Plastic Problem documentary and student-inventor lesson
A 54-minute documentary and a 3–4 lesson plan (grades 9–12) on how student inventors can tackle plastic, with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) codes…
Students
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Australian Marine Conservation Society: ocean plastic pollution posters
Free print-at-home A4 and A3 educational and values posters (‘Plastics are forever’) for classrooms and community groups.
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Planet Ark: Schools Recycle Right Challenge and lesson plans
60+ Australian lesson plans on recycling, including ‘Enzymes and Plastic Recycling’ (Stage 3, school Years 5 and 6) and ‘Recycle Reuse’ (Stage 4, Years…
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Clean Up Australia: Education Hub and Schools Clean Up Day
Educator’s guide, Australian Curriculum lessons, a school planning toolkit and the annual Schools Clean Up Day for F–Year 10.
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Oak National Academy: Plastic pollution (Year 9 Geography, Anthropocene unit)
A fully reusable, quality-assured Key Stage 3 (KS3) Geography lesson with slides, worksheet, starter and exit quizzes and a video with transcript.
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Algalita Wayfinder Society: Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) MS-ESS3-3 ‘Plastic Ocean’ lesson and student hub
Research-grounded middle and high school lessons, toolkits and a youth summit from the institute behind the original gyre research.
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Our World in Data: Plastic Pollution topic page and data explorer
Free, citable charts (CC BY 4.0) on plastic production, waste, recycling and ocean inputs, ideal for 12–18 data lessons.
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Lesson plan: What is plastic, and where does it belong? (ages 5–7)
A 45-minute everyday-materials lesson: sort, test and decide what we use once and what we use again and again.
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Lesson plan: The lunchbox investigation (ages 8–11)
A 45-minute lesson that counts a class’s lunchbox plastic, turns it into grams a year, and ends with three evidence-based swaps.
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Lesson plan: Why is only 9% recycled? (ages 12–14)
A 60-minute chemistry lesson on plastic as a limited resource, resin codes, real recycling data and designing a school monitoring method.