Marine Debris Program Presents at the North American Association of Environmental Education 2021 Virtual Conference

OCTOBER 25, 2021 ─ On October 13, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Education Specialist, Alexandria Brake, led a workshop at the North American Association of Environmental Education’s 2021 Virtual Conference titled “Litter Lessons: Project-Based Marine Debris Education Using Citizen Science.” 

A submersible collecting marine debris, artwork by Simone L., winner of the 2021 NOAA Marine Debris Program Art Contest.
Project-based learning encourages students to come up with creative solutions to problems like marine debris, perhaps through designing Public Service Announcements or even inventing new technologies. Image credit: Simone L., Grade 1, Michigan.

The twenty educators in attendance learned about the global issue of marine debris, citizen science efforts the Marine Debris Program (MDP) facilitates, and the educational resources the MDP can offer their students. The hands-on presentation focused specifically on project-based learning methods, which provide opportunities for students to produce authentic products to demonstrate their mastery of subject matter learning, including Public Service Announcements, engineering designs, and art installations. 


The MDP had an additional presentation featured at the Conference, “Beat the Blues and Go Green: University Partnerships Preventing Marine Debris,” which highlighted the MDP’s many university partnerships. It was available to conference attendees as a 10-minute “Bright Spot” intended to share success stories from the field. 


The Marine Debris Program looks forward to continuing to advance the ways we can work with teachers and inspire students in a virtual environment.


For more information, contact Alexandria.Brake@noaa.gov.

Last updated Tuesday, August 20, 2024 12:37pm PDT