What’s waste got to do with conservation?
An activity for students to:
 Explore personal responses to details of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean
 Experience the role art can play in communicating sustainability issues
 Make connections between the use and disposal of plastics and pollution of the
marine environment
Contexts:
Conservation
Endangered
species
Waste
Consumerism
Concepts:
Sustainability
Interdependence
Learning Areas:
NZC Level:
Social Studies
The Arts
Science
4-8
Timeframe:
1-2 lessons
EfS in the NZC
Through the “what’s waste got to do with conservation” activity students may develop:
 elements of the key competencies thinking, using language, symbols and texts,
participating and contributing, relating to others
 elements of the values ecological sustainability and respect
 reflective and critical thought
 motivation to take action for sustainability
The Learning Context
In this activity students view and reflect on artwork made from plastic waste gathered
from the Pacific Ocean. It could be used near the beginning of an inquiry into waste,
conservation or consumerism to generate questions about the effects of waste on
ecosystems or to explore links between consumerism and conservation. The activity
could also be used to increase depth of thinking when researching endangered species,
or as a springboard for ideas for action.
Teaching as Inquiry
p.35 NZC
When planning consider
these questions
Concepts for EfS
Teachers need to connect students’ learning to concepts in EfS and school based broad
understandings for learning so that students can make sense of their knowledge about their
experiences of and attitudes towards sustainability.
Through the activity students will develop an understanding of the
concepts of:
 Sustainability by thinking about the effects of plastic waste
on the marine ecosystem.
 Interdependence by making connections between the ways
plastics enter the marine environment and their use and
disposal of plastics.
Learning areas
Social Sciences
Social Studies
 Understand how innovation such as the invention of plastic
creates opportunities for people and challenges for the
environment.
Geography
 Understand how people interact with the natural environment
and that this interaction has consequences.
Focusing the inquiry
What are our students’
needs and abilities?
How do we know?
(What is our evidence
base?)
What is the focus of our
learning?
How are we ensuring
students are developing
a concept of a
sustainable future?
What are we doing to
help our students
develop significant
understandings across a
range of learning areas?
What do we want
students to know and
understand as a result
of this learning?
The Arts
 Consider and reflect on the contexts underlying the Chris
Jordan artwork on plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean.
 Evaluate ideas and interpret the artists’ intentions in artworks.
Science
 Explain how marine animals have responded to the humaninduced change of plastic in their habitat.
 Investigate the impact of human actions regarding waste on a
New Zealand marine ecosystem.
 Use their growing scientific knowledge when considering the
issue of plastics in the pacific ocean, explore aspects of this
issue and make decisions about possible actions.
Student learning outcomes
Possible learning outcomes from this activity are:
 Awareness of the amount of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean.
Teaching inquiry
Will this strategy



Thinking reflectively about personal responses to visual details
of the waste in the Pacific Ocean.
Thinking critically about the impact of plastic waste on the
marine ecosystem.
Understanding of how plastic waste gets into the ocean.
support my students to
learn this?
How will we know?
Learning sequence
As a class view the Chris Jordan artwork “Gyre, 2009” on
http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/rtn2/ - gyre (scroll
down to Gyre, 2009 which is a series of 11 images)
This artwork is a series of 11 images, which become more detailed
as you scroll down the page.
1. Start at the first image - this depicts 2.4 million pieces of
plastic, equal to the estimated number of pounds of plastic
pollution that enter the world's oceans every hour. All of the
plastic in this image was collected from the Pacific Ocean.


As a class view the image
Reflect: (this could be in pairs, individually writing down the
reflections or as a small group)
o What was your first thought about this image?
o What does this image make you think about?
o How does this image make you feel?
o What stands out to you the most in this image?
2. Proceed to the next image, announce what that part of the
image is (this is at the top of each image) and do the same
reflective exercise.
3. Repeat until all 11 images have been viewed and reflected on.
4. After viewing all 11 images reflect on these questions:
 What are your thoughts after seeing this artwork?
 How do you feel after seeing all these images?
 What stood out for you?
 If you were telling someone else about this artwork what
would you say to them about it?
 What are the sources of the plastic? (Dig deeper with this
line of questioning – it’s not just people littering on the
beach or things dropping off boats, get students to consider
rubbish blowing out of rubbish bins or landfills, plastics
dropping out of recycling bins when they’re being emptied
and then being washed into the stormwater system)
 What effects do you think this plastic in the Pacific Ocean is
having?
 What’s waste got to do with conservation?
Teaching and
learning
Learning inquiry
What happened during
the learning?
How did my students
respond?
How will this learning
contribute to a
sustainable future?
How can this learning
make a difference?
What is next?
Next steps:
Possible next steps:
 Exploring further questioning:
o What further questions do you have about the impact of
waste on the endangered animal you are studying?
o What questions do you have about the impact of other types
of waste on the ecosystem you are studying?
o What further questions do you have about where waste in
the marine environment comes from?
o How will you find answers to these questions?

Springing into action - what can we do to prevent waste
polluting our ecosystems / endangering species?
o Brainstorm all possible actions
o Devise criteria for a successful action (eg has a long term
positive effect on the environment, prevents pollution from
occurring in the first instance, rather than being an
ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, involves lots of people,
we can achieve it, people will be interested etc). Once the
decision on action has been made make a plan for action.
o Use the plan to create timelines and who’s doing what lists
and take action.
Focusing inquiry
What are my student’s
needs and abilities?
How do I know?
What is the next focus
for our learning?