The “Snapshot”
Date:
Pre Beach Sampling Activity
Title
Do Now
Standards
Learning
Target
Tools and
Activities
Practice
Quietly take your seat.
In your science notebook brainstorm as
many different things that you use in your
daily life that are made of plastic as you can.

LS 2E Investigate a local environmental issue by
defining the problem, researching possible causative
factors, understanding the underlying science, and
evaluating the benefits and risks of alternative
solutions.
Identify resource uses that reduce the capacity of
ecosystems to support various populations (e.g.,
use of pesticides, construction).
I understand the process used for taking samples of
plastic marine debris on beaches and why it is
important to document your work.
Do Now
Field trip expectations
Plastics Debris- megaplastics (> 100 mm),
macroplastics (100 - 5mm), microplastics (5 - 0.330
mm (5 mm – 330 µm)
Plastic debris sampling- Students write Beach
Sampling Protocol in their science notebooks
Using the lists that students made at the beginning of
class create a concept map of sources of marine
plastics debris starting with Marine Plastics Debris and
breaking it down into megaplastics, macroplastics,
and microplastics and placing items in the appropriate
categories.
Review notes
Beach Sampling Protocol
(modified from http://www.ptmsc.org/beachplastic_survey.html)
Objective: To determine amount of beach plastic accumulating on beaches.
Materials:
Quadrate (2)
gps (2)
Clipboard (2)
Forms (8)
Pencils (2)
Garden shovels (2)
5 mm sieve (2)
1 mm sieve (2)
Plastic trays (8)
Quarter zip lock bags
Sharpies (2)
Foreceps (4)
(24)
Gallon zip lock bags
Plastic culture plates (4) Gloves (M & L)
(4)
Location of sample: highest wrack line on beach. Sample locations will be 10 paces apart, parallel to
the waterline.
Step 1: set-up quadrate, sketch area, record latitude & longitude, note date & time. Pick out large
pieces of debris and place in megaplastics (>100 mm) sample bag labeled with location lat, long,
date, time. Remove other large debris.
Step 2: evenly scrape substrate in each quadrate and place in smaller bucket.
Step 3: place fry basket (~5mm) into 5 gallon bucket. Pour and sieve material from the smaller bucket
into 5 gallon bucket. Place into macroplastics (5-100 mm) sample bag labeled with location lat, long,
date, time. These will be sorted back at school.
Step 4: place food sieve (~1-5mm) into second 5 gallon bucket. Poor and sieve material from the
smaller bucket into 5 gallon bucket. Pour contents into microplastics (.330-5 mm) sample bag labeled
with location lat, long, date, time. These will be picked back at school.
Step 5: fill gallon bag with sieved contents.
Step 6: sort plastic samples from macroplastics and microplastics bags. Pour contents of each bag
onto a tray. With forceps, pick out plastic pieces. Note category and number in log. Note debris type
on form for megaplastics.
Beach Sampling Log
Date: _________________________________ Time: ________________________________
Location: _____________________________________________________________________
Latitude: _____________________________ Longitude: _____________________________
Sampling Group: _______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Sketch of Location:
Post Field Trip Activity
Place debris on sorting trays and have students use forceps to remove plastics from debris.
Sort debris by fragment type, entering number and category information in data chart.
Megaplastics
Category
Fragments: hard
plastic
Foams:
polystyrene,
insulation, etc.
Pellets: preproduction plastic
pellets
Films:
bags/wrappers
Filament: fishing
line, rope,
synthetic cloth
Cigarette parts:
butts, filters
Glass: glass
fragments, shards
Other: rubber,
metal, etc.
Number
Comments
Macroplastics
Category
Number
Comments
Number
Comments
Fragments: hard
plastic
Foams:
polystyrene,
insulation, etc.
Pellets: preproduction plastic
pellets
Films:
bags/wrappers
Filament: fishing
line, rope,
synthetic cloth
Cigarette parts:
butts, filters
Glass: glass
fragments, shards
Other: rubber,
metal, etc.
Microplastics
Category
Fragments: hard
plastic
Foams:
polystyrene,
insulation, etc.
Pellets: preproduction plastic
pellets
Films:
bags/wrappers
Filament: fishing
line, rope,
synthetic cloth
Cigarette parts:
butts, filters
Glass: glass
fragments, shards
Other: rubber,
metal, etc.
Answer the following questions in your science notebook:
1. What is the mass of plastics the sample you collected? Determine the concentration of plastics in
the sample. To do so, divide the mass of plastics by the volume of material sampled. This will give
you the concentration of plastics in g/L.
2. Speculate as to the sources of your plastics collected.
3. Extension Activity using the Applications process: Have students design solutions to the following
problem. This assignment was designed using the OSPI template.
0
Students are working to design solutions to the problem of increasing plastics in the ocean
environment. Describe how to begin solving this problem.
Be sure to describe these stages in your design process:
Research the Problem: Describe any scientific information needed to solve the problem and
how to collect that information.
 Explore Ideas: Describe several possible solutions to the problem, including any useful
scientific concepts.

Problem: The amount of plastics in the ocean environment is steadily
increasing with time. What ways can we sustainably reduce the amount of
plastics present in the ocean environment?
Research the Problem:
Explore Ideas:
0
Students need to choose one of their ideas for reducing the increase of plastics in our oceans,
and explain why they chose the idea. Describe how to design and test a way of solving the
problem of increasing plastics in our oceans.
Be sure to describe these stages in your design process:
 Plan Summary: Write a summary of the plan, including a scientific reason for choosing this
solution.
 Test Solution: Describe the process to measure or observe how well this solution may solve
the problem.
Problem: What ways can we sustainably reduce the amount of plastics present
in the ocean environment?
Plan Summary:
Test Solution:
Students work can be presented as a PowerPoint, poster, educational video to teach others about
solutions to the plastics problem!