Free, hands-on environmental education lesson plans and labs.
Resources for teaching effective environmental education.
Featured Lesson!
Campus Cleanup
Collect and sort trash found at school to help develop a solution for decreasing trash on campus.
Applicable subject areas: Science, Math, Social Science
Co-created with educator Ashley Contreras. Included in the Plastic Ocean Experience Guide.
Grades 4 and up
1-2 hours
Free and ready-to-use classroom lessons and labs
These lessons are designed to fit in one class period. All materials can be downloaded, edited, printed, and uploaded to your Learning Management System (LMS). Click on the lessons below to access.
Synthetic or Natural?
Contemplate the difference between synthetic and natural materials that make up common items and explore the pros and cons of synthetic materials.
Grades 5 and up
30 to 60 minutes
Sources and Sinks
How does plastic get into and impact ecosystems?
Grades 4 and up
30 to 60 minutes
The Problem with Plastics
Brainstorm and discuss the benefits and consequences of plastic for human societies.
Grades 6 and up
30 minutes
How and where are plastics made?
Find out how plastics are produced in the US and find out how it impacts communities using geography tools like our GIS interactive map.
Co-created with FracTracker Alliance
Grades 7 and up
30 to 60 minutes
Trash Cam LIVE
Monitor plastic pollution in Alamitos Bay and find out how environmental conditions influence the flow of plastic through the environment.
Co-created with Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research
Grades 4 and up
30 to 60 minutes
Can it be recycled?
Find out why less than 10% of plastic gets recycled globally and what we can do about it.
Grades 5 and up
60 to 90 minutes
How is plastic production connected to climate change?
Analyze how plastics production contributes to greenhouse gas emissions using our interactive map.
Co-created with FracTracker Alliance
Grades 9 and up
60 to 90 minutes
NEW!
Plastic Soup in a Brave New World
Compare themes between two texts, Plastic Ocean Chapter 1 by Charles Moore, and The Tempest by William Shakespeare and create maps to present the similarities and differences between the two storylines.
Co-created with educator Sarah King
Grades 10 and up
3 weeks
NEW!
Currents and Gyres – Plastics and Global Circulation
Investigate how global currents form and influence climate and the distribution of plastic pollution throughout the world ocean.
Co-created with educator Neil Leonard
Grades 6 and up
2-3 hours
NEW!
Examining traditional materials as solutions to overuse of plastic
Examine the cultural significance of traditional materials, their sources, and uses for everyday items, learn traditional handicraft techniques, and identify opportunities for replacing single use plastic with reusables made from traditional materials.
Co-created with educator Clinton Ezeigwe
Grades 3 and up
3-5 hours
NEW!
Campus Cleanup
Collect and sort trash found at school to help develop a solution for decreasing trash on campus.
Co-created with educator Ashley Contreras
Grades 4 and up
1-2 hours
NEW!
Plastics and our Health: Socratic Seminar
Investigate the consequences of plastics on the health of humans and other living organisms. Engage in a Socratic seminar exploring the ethical considerations of the harm to various species due to plastic production and use.
Co-created with educator Julie Keck-Centeno Ed.D.
Grades 9 and up
3-4 hours
NEW!
Biomagnification in the Marine Food Web
Explore the phenomenon of biomagnification through simulations of the California marine food web. Construct an argument using evidence from a seafood investigation to show how changes in the ecosystem affect the marine fish populations.
Co-created with educator Dori Hess and Ashley Contreras
Grades 7 and up
2-3 hours
NEW!
Shipping Container Spills: Who is Responsible?
Investigate effects of shipping container losses on the environment and engage in a Lincoln-Douglas style debate regarding responsibility of reporting and cleanup.
Co-created with educator Ashley Sarvis
Grades 4 and up
2 hours
NEW!
A Timeline of Throwaway Living and a Preconceived Endgame
Analyze the historical events that led to contemporary attitudes towards waste and throw-away culture through a collection of book excerpts, articles, and other publications, and develop a potential future outcome for an end to the culture of disposability.
Co-created with educator Sarah King
Grades 9 and up
2-3 weeks
Standards Alignment Guides
Suggested outlines for incorporating our free materials into your standards-aligned curriculum.
AP Environmental Science Unit 8: Plastic Pollution and Solid Waste
This guide outlines our suggestions for how to incorporate our resources into your Advanced Placement Environmental Science Unit 8 curriculum on aquatic and terrestrial pollution.
Grades 10 to 12
2 to 6 hours
NGSS MS-PS1-3 Synthetic Materials
This guide will outline our suggestions for how to use a few of our resources to teach about the following Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Performance Expectation: MS-PS 1-3 Gather and make sense of info to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.
Grades 6 to 8
Variable Timing
NEW!
NGSS MS-ESS 3-3 Human Impact - "Plastic Ocean"
This guide will outline our suggestions for how to use a few of our resources to teach about the following Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Performance Expectation: MS-ESS 3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
Grades 6 to 8
Variable Timing
“Algalita has opened my eyes and I am even more motivated to continue teaching the new generations how we can save our planet. There is hope, if we start with education.”
-Laura Bermudez, Educator