Classroom Lesson with North Hialeah Elementary School

Overview

On November 7th, 2024, The International SeaKeepers Society led a classroom visit and lesson with the students of North Hialeah Elementary School in Hialeah, Florida. Our Community Engagement Associate, Lillian, and our Educational Outreach Associate, Jack, led an interactive discussion with fifty to sixty students from three separate classes focused on the interconnected nature of our watershed, marine pollution and its sources, as well as broad human impacts on our oceans. The students asked some great questions and we had no problem getting a ton of engagement in answering some tough environmental science questions. Students then participated in two activities: first, modeling a watershed and pollution dynamics through the use of our Enviroscapes Watershed model table, and second performing a Sink or Float test where students made their best assumptions on whether different popular types of plastic would sink or float in seawater. Throughout the activities, we encouraged students to think critically on both sources and impact of pollution as well as what both they as individuals can do to try to reduce pollution on local waterways all the way to Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Our students proved to be natural scientists, asking amazing questions and showing some real expertise when it comes to their plastics knowledge! Following these activities, we concluded with a wrap-up discussion of major takeaways and an open talk on what we can all do in our day to day lives to better reduce and reuse various sources of pollution and shared our schedule of future SeaKeepers events, which many students expressed interest in joining. We give a huge thank you to the staff and students of North Hialeah for hosting us and for a great morning and look forward to working together again in the future.