Classroom on the Sand Lessons with Lingua Academy Microschool

Overview

On Tuesday, November 12th, and Wednesday, November 13th, The International SeaKeepers Society hosted students from Lingua Academy Microschool for Classroom on the Sand sessions at Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park in Hollywood, Florida. On Tuesday, we were joined by 10 students and 2 teachers, who kicked off their day with a beach cleanup. This state park includes a long stretch of beach that is very close to Port Everglades, making the coast a hot spot for marine debris from boat activity as well as beachgoers. Our students returned from their cleanup with 7.1 pounds of trash, containing plastic and glass bottles, food wrappers, and many plastic fragments. After discussing what types of debris were collected, we introduced the concept of a watershed and how the watershed can carry different pollutants to the ocean. To model this concept, we used our Enviroscapes Watershed model to simulate how litter, fertilizer, oil, gas and other pollutants are carried to the ocean when it rains via storm drains, rivers and runoff.

On Wednesday, we were joined by a larger group of 30 students and 5 teachers, who also ventured onto the beach to remove debris to begin the lesson. The students collected just over 2.5 pounds of trash, including lots of microplastics, bottle caps and some fishing line. Wednesday was exceptionally windy, which allowed us to discuss how wind plays a role in the watershed and marine debris accumulation. Like the day before, we used the Enviroscapes Watershed model to simulate this impact and discuss ways in which we can change our infrastructure or our laws to prevent ocean pollution. We are so grateful to all the students and faculty from Lingua Academy for joining us for these lessons, and we hope to work with them again in the future!