“It is past time that we tackle the plastic problem that blights our oceans. Plastic pollution is surfing onto Indonesian beaches, settling onto the ocean floor at the North Pole, and rising through the food chain onto our dinner tables.” So explains Erik Solheim, the environment director of the U.N., quoted in Danielle Smith-Llera’s book Trash Vortex. Craig Leeson, one of the narrators of the documentary A Plastic Ocean, also conveys the urgency of the situation: “The problem with that is that today only a fraction of the plastic that we produce is recycled. The rest ends up in our environment, and it's coating our land and our oceans like a disease.” Students spend the module learning about how plastic pollution became such a widespread problem, particularly in our oceans, and what can be done to reduce pollution. Students use their anchor text, the documentary, and additional articles in Units 1 and 2 to gather background knowledge about the problem, as well as explore possible solutions to reducing plastic pollution at different points in the plastic life cycle. As students transform their understanding into action plans and documentary clips to share with their communities, they help make into reality the final part of Erik Solheim’s quote: “We’ve stood by too long as the problem has gotten worse. It must stop.”

In Unit 1, students are introduced to the topic of plastic pollution and how it affects humans, animals, and the environment. Students study the documentary A Plastic Ocean, noting the transcript’s portrayal of a subject as compared to the film’s portrayal. In each lesson throughout the first half of the unit, students view a film clip as a class several times. Then they work collaboratively to complete note-catchers and engage in discussions to compare the film and transcript portrayals of subjects as well as to evaluate the speakers’ arguments. In the second half of Unit 1, students address big ideas about where and how plastic pollutes, as well as what can be done about plastic pollution. Students analyze the anchor text Trash Vortex for the author’s purpose and central ideas. Students then learn to analyze the text to discover how the author distinguishes her position from that of others. During the end of unit assessment, students read and analyze the end of Trash Vortex, answering selected and constructed response questions to analyze central ideas as well as the author’s purpose and how she distinguishes her position from others.

In Unit 2, students continue exploring the problem of plastic pollution by focusing on what can be done to address the problem. They read three articles and revisit their anchor texts to understand what interventions can be taken at each stage of the plastic life cycle: beginning, middle, and end. Students also learn about new materials being invented to replace plastic at the beginning of the life cycle, what consumers can do to use less plastic in the middle of the life cycle, and efforts by governments and organizations to stop single-use plastic and invent ways of cleaning up plastic pollution at the end of the plastic life cycle. By the middle of the unit, students take a stand about which part of the plastic life cycle would be most effective to target. They have the opportunity to defend their position in a debate with their classmates. Although this debate is not assessed, students’ preparation and participation in the debate continues to prepare them for their end of unit assessment and performance task in the following unit. In the second half of the unit, students use the evidence and reasoning they’ve collected and organized from their reading to practice on-demand argument essay writing about which point in the plastic life cycle is the best place to target to reduce pollution.

In Unit 3, students delve deeper into their chosen areas of intervention in the life cycle of plastic. Students choose a personal action to respond to the issue of plastic pollution. Actions might include using less plastic or recycling more, communicating with officials, or researching an invention. They form triads with classmates who have chosen the same category of action to determine how to coordinate their personal actions to be used in their documentary clip. In addition to this action plan work, students write their documentary film clip script over the course of the first half of the unit. In the second half of Unit 3, students work in their triads to create a storyboard, using visuals and captions to clarify their claims and emphasize the points in their documentary script. They then learn how to pitch their documentary to potential film producers, observing a model pitch and using a Tuning protocol to practice and refine their presentation skills. These include using appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. Finally, in the end of unit assessment, students work in triads to each pitch a part of their documentary script, focusing on their use of formal English, domain-specific vocabulary, storyboard visuals, and presentation skills.

Ali really loves to make music. Help make Ali's dream come true. Together, answer questions about musical instruments.

This six-day lesson provides students with an introduction to the importance of energy in their lives and the need to consider how and why we consume the energy we do. The lesson includes activities to engage students in general energy issues, including playing an award-winning Energy Choices board game, and an optional graphing activity that provides experience with MS Excel graphing and perspectives on how we use energy and how much energy we use.

Students estimate the storage capacity of CDs and DVDs by assessing diffraction patterns of green and red laser beams.

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast investigates how the pitch of sound changes when they strike a variety of glasses filled with different amounts and types of liquids. [5:07]

Filtering is the process of removing or separating the unwanted part of a mixture. In signal processing, filtering is specifically used to remove or extract part of a signal, and this can be accomplished using an analog circuit or a digital device (such as a computer). In this lesson, students learn the impact filtering can have on different types of signals, the concepts of frequency and spectrum, and the connections these topics have to real-world signals such as musical signals. Students also learn the roles that these concepts play in designing different types of filters. The lesson content prepares students for the associated activity in which they use an online demo and a variety of filters to identify the message in a distress signal heavily corrupted by noise.

Use the Sound Grapher to create visualizations of sound and learn about the frequency, wavelength, amplitude and velocity of sound waves.

In this classroom guided inquiry lesson, students will rotate through five stations of various sound instruments to look at how length affects pitch. Student will develop a hypothesis, make observations, and draw a conclusion about what happens when the length of the vibrating sound source changes.

Students will investigate how sounds are made and changed, record their findings in their journal, share these findings with the class, and develop further questions about sound.

This is an activity demonstrating how pitch varies using water bottles, and allows students to investigate pitch further with rulers, straws, and water bottles.

After learning about different stringed instruments, students create their own and then investigate how length and width of the strings affect the pitch. Lesson includes handouts, a rubric, a bibliography, and links.

In this lesson, students explore the relationship between fractions and musical pitch. Media resources and teaching materials are included.

In this video, musician Jake Shimabukuro uses the pitch of musical notes and vibrations in hertz to illustrate the concept of ratios. This clip is from Center for Asian American Media. In the accompanying classroom activity, students watch a portion of the video in which Shimabukuro explains the 3/4 time signature. After a brief introduction to musical pitch, students watch the rest of the video. They then use a chart listing the frequency of musical notes to identify ratios among notes that are one or more octaves apart. To get the most from the activity, students should have some familiarity with physics of sound.

Provides an explanation of half steps, whole steps, flats, and sharps. Illustrated examples accompany these definitions. (Macromedia Flash player is necessary to view this site.)

This activity is an investigation where students use tools to determine how the length of a sound source affects its pitch.

Find the next hit movie based on trends by structuring and analyzing data in a spreadsheet. Time to complete: 6-9 hours

Watch the rubber bands vibrate on homemade guitars in this video segment adapted from ZOOM as cast members talk about pitch and demonstrate how to make a cereal box instrument.

Watch the rubber bands vibrate on homemade guitars in this video segment adapted from ZOOM as cast members talk about pitch and demonstrate how to make a cereal box instrument. [2:59]

This video segment, adapted from ZOOM, explores the different sounds that a simple drinking straw can produce when you cut the straw and blow into it.

This video segment, adapted from ZOOM, explores the different sounds that a simple drinking straw can produce when you cut the straw and blow into it. [1:56]