RESOURCES REQUIRED

Litter picking kit (often free to borrow from your local council or you can get some equipment of your own by signing up to our Plastic Free Schools programme.)

Plastic Persuasion PowerPoint

Persuasive writing word bank (completed and blank)

Toolkit for persuasive writing (completed and blank)

Cameras/Ipads (optional)

Protractors

Rulers

Writing paper, envelopes and stamps

ADULT SUPPORT

Ensure H&S/risk assessments are adhered to during litter pick

Support to draw pie chart where required

Sourcing addresses for businesses being approached

USEFUL LINKS

Dirty Dozen SAS Campaign

Online Pie Chart Maker

DURATION

180 minutes

SUBJECT FOCUS

Maths/English

AGE GROUP

Year 6

LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Use real life statistics as a persuasive device.

Lesson plan: Plastic Persuasion

Learning outcomes (differentiated)

KEYWORDS

AUDIT

DISCRETE DATA

PICTOGRAM

TALLY CHART

PIE CHART

PERCENTAGE

MEAN

AVERAGE

PERSUADE

MUST Understand how to write to persuade others to believe what they believe and, ultimately, take action

SHOULD Use persuasive devices such as rhetorical questions, emotive language and repetition of a key point

COULD Use real life data to build credibility and reliability

STARTER

Almost a decade ago, Surfers Against Sewage conducted a Plastic Pollution Brand Survey; a brand audit that revealed that the majority of all beach litter (56%) was attributable to just twelve corporations, dubbed the Dirty Dozen.

Use the PowerPoint to introduce the students to this historical data as well as their challenge and the reasons behind it. Together, explore the data gathered 10 years ago that led to the naming of the Dirty Dozen. Speculate about how it may be different 10 years later. As a class, plan the litter pick carefully to ensure good quality and useful data will be gathered.

ACTIVITY1 (PowerPoint slides 1- 6) Conduct a clean up

Conduct your clean up (risk assessments and organisational support is freely available online). Ideally, the class will be split into groups to clean up a specific area thereby gathering different data sets. Either retain all plastic collected for analysis back at school, photograph each plastic item or log items as you go, remember to record the brand!

ACTIVITY 2 (PowerPoint slides 7 - 11) Crunch the data

On return to the classroom, ensure each group has their own set of collected items, ask them to work collaboratively to complete the tally chart (see resources) some items may just be fragments and so will need some investigative work to determine which brand produced them. This sleuthing should add to the fun!

As a class, complete the tally chart on the PowerPoint by combining all the data gathered, use this to create a pie chart after agreeing success criteria.

ACTIVITY 3 (PowerPoint slides 12 - 18) Campaign for change

Advise the class that knowledge is power and that we now want to use this data to campaign for change. Using the statistical information gathered, pupils will write a persuasive letter to one or more of the brands identified to be responsible for some of the plastic pollution.

Where appropriate, use the accompanying resources: persuasive writing word bank and persuasive writing key features for learners who may need additional support. Blank versions have been created in case you wish to brainstorm appropriate content with your class.

PLENARY

Post the letters! Discuss, as a class, what your next actions could be to keep momentum going as well as how this lesson may have impacted their own behaviour.

FOLLOW UP ACTIVITIES

Explore the other plastic focused lessons created by Surfers Against Sewage. This lesson particularly lends itself to our On the Plastics Trail lesson.

Now youre feeling fired up, participate in Surfers Against Sewages Plastic Free Schools programme.

Conduct a second litter pick in a different location and compare findings to determine commonalities and differences.

Set up a regular litter picking crew or pledge to join local volunteers on one of theirs.

Share the students letters on social media tagging one of the brands and an image of the items collected, dont forget to tag Surfers Against Sewage (@SASCampaigns).

CURRICULUM LINKS

Statistics Year 6

Pupils should be taught to:

Interpret and construct pie charts and line graphs and use these to solve problems

Calculate and interpret the mean as an average

English Composition Year 6

Pupils should be taught to:

plan their writing by:

Identifying the audience for and purpose of the writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for their own

Noting and developing initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary

draft and write by:

Selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning

Using further organisational and presentational devices to structure text and to guide the reader [for example, headings, bullet points, underlining]

evaluate and edit by:

Assessing the effectiveness of their own and others writing

Ensuring the consistent and correct use of tense throughout a piece of writing

Sustainable Development Goal: Goal 14 Life Below Water