Marine

Taking the message about marine litter back to school

June 22, 2015 by Marine Scotland Communications No Comments | Category Marine Directorate general, Marine Directorate Science, Marine Litter

Picture from Mill O’ Forest Primary school

In Marine Scotland, we have a bunch of very active and knowledgeable colleagues who are STEM Ambassadors who spend lots of time educating and working with your people, whether at schools or universities.

In March, one on the members of our Fish Health Inspectorate attended an Eco-day at the Mill O’Forest primary school in Stonehaven, where he spoke to several primary 1 and 2 children on the subject of Marine Litter.

As he explained:

“I was asked to come in to the school and talk to their Eco-committee about a marine subject and marine litter is an important subject, so I suggested a presentation on this. I thought “great – a lunchtime chat to 7 or 8 children of varying ages, but all interested in the environment, throw in a couple of slides of some rubbish on a beach – what could go wrong?”. The proposal quickly developed into an ‘Eco-day event’ involving multiple schools from across the region and the request soon grew to an entire day, speaking to three classes, amounting to over 70 kids! Needless to say I felt rather apprehensive and decided that a strategy to ensure pupil engagement was a necessity.

A short presentation, with lots and lots of pictures, highlighted the different types of marine litter that exist, where it comes from, the impact it has upon marine organisms and the actions we can all take to prevent and reduce the problem. This was followed by several sessions in smaller groups looking and talking about real examples of marine litter. There was a drawing competition, with prizes, allowing the children to demonstrate what they had learnt.

The children were enthusiastic and really engaged throughout the day. They showed a big interest in the marine environment and the animals and plants which live there. In addition, they were exceptionally well behaved. The comment of the day has to be from one of the primary 1 pupils who announced that if a shark cut itself (through a piece of marine litter) then it would try and eat itself! I like the logic.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day I spent at the school. The staff were very appreciative of my time and effort – so much so that I have been invited back, to talk to their Eco-committee (as originally planned) and to be involved in their next assessment as part of the Eco-schools process. “

More information

• Marine Scotland blogs about marine litter and beach cleaning in Torry, Aberdeen
• Marine Litter Strategy for Scotland

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