“On the track of plastic waste” is a citizen science project of the ocean:lab of the Kiel ‘Forschungswerkstatt’, a set of laboratories at Kiel University open to school classes. In the project school students from Germany and Chile are collecting data for research together with their teachers and marine scientists and actively advocating for the prevention of waste in the world’s oceans. Global problems, such as the pollution of the oceans, can only be solved with the help of an international alliance. Therefore, the project conveys both scientific and intercultural competencies through a cooperative exchange with schools and teachers in Kiel and Chile.
“Projects, like “On the Track of Plastic Waste”, provide students with important instruments for the sustainable use of our environment. Stopping littering in the oceans is a matter close to my heart and I am happy about the commitment of the Kiel ‘Forschungswerkstatt’ to giving young people an understanding of the topic”, says Minister of the Environment Robert Habeck at the first plastic sampling on Falkenstein Beach in Kiel. Under the leadership of the Kiel ‘Forschungswerkstatt’ the eighth grade of Humboldt High School from Neumünster together with their teacher Heike Beushausen is studying plastic waste that has been washed up or left on the beach. For this purpose, the school students marked off 3x3 square meter fields and studied the amount and types of waste from the waterline to the end of the beach.
“Projects in the ‘Forschungswerkstatt‘, such as this one, form an important bridge between schools and research. With their commitment, school students are making a contribution to a current topic of research in the area of natural science. Providing them with scientific methods is as important to us as the exchange with other countries and cultures. The citizen science project “On the Track of Plastic Waste” combines all these aspects in a wonderful manner,” says Prof. Dr. Ilka Parchmann, Vice President of Kiel University and responsible for teaching, science knowledge transfer and training, as well as head of the Kiel ‘Forschungswerkstatt’.
In a pilot phase during the past year about 450 school students from the age of ten to 15 along with 20 teachers have been researching the topic of plastic waste on beaches, in particular on the coasts of Schleswig-Holstein. For this purpose, the school students used scientific methods for data collection, took samples at the beach and entered their results on the website www.save-ocean.org. The German-Chilean school student groups were also able to exchange experiences and discuss possible solutions through the website.
In spring 2016, the project “On the Track of Plastic Waste” was expanded to include up to 40 schools along the entire coast of the Baltic and the North Sea as well as to 40 schools along the entire Chilean coast. For the first time, longer sections of beach will be studied and compared in an international context. The programs and projects of the Kiel ‘Forschungswerkstatt’ address school students from the 5th to the 9th grade. Teachers who would like to participate with their classes will receive special training. One day at the beach is compulsory; all other aspects can be worked out in the framework of the natural sciences subjects.
Background
The project “On the Track of Plastic Waste“is the first citizen science project of the Kiel ‘Forschungswerkstatt’ and is carried out by the ocean: lab under the leadership of Dr. Katrin Knickmeier, marine biologist, and Katrin Kruse, teacher for biology and chemistry. High school students investigate the growing pollution of the world oceans and contribute to current marine research with their results. They learn more about the habitat ocean and study the consequences of plastic waste on the beach. International cooperation partner is the working group marine biology at the Chilean University Catolica del Norte in Coquimbo, Chile with their project “Cientificos de la Basura” under the leadership of Prof. Martin Thiel. The project is supported by the Cluster of Excellence “The Future Ocean,” the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN) as well as the Ministry of School and Professional Education of the State Schleswig-Holstein and the Lighthouse Foundation.
www.save-ocean.org
www.forschungs-werkstatt.de
Contact at the ‘Forschungswerkstatt‘:
Katrin Kruse, Kiel ‘Forschungswerkstatt‘,
Telephone: 0431-880-5914, kkruse@ipn.uni-kiel.de
Dr. Katrin Knickmeier, Kiel ‘Forschungswerkstatt‘, Cluster of Excellence “The Future Ocean”
Telephone: 0431-880-5914, kknickmeier@uv.uni-kiel.de
Friederike Balzereit, Public Outreach Cluster of Excellence “The Future Ocean”
Telephone: 0431-880-3032, fbalzereit@uv.uni-kiel.de
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Press material
Macro plastic sampling in the citizen science project “On the Track of Plastic Waste” of the Kiel ‘Forschungswerkstatt’. Minister for the Environment Habeck takes over the patronage of the project.
Photo: Anna Thielisch, Kiel ‘Forschungswerkstatt’
Stopping littering in the oceans: Minister for the Environment Habeck together with Dr. Katrin Knickmeier, Katrin Kruse and the teacher Heike Beushausen (from the right) at the first plastic sampling on Falkenstein Beach in Kiel.
Photo: Friederike Balzereit, Future Ocean
