Human Impact Survey

Engage

20 Minutes

Explore

200 minutes

Help students make a plan for monitoring and cleaning up the marine or freshwater ecosystem at the site you have chosen.

Review the Human Impact Survey data sheet or Alaska Specific Marine Debris data sheet to familiarize students with the types of things (signs of human activity, types of garbage, pollution) that they will be looking for at the site.

Develop a plan for covering the area adequately:
You might:

• • • Divide the class into two teams, with one walking the high tide and the other walking the low tide zone. (Or high bank/waterline, one side of a stream/the other side of the stream, etc.)
    • Walk a zigzag path between the high and low tide lines, or other “zones.”
    • Walk along one line, zone, or side on the way out and the other on the way back.

Review data recording procedures: When recording data use tally marks in groups of five, then total when finished. If you encounter a dead or stranded animal, make a note of its location and leave it alone.

Distribute the Human Impact Survey data sheets and have students paste them into their science notebooks and prepare for data collection.

On the designated day, students will complete their “Coastwalk/Riverwalk,” collecting data, and picking up trash and debris as they go.

If you would like to have students complete a more in-depth survey, you may use the CoastWalk Checklist from the Center for Alaska Coastal Studies or the International Coastal Clean Up Data Card from the Ocean Conservancy.

Explain

160 minutes

Discuss and analyze the findings. Possible discussion questions include:

What are some of the impacts of human use of the area?
Where did you find the most trash? The least?
Was there a prevalence of certain types of items? Where might these items have come from?
Which types of debris could pose problems to area wildlife? How?
Which types of debris could pose problems to wildlife in other areas?
Will regular cleanups solve the problem? Why or why not?
When you collect marine or stream debris, where can it go so it won’t end up back in a stream or on a beach? (Sometimes garbage dumps cause pollution also.)
What are some steps we can take to prevent the pollution in the first place?

What kind of graph or display could we make that would best illustrate our findings on the field trip?

Design and make graphs and displays that will be used to share the Coastwalk/Riverwalk findings with the community.

Ask each student to write in their science notebook:
How might human actions be benefiting or harming the (name of study area)?

Elaborate

30 minutes

Ask each student to reflect on stewardship in their science notebook by writing briefly about the following:

1. Am I responsible for helping to clean up and protect the (study site)?
2. How can I do that?

You might ask students to compose a letter to the editor, a PSA, a twitter or a podcast about marine debris and how people may help solve the problem.

Extend

Survey the physical conditions and inventory marine organisms at your site. Adopt the area as an ongoing project, by repeating the surveys at different times of the year and in successive years to monitor changes in the area. See the Alaska Center for Coastal Studies Coastwalk information for tools and procedures.

Evaluate

• How do human actions change (name of area or water body)?
• Are these changes helpful or harmful?
• What actions or changes are needed to improve the health of the (name of area or water body)?

Look at the following student work to evaluate understanding:

1. Human Impact Survey data sheet, student-made graphs, and analysis
2. Science notebook reflections and summary of project data.

Curricular Connections

Art. Students could make posters, flyers, and logos for community education, and photography lessons could be incorporated into the field trip.

Social Studies. History of the area, map-making, local government actions related to debris, trash, and waste disposal.

Health. Connections to environmental health.

Ideas for adapting to different local environment or context:
Invite local scientists or experts as a guest speaker or participants.