July 28, 2014
Yong Chang Jang (Ph.D.)
Researcher at Korea Marine Litter Institute
yongchangjang@hotmail.com
http://koreamarinelitter.blogspot.kr
On July 28, 2014, at National Institute of Ecology (www.nie.re.kr), I taught 50 students (13-15 ages) about microplastic marine debris pollution. The students listened to my lecture of 30 minutes, surveyed the microplastic marine debris composition and abundance at a nearby beach, analyzed the result, gave presentations on the survey results, and discussed on how to solve the problem.
The students awareness and attitude on how to solve the marine debris problems changed significantly. Before the program, they thought marine debris problems can be solved by cleanups and individual moral behavior is enough, but after the programs, they agreed that prevention is essential and so government policy to change the individual behavior is important.
This program is a good example in some meanings. (1) Microplastic marine debris is a good issue to educate ocean science. As the survey method is easy to understand, the students survey the pollution abundance by themselves. (2) Practising scientific survey is a good chance to learn something. Because lots of (about 10,000 pieces of plastic per square meter) plastic debris was surveyed, the students easily understood that marine debris problem cannot be solved by cleanups. (3) Marine debris is a good method of citizen science. As the method is simple, the students came to believe that they can do the science by themselves.
<Fig 1. Collecting microplastic marine debris samples from a beach>
<Fig 3. Professional assistance is important for education>
I participated in this program of 6 hours as the lecturer. I appreciate the host organizations: (1) Dong-A ST Co. (2) Eco Horizon Institute, (3) Cheil Worldwide Inc., (4) National Institute of Ecology, and (5) Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea Museum.
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