Learning about Plastics with Chef Fossil Fuel!

Madame Keri Russel and her Gr. 5/6 class from Twin Rivers Elementary had fun learning about all things plastic in their 5th Beyond Recycling lesson. Students explored the pros and cons of plastics and watched a short video explaining the process of fossil fuel accumulation. With the students as her guide, Mme Russel become the Fossil Fuel chef – adorned with a plastic apron, chef hat, and oven mitts, she added all ingredients into the pot. Salt water to represent the oceans, coloured beads that represent the zooplankton and phytoplankton and a clay plate to act at the impermeable layer – adding heat and pressure. After lots of time, 200 million year to be exact, Mme took the pot out of the “oven” and viola! Out came a vile of oil. This is such a great way to reinforce the process of fossil fuels formation. Students love to see their teacher in the role of the Fossil Fuel chef, and learn all about plastics, a material it seems we can not live without. To wrap up the lesson, we watched a few videos’ from the Ocean Cleanup organization (theoceancleanup.com). It is so important for students to see an inspirational and positive example of a young man, Boyan Slat, leading an ocean clean up of plastics. Beyond Recycling lessons often leave the students with motivating solutions to some of these tough real life problems that we all face today.