Philadelphia Writing Project
Supporting Civically Engaged Argument Writing with Primary Sources
Ocean Pollution
Water covers approximately three-quarters of our planet's surface. Although oceans are vast, modern human activity has significantly impacted their health. Oil spills, fertilizer runoff causing algal blooms, a growing plastic trash island in the Pacific, and the warming waters and melting ice sheets present various environmental issues that demand our attention.
Plastics are particular ocean pollutants that invite scrutiny. While they provide numerous benefits in modern society, plastics constitute a large source of ocean pollution. Communities are discussing a range of solutions to these challenges. Some have banned plastic straws or implemented recycling programs. Engineers may design technologies to remove plastic trash from the water, and community members may call for systemic changes in how we package and consume goods. Each potential solution comes with its benefits and downsides, and deciding what to do—if anything—requires understanding the complex ecological, economic, and political systems involved.
FEATURED PRIMARY SOURCES
TEACHER INQUIRY
Deepening an Existing Curriculum Unit
Students in Javaha Ross’s reading intervention class had been studying the ocean as part of their English language arts curriculum with their homeroom teacher. The existing curriculum introduced students to human exploration of the ocean. With Ms. Ross, students took a deeper look into human impacts on the ocean through pollution. Her decision to extend the unit provided students with additional opportunities to engage in the intertwined practices of reading, speaking, and writing as they sought to understand issues and develop ideas about what might be done. Further, they were no longer just learning about something but were being asked to do contribute to an ongoing civic conversation.
During the mini unit, Ms. Ross invited students to reflect on their own experiences with the ocean through any connections they had to the nearby shore and introduced them to texts that described how ocean pollution has been an early local beach community concern and later a global one. They learned about environmentalist John Francis, a native Philadelphian, who gave up using motorized transportation and speaking for 22 years in protest over the 1971 San Francisco Bay oil spill. To go public with their own perspectives on issues related to ocean pollution, students contributed a slide to a slideshow created by the class.
In this March 2022 webinar recording excerpt, Ms. Ross describes her process for deepening an existing curriculum unit by integrating primary sources and civic argument writing
TEXT SET
Introduce the Issue
Teachers may introduce the topic using one or more of the texts below. Instead of asking students their opinions up front, teachers should encourage students to identify the multiple perspectives of others on the issue.
Historical primary sources can help students recognize how plastics solved problems and became so ubiquitous.
Informational text for children with facts and percentages for students regarding plastic in the Ocean. “Plastic in the Ocean” (National Geographic Kids, 2022).
Informational text about how plastic waste affects the ocean.” 7 facts about ocean plastic pollution for kids.” (Kids Earth, 2022).
Research article about benefits of plastics. "Applications and societal benefits of plastics." (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 2009).
News video about a community ban on plastic straws. “Environmental advocates applaud NJ’s plastic straw ban.” (NJ Spotlight News, 2021).
Go Deeper
Students may use these texts—or excerpts from these texts—to identify additional perspectives on the issue.
Teachers may choose to focus on plastic straws in particular or zoom out to consider plastics, oil, and other pollutants more broadly. Be sure to support students in thinking about tradeoffs, local and system changes, and potential consequences of inaction.
Historical primary sources can shed light on the modern emergence of environmental movements in the 1960s and 1970s.
Video for children describing how plastics were first developed. “A brief history of plastic.” (TED-Ed, 2020).
News article explaining that bans on single-use straws affect members of the disability community. “Why people with disabilities want bans on plastic straws to be more flexible.” (National Geographic Kids, 2022).
News article arguing that efforts to remove plastic from the ocean may cause more harm than intended. "Oops, cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was probably a bad idea."(Vox, 2022).
Researcher interview explaining that straw bans are not enough to address the plastic pollution issue. “Do plastic straws really make a difference?” (Stanford University, 2018).
Informational text about how oil spills contribute to ocean pollution. “How do oil spills affect the environment?” (Kids Earth, 2020).
Infographic explaining benefits and downsides of plastic use. “The world of plastics – both a blessing and a curse.” (Energy Minute, 2023).
News article explaining that plastic-producing corporations oversold the recyclability of plastics. "‘They lied’: plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals." (The Guardian, 2024).
Informational website with an overview of the history and impact of plastics on oceans. “Marine plastics.” (Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, 2018).
PLANNING & EQUITY INSIGHTS
Culturally & Historically Relevant Literacies: 5 Pursuits
In Cultivating Genius (2020) and Unearthing Joy (2023), Gholdy Muhammad introduced a Culturally and Historically Relevant Literacies framework. The framework encourages teachers to plan units using five pursuits that were central to the work and learning of Black literary societies.
A unit on ocean pollution may address each pursuit in these ways:
Identities: Students consider how plastics intersect with our everyday lives and needs. Plastics may especially be useful for health, safety, and access needs. Additionally, students may have specific relationships with the ocean that arise as relevant to this unit.
Skills: Students debate ideas and write argumentative essays to support their claims for addressing ocean pollution. Students also consider what kinds of evidence would be most relevant to the claims they make.
Intellectualism: Students read and analyze texts to build background knowledge to support their understanding of oceans and pollution. Students also consider causes and effects as well as potential unintended consequences of actions taken to address a problem.
Criticality: Students reflect on how issues and solutions related to ocean pollution may affect people differently. Students may also grapple with who is responsible for addressing ocean pollution. For instance, are corporations responsible for cleanup and restitution for harms caused? Finally, students may wrestle with the balance between individual and system-level solutions needed to address the issue.
Joy: Students can creatively design texts for public awareness to share with others. Additionally, students may have specific relationships with the ocean that arise as relevant to this unit.
CLASSROOM ROUTINE
Ranking Evidence
As students engage with a range of ideas about a topic, they may wonder which texts and pieces of evidence are most reliable and relevant to an argument they wish to make. The National Writing Project's College, Career, and Community Writers Program (NWP C3WP) provides resources for supporting students in "Ranking Evidence."
Check out this C3WP mini unit on helping students make decisions about which evidence to use related to ocean pollution. Below is a handout that invites students to rank evidence in relation to a claim.
GOING PUBLIC WITH ARGUMENT
Creating Infographics
Creating texts for audiences outside of school is one of the important features of civically engaged argument writing. The National Writing Project's College, Career, and Community Writers Program (NWP C3WP) provides rationales and resources for supporting students in "Writing to an Audience to Urge Action."
In Trey Smith's environmental science class, students explored various water-related pollution issues and developed infographics to teach someone else about the issue. Mr. Smith used a number of approaches and resources to support students in developing their infographics:
Mr. Smith shared exemplar infographics that he had identified. As a whole class, students and Mr. Smith discussed what moves the designer appeared to be using to create the infographic. Once they agreed on an idea, the class wrote these down as key things to remember. For instance, they noticed that:
a larger title stood out and draws the reader's attention,
numbers were connected to some kind of visual representation,
the visual representation typically was something more interesting than a bar chart or bar graph,
the colors were vibrant and worked well together, and
there was more detail with smaller text that you could read if you wanted but the message was often clear without the details.
Students selected topics that interested them, from algal blooms to plastic pollution, that they researched further.
Students developed sketches and drafts before beginning digital designs.
Students engaged in cycles of design in which they got feedback from the rest of the class and made adjustments.
Example draft infographic designs
TEACHER INQUIRY
A Rise in Environmental Anxiety in Youth
As Ms. Ross and Mr. Smith developed their mini units on ocean pollution, they considered the possibility that some students might feel sad or anxious about what may seem like an overwhelming environmental challenge. Educators and researchers have written about youth anxiety about environmental issues and climate change, in particular. Some young people may be especially dismayed that adults have not yet addressed pressing environmental issues.
One way to potentially preempt eco-anxiety is by offering students experiences that nurture connections with ecological systems, helping them see themselves as part of—not apart from—those systems. Provide children with opportunities to feel connected to, comfortable with, and empathetic toward the natural world. These firsthand experiences can better equip students to engage with more abstract topics like deforestation, endangered species, or pollution.
Additionally, teachers should consider the scope of the problem that a mini unit focuses on. Students may notice there are opportunities to address pollution in a community or neighborhood. Early on, children develop values related to "helping out" and "cleaning up after yourself" that can be useful scaffolds for environmental education topics. For younger students, focusing on immediate issues can be beneficial. As students mature, they can begin to consider how local issues are linked to larger systems and bigger problems.
Finally, teachers should consider not only reading levels but also the implicit and explicit ideas embedded in the texts they select. For instance, do the texts support students' creativity and senses of possibility? Alternatively, do the texts present an issue as insurmountable and potentially invite inaction? Are there examples of individuals, coalitions, and young people who are helping to address an issue? For students of all ages, what local actions do the texts invite that help young people imagine ways forward? For older students, do the texts make visible economic, political, and social dimensions of the issue?
Additional Planning Resources
Primary Source
Beaches disappearing. 1931. Waterbury Evening Democrat. (Chronicling America, Library of Congress).
Primary Source
Over 12 miles of ocean frontage sold! 1954. Evening Star. (Chronicling America, Library of Congress).
Primary Source
Flight to the future — to the world of plastics [video].1952. (Library of Congress).
Primary Source
“There goes the entire neighborhood” [political cartoon]. 1973. (Library of Congress).
Teacher Blog Post
Microbeads, nanomaterials, and federal legislation. (Library of Congress).
Teacher Blog Post
Mapping the ocean floor, Marie Tharp, and making arguments from evidence (part 1). (Library of Congress).
Teacher Blog Post
Mapping the ocean floor, Marie Tharp, and making arguments from evidence (part 2). (Library of Congress).
Teacher Blog Post
Deepwater Horizon: Analyzing maps that document an oil spill. (Library of Congress).
Unit Planning Resource
Ranking evidence and plastic straws text set. College, Career, and Community Writers Program. (National Writing Project, 2019).
Unit Planning Resource
Ocean! How can we be a part of healthy ocean systems? (Smithsonian Science Education Center, 2024).
Teacher Reading
Nurturing children's biophilia. (Community Playthings, 2008).
Picture Book
The vast wonder of the world: Biologist Ernest Everett Just. (2018).
Informational Text
Planet vs. plastics: 10 education programs to inspire you this Earth Day (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2024).
Informational Text
The plastic paradox: How plastics went from elephant saviors to eco-villains. (Big Think, 2024).
Informational Text
The age of plastic: from Parkesine to pollution. (Science Museum, 2019).
About This Page
This website features resources created by educators affiliated with the Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP), supported by a Teaching with Primary Sources grant from the Library of Congress.
The following Philadelphia Writing Project teacher consultants contributed to this page: J. Ross and J. F. Smith.
Some of the resources and approaches referenced on this page were developed by the National Writing Project's College, Career, and Community Writers Program.
This page was updated 11 July 2024.