Gabriella, Paniz, Anna, Christina and Saril are the M.E. R. maids who are sharing the story of how marine debris harms marine life. They will create posters in Photoshop of mermaids saddened by sea creatures injured by plastic debris or derelict fishing gear. They will include actions that people should take to safely dispose of their trash and fishing equipment. The posters they create will be wrapped on trash bins at the beach as part of the Adopt-A-Beach program.
No mermaids will be harmed during this project.
Experiencing life as a mermaid will bring empathy and understanding to students in my Environmental class. I took four of them to mermaid school for a day, and it became clear how a plastic bag or derelict fishing gear could render sea life completely helpless when entangled. Now they are inspired to share that message with other students and the greater community.
Getting a set of swimming mermaid tails will connect more of my students to the marine life they are studying. The original M.E.R.maids will help train new mermaids to swim and pose for poster pictures. They will practice the academic skill of “Obtaining, Evaluating and Communicating Information” as they research the effects of marine debris, then design posters in Photoshop to illustrate the problem and provide solutions. The Adopt-A-Beach program will wrap waste bins on the beach with student’s posters to educate beach goers on how litter can injure marine life, and encourage the proper disposal of trash.
In Their Own Words
The goal of our project is to bring more awareness to recycling and the consequences that arise when it doesn't get done properly. We want people to be more self conscious of their actions and to know how it affects our environment, our oceans, and the marine life that reside in it. Besides bringing awareness to this issue, we will also take actions to rectify the problem. We hope to get people thinking of ways that they could help. We want to reduce the amount of recyclables that end up in trash and take up space in landfills, make sure that it is sorted, and to minimize the amount of plastics, and other recyclables, that end up on our oceans and our streets.
In creating this project, we will lead others to get involved and educate them on where and how to appropriately dispose of their recyclables, as to not end up harming an innocent creature on a later date. As mermaids, we will be posing for pictures that we will edit to put on posters. These posters will portray the image of an animal that has been injured due to marine debris and will also contain tips on what people can do to be better stewards for the environment. We will work on training another generation of mermaids, that can follow in our paths and continue our crusade. In the past, there were public service announcements with characters and figures that would motivate people to take action and inform them of what they could and should do. In today's age, we rarely see that anymore; as the M.E.R.maids, we will try to reintroduce these ideas.
This project is important to our school and community because a lot of the time we notice that trash and recyclables are getting mixed together, decreasing the effectiveness of our recycling program. This hurts our environment and the species living in it. Through our project we will research this problem further and find out why that is. We will also work hard to reduce the amount of trash that goes to the ocean, as well as increase the rate at which people recycle and bring awareness to our community.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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