This video explains how plastic waste (particularly from the fashion industry) has become a significant burden to our world, and how algae-based products are a more sustainable and biodegradable alternative.
Students will learn about the process of turning algae into footwear and some of the startups that are developing algae-based footwear as an alternative to petroleum-based/plastic footwear.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This video is packed with facts and statistics that help validate the arguments made.
This solution can help address dead zones and water pollution from over-fertilizing lawns, industrial agriculture, and construction projects.
Additional Prerequisites
This video has two ads.
Differentiation
Students could create a public service announcement educating consumers about algae-based footwear, including data and fact-based arguments.
Economics classes could look further into the recent market growth of algae products as well as future market predictions.
Teachers may choose to pause the video periodically to give students a chance to comprehend the material, as the video is packed with information and the video moves quickly.
A note-taking guide may help guide students as they watch. This could include headings such as: Harms of Plastics, Benefits of Algae, or Companies Already Replacing Petroleum-Based Plastics with Algae.
Other resources on this topic include this video on another sustainable alternative to plastic, this mural that explores plastic usage in society, and this video on the harms of plastic pollution.
Scientist Notes
This resource is a 12-minute video that presents some of the prototype and up-and-coming possibilities for using algae to produce biodegradable plastics. Currently, startups that are trying to replace petroleum-based plastics in shoes, such as flip-flops, are testing the practicality of algae-based shoe wear. This video is recommended for teaching.
Standards
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Economics
D2.Eco.1.6-8 Explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses, and society.
D2.Eco.1.9-12 Analyze how incentives influence choices that may result in policies with a range of costs and benefits for different groups.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.3 Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.3 Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-4 Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
ETS1: Engineering Design
HS-ETS1-3 Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
