Implement this lesson:
This lesson can be implemented during the watershed, oceans, or ecosystem unit.
Learning Objective:
- Students will build a model watershed to explore how human activity and pollution, particularly nurdles, impact waterways.
- Model the effects of nurdles and human activity on a watershed.
- Draw valid conclusions based on their observations.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
6.11(A) research and describe why resource management is important in reducing global energy poverty, malnutrition, and air and water pollution
6.11(B) explain how conservation, increased efficiency, and technology can help manage air, water, soil, and energy resources
6.12(A)* investigate how organisms and populations in an ecosystem depend on and may compete for biotic factors such as food and abiotic factors such as availability of light and water, range of temperatures, or soil composition
6.12(B) describe and give examples of predatory, competitive, and symbiotic relationships between organisms, including mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism
6.12(C) describe the hierarchical organization of organism, population, and community within an ecosystem
6.13(A) describe the historical development of cell theory and explain how organisms are composed of one or more cells, which come from pre‐existing cells and are the basic unit of structure and function
6.13(B) identify and compare the basic characteristics of organisms, including prokaryotic and eukaryotic, unicellular and multicellular, and autotrophic and heterotrophic 6.13(C) describe how variations within a population can be an advantage or disadvantage to the survival of a population as environments change
7.10(A)* describe the evidence that supports that Earth has changed over time, including fossil evidence, plate tectonics, and superposition 7.10(B)* describe how plate tectonics causes ocean basin formation, earthquakes, mountain building, and volcanic eruptions, including super volcanoes and hot spots
7.11(A)* analyze the beneficial and harmful influences of human activity on groundwater and surface water in a watershed
7.11(B)* describe human dependence and influence on ocean systems and explain how human activities impact these systems
7.12(A)* diagram the flow of energy within trophic levels and describe how the available energy decreases in successive trophic levels in energy pyramids
7.13(A)* identify and model the main functions of the systems of the human organism, including the circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, muscular, digestive, urinary, reproductive, integumentary, nervous, immune, and endocrine systems
7.13(C)* compare the results of asexual and sexual reproduction of plants and animals in relation to the diversity of offspring and the changes in the population over time
7.13(D)*describe and give examples of how natural and artificial selection change the occurrence of traits in a population over generations
7.14(A) describe the taxonomic system that categorizes organisms based on similarities and differences shared among groups
8.10(A) describe how energy from the Sun, hydrosphere, and atmosphere interact and influence weather
8.10(B) identify global patterns of atmospheric movement and how they influence local weather
8.10(C) describe the interactions between ocean currents and air masses that produce tropical cyclones, including typhoons and hurricanes
8.12(B) describe how primary and secondary ecological succession affect populations and species diversity after ecosystems are disrupted by natural events or human activity
8.12(C) describe how biodiversity contributes to the stability and sustainability of an ecosystem and the health of the organisms within the ecosystem
8.13(A) identify the function of the cell membrane, cell wall, nucleus, ribosomes, cytoplasm, mitochondria, chloroplasts, and vacuoles in plant or animal cells 8.13(C) describe how variations of traits within a population lead to structural, behavioral, and physiological adaptations that influence the likelihood of survival and reproductive success of a species over generations
8.13(B) describe the function of genes within chromosomes in determining inherited traits of offspring
Nurdles — The Tiny Plastic Problem
At first glance, nurdles might look like colorful sand or tiny beads you’d use for crafts…
But they’re actually tiny plastic pellets that can cause big problems for the ocean and the animals that live there!
What Are Nurdles?
Nurdles are small plastic pellets, usually about the size of a lentil or a grain of rice.
They’re not litter at first — they’re the building blocks used to make almost all plastic products, like:
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Bottles
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Buckets
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Toothbrushes
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Toys
Factories melt nurdles down to form the plastic shapes we use every day.
How Do Nurdles Get Into the Ocean?
Even though nurdles start out in factories, many of them accidentally escape into the environment.
- Spills during shipping- trucks, trains, or ships can spill nurdles during transport
- Rain and storm drains- Nurdles on the ground can wash into rivers and end up in the ocean
- Factory leaks- Small spills at factories may not get cleaned up completely
Once they’re in the water, nurdles float and spread far and wide, carried by waves and wind.
Nurdles on the Texas Coast
The Texas Gulf Coast has had several nurdle spills, especially near ports and shipping areas.
Volunteers and scientists often find thousands of nurdles washed up on beaches in places like:
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Corpus Christi
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Galveston
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South Padre Island
Groups like Nurdle Patrol, based at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, help track and clean them up!
What People Are Doing to Help
Cleanups- volunteer collect nurdles from beaches before animals eat them
Nurdle patrol program- people report where they find nurdles so scientists can map the problem
Better handling rules- factories and shipping companies are working to prevent spills
Education- Teaching others about nurdles helps spread awareness
Even kids can help by joining cleanups, reducing plastic use, and sharing what they learn!
Fun Facts!
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There are billions of nurdles floating in oceans around the world!
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Nurdles can travel thousands of miles from where they were spilled.
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Birds have been found with hundreds of nurdles in their stomachs.
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Some nurdles are transparent, making them extra hard to see on beaches.
Why It’s Important
Protect wildlife- keeping nurdles out of the water saves fish, turtles, and birds
Keeps oceans clean- reducing plastic pollution helps marine ecosystems stay healthy
Raises awareness- learning about nurdles inspire people to take action
Tiny nurdles might seem harmless, but when they escape into the wild, they become a big problem for ocean life.
By learning, sharing, and helping clean up, we can all make a difference — one tiny pellet at a time!
Possible Books:
- Snurtle and the Oceans Hurdles “Nurdles” by Kristy Craigle
- Nurdle and the Microplastics by Claire Vowell
- Nurdle the Turtle: Lessons in Litter eBook by Rochelle Archibald
- Beach Clean-Up Adventure: Zac’s Happy Planet
Materials Needed:
- Paper Markers (blue and red)
- Spray bottles with water
- Tape Baking tray or shallow pan (optional)
Lesson Plan:
Introduction:
- Show the video clip from Hurdles with Nurdles (:28–4:04).
Procedure:
- Give each student a sheet of white paper.
- Crumble it lightly to create “landforms” like mountains, valleys, and hills. (Over-crumpling may obscure features.)
- Using a blue marker, color the tops of ridges and peaks to represent water flow.
- Add human activity features: a factory (nurdle production), a railroad leading toward the ocean, a truck transporting nurdles, and a ship loading nurdles by the ocean. Use red to indicate nurdles, including small dots along transport routes to show spillage.
- Tape the paper edges to the table or pan to preserve the landforms during the “rain” simulation.
- Mist the model with water to simulate rainfall. Observe: How does water flow through the watershed? Where do nurdles collect? What problems might arise from nurdle pollution? Where are your watersheds forming?