UVI NOW OFFERS ‘MARINE DEBRIS CURRICULUM’ FOR EDUCATORS ACROSS THE TERRITORY

CHARLOTTE AMALIE — The University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), in partnership with local educators, said it now offers a “USVI Marine Debris Curriculum.” The curriculum was written exclusively for the U.S. Virgin Islands to bring awareness to the problem of marine debris in the Territory and to provide culturally-relevant, solutions-oriented, marine debris curricula for USVI schools. It uses local examples and lessons to create a curriculum that is engaging and meaningful to participating students.

One example of an engaging lesson is “Beach Box Exploration.” This lesson asks students to create “beach boxes” after attending a beach cleanup. A sampling of items collected at the cleanup is used in the boxes to foster a discussion on what exactly is marine debris? How do they suspect this debris got to the beach? The objective is to partner fieldwork and in-class activities to identify, sort, and classify marine debris commonly found in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The curriculum also offers “Spotlights” which highlight USVI-specific marine debris research, local researchers, community-led prevention efforts, and natural disaster impacts from marine debris. One “Spotlight,” for example, features Virgin Islander, Zola Roper, a graduate of the Masters of Marine and Environmental Science program at the University of the Virgin Islands. Roper focused her thesis research on marine debris and is now actively working to bring awareness to the problems of marine debris in the U.S. Virgin Islands.