© 2022 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Volume XXXIX, Issue 2 Page 29

Abstract

In partnership with the Climate Science Alliance, the San Diego Coastkeeper 

education team developed new climate change lessons and activities to demonstrate the connection between human activities and greenhouse gases and climate 

change impacts in our oceans. Thanks to the generous support from NOAA Planet 

Stewards, the project was able to bring a Water and Climate Stewards program 

to approximately 944 4th-12th grade students at eight schools within San Diego 

County. Through one-on-one meetings with teachers and students, classroom 

presentations, online lesson plans, free supplies and action projects, students 

gained a better understanding of San Diego’s ecology and the threats that our 

environment and community face from pollution and climate change. Students 

developed a sense of stewardship towards San Diego’s habitats and wildlife and 

learned specific actions they can take to protect our natural resources, reduce 

their single-use plastic consumption, and create positive change in their communities. Teachers gained free access to standards-aligned lesson plans that meet Next 

Generation Science Standards and Common Core State Standards, enhancing their 

curriculum with environmental science education. 

Introduction

San Diego Coastkeeper (https://www.sdcoastkeeper.org/) is a non-profit organization based 

in San Diego, California with the mission to protect and restore fishable, swimmable and 

drinkable waters in San Diego County. The education team has been providing hands-on 

water education for years, and have reached thousands of students and teachers with our 

education programs. In order to make our programming more relevant and local we have 

been building partnerships with San Diego environmental education organizations and the 

Climate Science Alliance, a non-profit organization with the mission of safeguarding natural 

and human communities in the face of a changing climate (https://www.climatesciencealliance.org/). With these connections and the knowledge and resources that community 

Water and Climate Stewards 

of San Diego Bay

Sandra Lebrón, Elementary Institute of Science, San Diego, CA
© 2022 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Page 30 The Earth Scientist

partnerships bring, we felt empowered to start incorporating meaningful climate education 

into our existing curriculum. 

One of the key science education content standards that California has adopted to guide 

K-12 science education is the principle that people influence natural systems. The goal of 

our climate action project was to deepen student knowledge and to find practical solutions 

for two issues: climate change and marine debris. New climate change lessons and activities were developed that included tools for understanding which human activities produce 

greenhouse gases, presentations on the ways in which climate change is impacting our 

oceans, games that help illustrate links between human behaviors and climate outcomes, and 

resources full of tips for how students can reduce their climate impacts in their own lives 

and empower their families and communities to do the same. 

Funds provided by NOAA Planet Stewards (https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/planet-stewards/psep-supporting.html) allowed us to purchase supplies to 

build the education kits we distributed to local classrooms. Through a partnership with the Port of San Diego’s environmental education grant program, we 

were able to expand the program into the San Diego Bay Watershed communities 

of Coronado, Imperial Beach, and Chula Vista in addition to San Diego. Spanish 

language versions of our climate lesson further improved our ability to connect 

with more students and more educators in our region. 

Project Implementation

During this grant period, we hosted numerous classroom presentations and 

field trips through partnerships with the Climate Science Alliance and the Earth 

Discovery Institute (https://earthdiscovery.org/). These partnerships allowed us 

to leverage a larger number of students and allowed us to present a holistic view 

of climate and water science. Through our hands-on trash decomposition and 

greenhouse gases activities, students learned about the relationship between 

plastic consumption and climate change. We offered classroom presentations to 

help teachers integrate the Climate Change and Marine Debris lesson plan into 

their curriculum and conducted climate stewardship action projects in three schools. 

The following schools in San Diego County participated in the project:

1. Bayside Elementary in Imperial Beach.

2. Harborside Elementary in Chula Vista.

3. SAY San Diego an after-school program at Innovation Middle School in San Diego.

4. Logan K-8 School in San Diego.

5. Marston Middle school in San Diego.

6. Mission Bay High School in San Diego.

7. Silver Gate Elementary school in San Diego. 

8. Silver Strand Elementary school in Coronado.

Students learned about marine debris; what happens with our trash—specifically single-use 

plastics—when it reaches our storm drains, where it ends up if not properly disposed of, 

and its detrimental effects on our local waterways, the San Diego Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. 

Students discovered how long it takes for plastics to decompose and were surprised to learn 

Illustrations by Jack Kelly

Marine Debris

Trash (mostly plastics) and any other human-made material that enters the marine 

environment. 60-80% comes from land through the storm drains and rivers.

Basura Marina

Basura (mayormente plásticos) y cualquier otro material hecho por los humanos que 

entra al ambiente marino. 60-80% viene de actividades en tierra a través de las 

alcantarillas y los ríos.

Figure 1. Example of bilingual science illustrations
© 2022 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Volume XXXIX, Issue 2 Page 31

that some single-use items can take hundreds of years to 

break down into smaller pieces, making them more accessible to become part of the food chain and ultimately never 

degrade. Students were deeply concerned about the effects 

of marine debris on our marine life when exploring real 

pictures of aquatic and marine animals with their stomachs 

filled with plastic items. 

Link to NGSS Lesson Finding Solutions to Climate Change 

and Plastic Pollution: (https://docs.google.com/document/

d/184LF9U3EOCI2BRBAkod_IcTSyDt6LcNi9T5KdLxBnVw/

edit?usp=sharing).

Innovative games engaged students in learning about 

different causes of climate change, the sources of greenhouse 

gases as well as practical solutions an individual can take to 

reduce plastic consumption and pollution and decrease their 

carbon and water footprint.

The team piloted new lessons at Pacific Beach Elementary 

School over the course of five weeks in 2017—reaching every 

single student in grades K-5 at the school—and received positive feedback. We also worked with 6th grade students from 

Harborside Elementary and the students showed an increase 

in understanding about solving the pollution problem from 

22% to 84%.

Topics at the schools varied depending on the needs of the 

curriculum. Students from Marston Middle School, Mission 

Bay High School and Silver Gate Elementary participated in 

hands-on marine debris decomposition activities and greenhouse gases games. 

Image 1. 88 4th-5th grade students from Bayside Elementary learned about 

the San Diego Bay tidelands and pollution sources during an outdoor field trip 

with the Earth Discovery Institute to Imperial beach. Photo credit: Sandra Lebró

Image 2. Students learning about marine debris and watersheds

Photo credit: Sandra Lebrón

Table 1. Before: 25 of the 115 (22%) students answered correctly. After: 97

of the 115 (84%) students answered correctly

Image 3. Mission Bay High School students analyze trash during 

decomposition activity

Photo credit: Sandra Lebrón
© 2022 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Page 32 The Earth Scientist

The afterschool program at Innovation 

Middle School learned about ways to 

monitor and minimize pollution in our watersheds, learned about ocean acidification effects 

to our ocean, and practiced pH testing. Students discussed ways to monitor and minimize 

pollution in our watersheds, learned about ocean acidification effects to our ocean, and practiced pH testing.

The focus at Logan K-8 School was water quality, measuring pH, ocean acidification, and CO2,

and ways to reduce greenhouse gases and plastic pollution as well as the effects of ocean 

acidification on our marine animals and habitats.

Image 4 and 5. San Diego Coastkeeper interns work with Innovation Middle 6-8th grade 

students at an afterschool program. Photo credit: Sandra Lebró

Image 6. Students from Silver Strand Elementary School in Coronado

Photo credit: Sandra Lebrón

Image 7. Marston Middle students during trash collection and assembly

Photo credit: Sandra Lebrón
© 2022 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Volume XXXIX, Issue 2 Page 33

Student Action Projects 

Climate action projects were started at three schools to help students understand their 

carbon and water footprints on the local environment, their 

daily plastic consumption, and encourage simple actions to 

reduce their daily single-use plastic consumption. 6th grade 

students at Marston Middle School in San Diego conducted a 

plastic inventory and implemented measure to refuse, reduce, 

reuse, and ultimately recycle. Their climate stewardship 

action project included:

l	 Public service announcement (PSA) to increase 

awareness about single-use plastics. https://youtu.be/ZL1Eb2GwGg and https://youtu.be/1Hf68hCnSyY. 

l	 Each week from January-June, posters highlighting a 

different plastic pollution problem were hung around 

the school.

l	 A school-wide assembly highlighting the problems 

caused by plastic pollution with over 200 students and 

teachers in attendance. 

l	 A spirit week with each day dedicated to reducing the 

consumption of a specific plastic item, such as straws 

and single-use plastic water bottles.

l	 The Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) class created 

e-posters to highlight a specific plastic pollution 

problem and its solution.

l	 Alphabet coloring books for elementary school 

students. (https://drive.google.com/drive/

folders/19cqHBk3Q54NKJiVnlnQW6H-76wuIm2DX)

The Marston Middle School students presented their climate 

action project at the 14th Annual CCTE Showcase, an initiative 

from San Diego Unified School District’s Ignite College, Career 

& Technical Education. They were the only 6th grade students 

in the competition and offered an outstanding presentation to 

the judges. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nO1UUGonXAPO

pEmicnq7iT4u0QdIcmDN/view). Photo at https://drive.google.

com/file/d/12maRQOAHhKB9cV0KhQm3sVncBkMxs_mO/

view?usp=sharing.

The 5th grade class from Silver Strand Elementary tracked 

their plastic usage for one week, then discussed as a class 

which plastics they could reduce and/or refuse to decrease the 

number of single-use plastics consumed. During the second 

week, they tracked their single-use plastic consumption.

The student’s data showed the highest reduction during the 

second week with the following items: plastic water bottles 

(61%), plastic plates (57%), cereal bags (46%), straws (40%), and 

plastic baggies (38%). Figure 3. Examples of the responses from the 5th graders after their 

second week of the climate stewardship action project

Figure 2. Example of chart comparison between the first (previous 

behavior) and the second week (implementing environmental 

stewardship)
© 2022 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Page 34 The Earth Scientist

The teacher from the 4th grade class at Bayside Elementary School provided feedback on 

how it was initially challenging to conduct the action project due to the limited time allocated to science class. However, after participating in the action project, students expressed 

that this project was “very eye-opening” and that it increased their awareness of environmental stewardship. Additionally, the class was excited about the action project and will be 

implementing it next school year with the entire school. 

Conclusion

This project was a hands-on learning opportunity to help students understand their environmental impact on the local community and then to implement climate action projects. 

Our goal was to partner with at least two schools to encourage the students to implement 

climate action projects. We worked with 8 schools, and ultimately helped to pilot the 

climate stewardship action project at three schools: Marston Middle School, Silver Strand 

Elementary School, and Bayside Elementary School. 125 students from these three schools 

challenged themselves to reuse and reduce single-use plastics. Our students were able to 

conduct an investigation, learn from experts, and find solutions to prevent and minimize 

pollution in our beaches and watersheds and understand the connection to plastics and 

our carbon footprint. This project provided an opportunity for students to take action and 

to be part of the solution to marine debris and climate change. We appreciate the teachers, 

informal educators, interns, NOAA Planet Stewards, and The Port of San Diego for all their 

support to our students. Additional information about the project can be found at Climate 

Stewards - San Diego Coastkeeper (https://www.sdcoastkeeper.org/education/climatestewards) and “How Community Partnerships Empowered Coastkeeper’s Education Team to 

Take on Climate Change” (https://www.sdcoastkeeper.org/blog/environmental-education/

community-partnerships-empowered-coastkeepers-education-team-take-climate-change)

About the Author and Collaborators

Sandra Lebrón, MS in Marine Science, University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, is the former San Diego Coastkeeper Education Manager

She is the current Director of Education at the Elementary Institute of Science (https://eisca.org/) where she serves the Southeast San

Diego schools to provide STEM opportunities for underrepresented students in STEM. Sandra has been working in science education for 20

years with organizations like the National Estuarine Research Reserve, NOAA’s Sea Grant College Program, Birch Aquarium at Scripps, and 

the Living Coast Discovery Center. She is passionate about environmental education and STEM equity. She enjoys spending time with he

15-year-old son, friends, and family, and enjoys the beach as much as possible! Sandra can be reached at slebron@eisca.or

San Diego Coastkeeper Education Interns

• Victoria Dickey, BS in Oceanography, Hawaii Pacific University

• Robyn Gillium, BS in Environmental Systems: Ecology Behavior and Evolution and B.A. in Political Science, University of California

San Diego

• Melissa Pennington, BA in Sustainability, San Diego State University

Climate Science Alliance 

• Amber Pairis, PhD in Environmental Studies. Founder and Lead Advisor, Climate Science Alliance, Associate Research Professor-Western

Regional Climate Center at the Desert Research Institute

• Laura Hampton, BA in Physical Geography, San Diego State University. Former Program Manager, Innovative Community Engagement

Initiative at Climate Science Alliance- South Coast California. Department of Fish and Wildlife & Center for Climate Change Impacts and

Adaptation at Scripps Institution of Oceanography