About This Lesson
Use this lesson when teaching plastics, properties of matter, density, pollution, watersheds, stormwater, marine debris,
human impacts on ecosystems, or environmental problem solving.
Nurdles are small plastic pellets used as raw material in the manufacture of plastic products. Although they are useful
industrial materials, nurdles can become environmental pollutants when they are accidentally released during manufacturing, storage, handling, or transportation. Because they are small and lightweight, spilled nurdles can be transported by wind and moving water into storm drains, streams, rivers, bays, beaches, and oceans. Students investigate the physical properties of nurdles and compare them with natural materials. They use observations and measurements to determine which characteristics are useful for distinguishing nurdles from sand, pebbles, shells, seeds,
sticks, and other materials. Students then investigate sinking and floating behavior and connect their observations to density. They use evidence to explain why different plastic pellets may behave differently in water and why a single characteristic, such as floating, is not sufficient to identify an unknown object.
Finally, students investigate how the physical properties of nurdles can influence their movement through the environment.
Students construct models of possible pollution pathways, analyze how nurdles can travel from a spill site to aquatic habitats, and develop strategies for preventing nurdle pollution.
