The earth is drowning in plastic waste. Yet, as the plastic waste crisis grows exponentially, responses to excess waste remain stuck around containment and management processes. These approaches fail to notice that plastics know no boundaries. We now encounter plastic rocks, plastic water, plastic bodies, plastic worlds spilling into oceans and…

An adipic acid esterification experiment suitable for graduate students has been developed to describe the industrial manufacture of plasticizers. Students first follow the progress of the reaction with simple acid/base titration enabling measurement of the acid number. During the workup of the reaction mixture, they learn how to manage the…

Reported herein is a chemistry experiment integrating polymer chemistry and instrumental analysis for the juniors majoring in chemistry. This experiment has a different scheduling framework than traditional experiments with a fixed lab period and schedule. The students arrange their experiment flexibly and individually. Styrene maleic anhydride…

There is a growing reliance on plastic, even though it is a synthetic material that does not decompose. This article presents a series of six mathematics activities that use plastics as the context to teach environmental education to seventh-grade students. The activities can increase students' awareness of the plastic problem while also serving…

Given the severe pollution caused by traditional plastics, biodegradable plastic products (BPPs) have received great attention and are appearing in people's lives in the form of packaging bags, tableware, etc. Whether a wide variety of BPPs can truly degrade depends on the environment. Aerobic composting is the arbitration method to evaluate the…

Waste, a byproduct of human activity, can cause environmental pollution if released without proper processing. It can accumulate in piles, disturbing natural beauty and emitting unpleasant odors. The aim of this research is to from the students to care about the environment by learning with the Bubble Wrap Recycling Project, Used Plastic and…

Plastic waste is a growing concern in recent years due to the massive increase in single-use plastic applications. Despite the ever-increasing amount of waste, recycling plastics is not a simple process due to difficulties in sorting, which results in significantly downgraded material properties. This hands-on lab experiment showcases the…

We have developed a guided-inquiry laboratory exercise in which students perform viscosity measurements to infer the structure of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) in aqueous solution. The activity combines both experiments and modeling. In the experimental portion of the exercise, students measure the viscosity of several solutions of PVA with differing…

This article considers a series of ideas disturbing the conventional wisdom that decrees education an essential force in saving the world. Taking Morton's descriptions of hyperobjects seriously, we consider his radical idea that the world has ended amidst the eco-political depredations of the Anthropocene. Accordingly, we claim that education in…

This article reports about a lesson series that focuses on engaging students in sustainability, plastics, and life cycle assessment (LCA). The purpose of the lesson series is to give students insights into sustainability in the context of plastics and to foster awareness of and insights into the benefits of the LCA method. The lesson series…

In recent years, the food industry has been undergoing major changes driven by new social and environmental demands. Nowadays, biodegradable packaging is perceived as the most feasible alternative for food packaging. Great efforts are being devoted to the development of new materials from agro-industrial wastes and byproducts that are opening new…

Hydrogels are soft water-rich materials with physical properties that can be easily tuned by modifying their network structure. For instance, increasing or decreasing the cross-linking density has a profound effect on their water absorption capabilities and mechanical strength. These physical changes are showcased in a new experiment for organic…

NMR spectroscopy is a powerful spectroscopic tool that not only allows the determination of structures after synthesis, as usually explained to students of Organic Chemistry, but also is useful in many other fields such as medicine imaging, real-time industrial processes, material sciences, or metabolomics. In this experiment, students performed a…

This dissertation features a set of three sub-studies situated within a larger Critical Participatory Ethnography investigating how participatory science unfolds between youth and scientists to address issues of marine plastic pollution. Collectively the papers provide insights into how to navigate the slippery, but necessary, terrain of teaching…

The widespread use and irresponsible disposal of single-use plastic shopping bags are posing a significant threat to environmental sustainability. The use of non-plastic reusable shopping bags (NPRSBs) is being promoted in several jurisdictions to avert this challenge. However, this form of pro-environmental behaviour is failing to embed among…