1University of Osnabrück, Department of Chemistry Education, Osnabrück, Germany
2University of Osnabrück, Department of Biology Osnabrück, Germany
3University of Osnabrück, Department of Environmental Systems Research Osnabrück, Germany
World Journal of Chemical Education.
2019,
Vol. 7 No. 2, 96-101
DOI: 10.12691/wjce-7-2-9
Copyright © 2019 Science and Education PublishingCite this paper: Sarah Vortmann, Dominique Remy, Jörg Klasmeier, Marco Beeken. Student Experiments on the Topic of Micro-plastics in the Environment for Secondary Education Level II: The Coffee Pad Machine Experiment and Sediment Analysis.
World Journal of Chemical Education. 2019; 7(2):96-101. doi: 10.12691/wjce-7-2-9.
Correspondence to: Marco Beeken, University of Osnabrück, Department of Chemistry Education, Osnabrück, Germany. Email:
Marco.Beeken@uni-osnabrueck.deAbstract
Two simple laboratory experiments for addressing the issue of microplastics in the aqueous environment in science teaching are developed. Extraction of microbeads from cosmetic products using a coffee pad machine makes students aware of the potential emission of microplastics into the environment by using these products. Density separation of microplastic particles from beach sediment samples on the other hand demonstrates the difficulty of dealing with the problem once the particles have entered the environment. Using the low-cost experimental set-up facilitates integration of the microplastics’ topic into laboratory teaching making science lessons vivid and more interesting.
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