Plastic Pirates: citizen science for school and youth groups

Since autumn 2016, Kiel Science Factory accompanies the Germany-wide citizen science campaign plastic pirates for children and teenagers aged 10 to 16. The campaign used to be part of the science year 2016*17 – seas and oceans from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Since 2018, the campaign is continued within the context of the BMBF-research focus plastic in the environment. This research focus aims to develop and convert scientific procedures, methods, instruments and terms for the investigation of plastic in ecosystems.

As plastic pirates, boys and girls collect data on plastic waste incidences in and by German rivers. Next, researchers of Kiel Science Factory analyze the data. For example, they analyze which river sections are particularly polluted by plastic or how the pollution develops from spring to mouth of a river. Effective precautionary measures that helps water bodies and ultimately all of us can be derived from that. The results from former campaigns can be seen here.