Plastics Companies Are Writing Lesson Plans. What Could Go Wrong?

Primary Journalistic Dispatch & Direct Reporting

This fall, 54 million K-12 students are headed back to the classroom for another year of lessons in all the classic subjects: math, English, history, biology. But there's another subject that's been sneaking into school curricula: plastics.

A new report from the nonprofit Plastic Pollution Coalition documents the many ways the plastics industry has been inserting its agenda into classrooms across the US - including through lesson plans and worksheets, hands-on science experiments, and a program called "PlastiVan" that travels from city to city teaching students about " the contribution plastics make to modern life ."

Industry interests offer these resources to teachers for free or for cheap, according to the report. The materials tend to highlight the necessity of plastics while downplaying their significant downsides to human health and the environment .

In-Depth Developments & Factual Context

"When that information is provided to kids, it obfuscates the true impacts of plastic pollution," said Madison Dennis, senior policy and advocacy manager for Plastic Pollution Coalition and one of the report's main authors. Besides harming marine life, plastics can expose people to hazardous chemicals, clog storm drains and contribute to flooding, and release planet-warming greenhouse gases. The Plastic Pollution Coalition is calling for stricter school policies against the use of industry-sponsored learning materials.

The report lays out four case studies of plastics industry "propaganda" for schoolkids. One involves the Society of Plastics Engineers, or SPE, a trade group that recently became a division of the Plastics Industry Association. SPE's lesson plans include activities like a "plastic scavenger hunt," which aims for students to "understand that plastics are ubiquitous and their importance to society and their personal life." A video titled "Your Bottle Means Jobs" explains how plastics recycling supports local employment.

Another case study highlights the American Association of Chemistry Teachers, an initiative of the Dow Chemical Company. One of the association's lesson plans teaches elementary and middle school students how to compare the strength of various types of plastic bags that can be found in a grocery store. After a brief experiment, the lesson invites them to "pretend [they] are an employee for Dow Chemical Company" and are designing a plastic bag for a customer.

Industry Impact & Strategic Analysis

While many of the materials claim to support STEM learning objectives, they do so while promoting familiar industry talking points, emphasizing the affordability and safety of plastics. Some acknowledge plastic pollution as a serious problem, but they blame irresponsible consumer behaviors and, instead of recommending less plastic be produced, propose more recycling as the primary way to address it.

In reality, only 9 percent of all plastics are recycled worldwide, and scientists have repeatedly warned that recycling will be unable to keep up with projected growth in plastic production. Investigative reporting has shown that industry groups knew this decades ago, but promoted recycling anyway in order to defuse growing concern over plastic pollution.

Wendy Johnson, a science education specialist at the National Center for Science Education, said the industry's lesson plans and worksheets don't reflect good pedagogy. Materials claiming to be aligned with state-level STEM standards don't say which standards they support, or how they're aligned. Lesson plans instruct students to read teachers' notes, or list industry-specific vocab terms like "stretch blow molding" or "thermosetting."

Forward Outlook & Market Perspective

"By using all of these technical terms, it's tricking people into thinking … that they're doing science," Johnson told Grist . What the materials really teach, she said, is "ideological perspectives about the economy," like the desirability of cheap consumer goods.

Eve Vitale, chief executive of SPE Foundation, visits Warren Mott High School in Michigan. The SPE's PlastiVan program tours schools around the country to teaching science lessons about plastics some skeptics view as propaganda for the industry.

"It's so clear that the purpose isn't to make really clear, easy-to-use materials," Johnson added. "The idea isn't to teach," but to get industry talking points into classrooms. The report documents plastics propaganda finding its way into schools since at least the 2000s. Between 2009 and 2011, for example, a plastics trade group lobbied the California Department of Education to add a section on "The Advantages of Shopping Bags" to the state's high school textbooks. The PlastiVan initiative has been ongoing since 2011, and SPE claims it's reached over 132,000 students in total.

Plastic Pollution Coalition suggests that the problem is particularly significant in schools located near petrochemical facilities. In Beaver County, Pennsylvania, for example, Shell operates a 386-acre plastics production complex and has invested millions of dollars in the development of plastics-related curricula and recycling programs, both for grade schoolers and for community college students. It has also donated hundreds of backpacks filled with school supplies, and bought one school a basketball court - seemingly in exchange for incorporating plastics recycling into the curriculum.

Shell didn't respond to Grist 's request for comment. Neither did SPE, the American Association of Chemistry Teachers, nor the school district in Beaver County.

The report hints at a broader problem with STEM education in US public schools. Teachers often lack the time and money needed to design their own curricula, or to buy high-quality materials and lesson plans needed for in-class labs or science projects. When vested interests come along offering support - whether it's the tobacco industry , the junk food industry , the pesticide industry , or the fossil fuel industry - it can be hard to say no.

Reporting synthesized and verified under Nexvoro.tech editorial guidelines. Full primary records referenced via Wired.