Middle school students in Mrs. Brobst’s Contemporary World Issues class presented solutions for water pollution Shark Tank-style on April 20.
Based on the format from the television show, students had to design a product concept that could help combat the ocean pollution problem. They sketched what their product would look like and prepared a short pitch to “sell” their product to classmates.
Product ideas ranged from traditional nets to collect trash, to robotic scoopers, to magnetic or hand-like grabbing devices, and even included a giant incinerator baby that would crawl along the ocean floor and “eat” the trash before burning it up in its belly.
After the presentation of the idea, classmates were able to ask follow-up questions about why they think this product was necessary, what inspired them to create this particular product, or questions related to the cost of production, amount of sales, and purchase price.
This project encouraged students to think about solutions to real-world problems in a creative way.
Students present their product design ideas to classmates. BOTTOM: Baley the Whaley is a robotic whale that swallows trash in the ocean. When it fills up, it dumps the trash into loaders on land that recycle the trash.