Children from Gdynia do not want garbage by the Baltic Sea

The project "Children from Gdynia do not want garbage by the Baltic Sea" was created in order to familiarize students and parents with the possibilities of counteracting the threats related to the pollution of the Baltic beaches and the waters of the Baltic Sea. Students from class 1B of Primary School No. 53 with deaf and hard of hearing children from Hard of Hearing Primary School No. 49 in Gdynia joined the project. As a part of the project various activities were undertaken: research workshops in cooperation with the Gdynia Aquarium (online and stationary), the event of cleaning the Baltic beach in Gdynia area, a walk taken by project participants and a lecture related to the Baltic Sea conducted in the field by a science teacher and headmaster Małgorzata Onash-Ptaszyńska. There were also activities from the artistic sphere - an ecological competition entitled "Eco art from the Baltic Sea", in which waste and natural elements found at the seaside were used. Moreover, we had an online exhibition of photographs taken by children and their parents, showing the beauty and diversity of the Baltic landscape under the slogan "The beauty of the Baltic - do you want to lose it? Moments captured in the lens." The exhibition was meant to provoke reflection on what we may lose if we do not care enough about our Baltic ecosystem. At each stage of the project, children were very much involved in its realization. They made posters, took part in a competition, encouraged families to clean the beach together, etc. Most of all, they broadened the knowledge about the Baltic Sea in an interesting way–by the origins of its creation and processes taking place in it. What's more they got to know the biodiversity of the waterbody and actively participated in environmental protection.