Collaborating across STEM fields + Art (= STEAM), we'll look at how art and science can be a medium to effectively communicate, educate, and advocate for environmental and ocean issues. While this class is inspired by From the Bow Seat, a platform for ocean education and advocacy to the next generation of ocean stewards, you as members of the class will be an integral part of the curriculum creation process! Your new ideas are the stuff of creativity, so throughout the class we will together think about how art and science can be effectively used to educate by reflecting on how we are doing it in the HSSP class. Focusing specifically around the science of plastic pollution in the ocean, we'll look at artists, writers, video directors, and scientists who combine art and science, explore the principles of STEAM, and practice our own creative expression to see how to best educate people about ocean issues. Along the way, we'll explore scientific topics like - How did the ocean garbage patches form? What is the science and chemistry of plastic in the ocean? How could we possibly clean it up? We'll also create an online Tumblr Portfolio of STEAM and art that we find inspiring. To gain confidence in our own creative communication skills, we'll try our hand at making art, writing poetry, writing persuasive essays, and creating advocacy videos. At the end, you will showcase your favorite work in a class showing, and can even publish it on the online portfolio. While you cannot submit anything you create in this class to the From the Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Student Contest, you can take the skills and inspiration from this work and submit your own entry for 2015 with a chance to win one of 40 prizes, all with cash prizes and 1st prize amounting to $1,000.