School subject: Physical Education and Sports

Topic: Plogging on Pedrogão’s beach

Grade: 5th Grade

Number of hours: 2 school hours

Author: Alexandre Pinto

Short description:

The lesson is designed to be performed during regular classes with 5th grade students. Classes will mix physical activity (physical education and sports) with science (environment concerns). Students will learn what is Plogging and pick up garbage in a beach near school.

Learning objectives:

• Alert to environmental concerns.
• Do physical exercise.
• Create healthy habits and concern for the planet.
• Take photos and publish in social media.

What is Plogging:

Plogging is a combination of jogging with picking up litter (merging the Swedish verbs plocka upp (pick up) and jogga (jog) gives the new Swedish verb plogga, from which the word plogging derives). It started as an organized activity in Sweden around 2016 and spread to other countries in 2018, following increased concern about plastic pollution. As a workout, it provides variation in body movements by adding bending, squatting and stretching to the main action of running, hiking, or walking. An estimated 2,000,000 people plog daily in 100 countries and some plogging events have attracted over 3,000,000 participants.

Benefits:

A scientific study from 2022 found that plogging and jogging are comparable in terms of energy expenditure, but that the proportion of energy coming from fat is significantly higher in plogging [27]. Picking up litter through full squat and lunge movements was found to be ergonomically favourable over semi-squat and stoop movements. The study suggests that plogging strengthens the muscles of the lower body and that it involves a larger proportion of the human body’s muscle groups than does jogging. The study advises against semi-squat and stoop movements and advocates that the litter bag be occasionally swapped between the plogger’s hands to avoid a lengthy one-sided load distribution for the plogger.

Proofs (photos):