Redraw!
The ocean at the heart of your educational projects
Turn education on sustainable development into a hands-on experience!The RETRACE! program’s collection initiatives offer an innovative educational approach that is perfectly aligned with ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) principles.
The Retrace! program’s collection activities offer an innovative educational approach that is fully aligned with ESD guidelines. All you need to do is create a school account to get started and access all the available educational resources.
A rewarding experience that goes beyond the classroom and connects your students to the major environmental challenges of our time.
A ready-to-use educational program for your students
Retrace! offers a comprehensive educational program that can be easily integrated into your curriculum and is aligned with school standards. This engaging approach allows your studentsto learn by taking concrete action to protect the environment.
Our goal: to use data collection as a tool for enriched learning.
The ready-to-use educational resources we provide will help you enrich your lessons and go far beyond simple data collection.
Your students will discover scientific methods and understand the value of citizen science in environmental research.
Every piece of data collected by your students makes a real difference: first, it helps us better understand pollution at the local level, and second,it is incorporated into a European database that enables usto engage policymakers and drive regulatory change.
How does it work?
We have developed programs specifically tailored to your students’ age group to ensure an optimal learning experience.
Elementary & Middle Schools: The Young Detectives' Investigation
A real-world field investigation that turns your students into detectives!
This immersive approach takes your classes on a journey to discover the coastline or waterway near their school, exploring nature and gaining a practical understanding of the challenges associated with water pollution.
How did this trash get there? Where does it come from? What impact does it have on wildlife?
These are just some of the questions your young investigators will solve.
Through a rigorous scientific protocol built around the captivating world of police investigations, students take on the role of real-life environmental detectives.
This fun and educational method allows them to actively participate in collecting scientific data on aquatic waste:
Identification and characterization of the study site
Students learn to observe their surroundings and conduct a detailed survey of the selected site
Field mission
Equipped like real detectives, they set out to investigate and meticulously gather all signs of potential contamination during a private collection.
Analytical Laboratory
Back in the classroom, all the evidence collected is carefully sorted, analyzed, and quantified using a method called “
” and highly visual tools designed specifically for their age group
Compiling the file
All pieces of evidence are recorded in the national evidence database, a comprehensive scientific database that must be completed and returned to us so that the data can be used by researchers
This approach helps students gain a practical understanding of
the value of citizen science and its contribution to environmental research.
High Schools: From Observation to Civic Engagement
This is an ambitious project, co-developed with the IRD (French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development), that teachers can carry out entirely on their own.
The goal is twofold: to introduce your high school students to a rigorous scientific approach while actively raising their awareness of ocean conservation.
This innovative program takes students out into the community to assess pollution levels near their school, with the goal of introducing them to local advocacy efforts.
The key idea: to give them the tools to make a real difference in their own neighborhoods.
The program is spread out over the school year through a coherent series of sessions that follow a logical progression:
Observation phase
A systematic field survey to identify and document pollution in the immediate vicinity of the facility
Scientific analysis phase
Rigorous analysis of collected data in accordance with validated scientific protocols, and the development of critical thinking and interpretive skills
Analytical Laboratory
Formulating structured requests and demands based on observations, and preparing advocacy initiatives to engage local stakeholders (local governments, businesses, and organizations)
This comprehensive approach empowers your high school students to become true agents of change: they learn to turn their scientific observations into concrete ways to take action in their local communities, thereby developing their sense of civic responsibility and their ability to take initiative.
Project currently in development
For elementary and middle schools
Elementary & Middle Schools: The Young Detectives' Investigation
A real-life field investigation that turns your students into detectives!
This immersive approach takes your classes on a journey to discover the coastline or waterway near their school, exploring nature and gaining a practical understanding of the challenges associated with water pollution.
How did this trash end up there? Where does it come from? What impact does it have on flora and fauna? These are all questions your young investigators will solve.
Through a rigorous scientific protocol built around the captivating world of police investigations, students take on the role of real-life environmental detectives.
This fun and educational method allows them to actively participate in collecting scientific data
on aquatic waste:
Identification and characterization of the study site
Students learn to observe their surroundings and conduct a detailed survey of the selected site
Field mission
Equipped like real detectives, they set out to investigate and meticulously collect all clues pointing to potential pollution
Analytical Laboratory
Back in the classroom, all the evidence collected is carefully sorted, analyzed, and quantified using a method called “
” and highly visual tools designed specifically for their age group
Compiling the file
All pieces of evidence are recorded in the national evidence database, a comprehensive scientific database that must be completed and returned to us so that the data can be used by researchers
This approach helps students gain a practical understanding of
the value of citizen science and its contribution to environmental research.
For high schools
High Schools: From Observation to Civic Engagement
This is an ambitious project co-developed with the IRD (French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development), which teachers can carry out entirely on their own.
The goal is twofold: to introduce your high school students to a rigorous scientific approach while actively raising their awareness of ocean conservation.
This innovative program takes students out into the community to assess pollution levels near their school, with the goal of introducing them to advocacy efforts at the local level. The key idea is to give them the tools to make a real difference in their own neighborhoods.
The program is spread out over the school year through a coherent series of sessions that follow a logical progression:
Observation phase
A systematic field survey to identify and document pollution in the immediate vicinity of the facility
Scientific analysis phase
Rigorous analysis of collected data in accordance with validated scientific protocols, and the development of critical thinking and interpretive skills
Analytical Laboratory
Formulating structured requests and demands based on observations, and preparing advocacy initiatives to engage local stakeholders (local governments, businesses, and organizations)
This comprehensive approach empowers your high school students to become true agents of change: they learn to turn their scientific observations into concrete ways to take action in their local communities, thereby developing their sense of civic responsibility and their ability to take initiative.
For universities
Project currently in development
The Organizer's Kit
The items listed right here are the essentials for a successful fundraiser!
And the good news is that as soon as your fundraiser is registered,
the kit is shipped as quickly as possible* so it’ll be ready on the big day.
An educational banner
It will help you raise awareness by providing key data on marine debris, as well as examples of simple steps you can take to rethink your use of plastic bottles.
plastic bags
jute bags
Jute bags, which are more durable than plastic bags and can be reused, can also come in handy. We suggest using them to separate certain types of waste (glass, metal, and others). Be sure to collect these bags at the end of the collection, rinse them out, and let them dry so you can reuse them.
The nets
The nets allow the organizers of Initiatives Océanes to collect trash from the ocean floor.
If you are collecting samples underwater, please send an email to retrace@surfrider.eu to request that the nets be included in the kit.
Gloves
We are sending you protective gloves for waste collection. Before wrapping up your beach, lake, river, or seabed cleanup, please remember to collect them so you can reuse them.
The Organizer's Guide
The “Organizer’s Guide” will help you prepare to oversee your waste collection. It contains all the information you need to successfully carry out your collection on a beach, a lake, along a riverbank, or on the seabed, and to learn more about aquatic waste.
To complement this kit, a wide range of practical and educational resources
are also available in the personal account area:
, including posters, an “organizer’s guide”
, and training videos to help you prepare for the collection!
Discover Ocean Campus
Ocean Campus is a real goldmine for teachers who want to raise their students’ awareness about ocean conservation!
Created by Surfrider Foundation Europe, this free platform— accessible to everyone —offers comprehensive educational modules on key topics: plastic pollution, water quality, climate change, threats to marine ecosystems, and more…
What makes it so effective? Creative and highly engaging content that sometimes features characters beloved by children—Titeuf, SpongeBob, and many others—to address these issues in a fun and memorable way. With its interactive and customizable learning paths, Ocean Campus is an essential tool for raising awareness among young children and encouraging them to adopt eco-friendly habits.
