Lesson Plan June 2, 2015
The Effects of Ocean Acidification
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Grades:
Questions for "Sea Change: Vital Part of Pacific Food Web Dissolving"
A. Watch the video and answer the following questions:
- What is a pteropod?
- How is it affected by ocean acidification?
- How are these animals connected to humans?
B. Read the article and answer the following questions:
- True or False: Ocean acidification is affecting pteropods at the rate that scientists expected.
- What is causing ocean acidification? How are humans involved?
- What was surprising about the results of the scientists' study on shell deterioration in pteropods?
- True or False: Pteropods can patch/repair their shells.
- What other animals are affected by a loss of pteropods?
Questions for "Alarm Over Crab: Lucrative Crab Industry in Danger"
- Where does the video mostly take place?
- Who is interviewed as part of the video?
- How does the video describe ocean acidification?
- What is the effect of increased carbon dioxide on the crab?
- In the study that scientists did on king crab, what were some of the effects of increased carbon emissions?
- What was surprising to the scientist Jeremy Mathis when he went to study the ocean in the Pacific Northwest?
- What is the effect of ocean acidification on crab fisherman?
- The scientists conclude with a question about the impact of ocean acidifcation on the ocean's food web. What do you think might be one of the effects?
Objective:
Students will be able to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using print and video to inform an audience in order to design a presentation that informs their community about ocean acidification.
Warm-up:
Imagine you were creating a campaign to inform people in your community about the impacts of pollution from cars on the wildlife in your community. If you could use one of the following to inform your community, which would it be?
- A photo demonstrating the effect on a local farm
- An article that uses numbers, graphs and interviews to talk about the effect of rising temperatures
- A short video that interviews local farmers about the impact of rising temperatures
Which did you choose and why? _____________________________________________.
Introducing the Lesson:
Today's lesson explores the impact of ocean acidification. Have you heard of that before? (Yes/No)
These two articles were created by an international journalist from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and use video, photos, and text to explain the effects of carbon emissions on ocean creatures. By the end of class, our job will be to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the different resources in order to determine which resource we would use in a presentaiton to educate our community about the issue.
Introducing Resource 1: "Alarm Over Crab: Lucrative Crab Industry in Danger"
1. Watch the video in the resource "Alarm over crab: Lucrative Crab Industry in Danger". Answer the following questions attached in the question section.
2. Read the article underneath the video and make a list of new information that the article presents.
Analysis: If your goal is to get your community engaged and passionate about ocean acidification, what are the advantages and disadvantages of using this article? Consider:
- How well does the article/video explain what ocean acidification is?
- In what ways will your community connect to the issue presented in the article?
Introducing Resource 2: "Sea Change: Vital Part of Pacific Food Web Dissolving":
- Open the resource "Seas Change: Vital Part of Pacific Food Web Dissolving".
- Watch the video, read the article, and answer the questions in the questions section.
Analysis: If your goal is to get your community engaged and passionate about ocean acidification, what are the advantages and disadvantages of using this article? Consider:
- How well does the article/video explain what ocean acidification is?
- In what ways will your community connect to the issue presented in the article?
Conclusion:
Imagine your town could get a city official's attention for five minutes to discuss the issue of ocean acidification. Of the resources (video/photos/articles), which resource(s) would you use? Keep in mind what's important to your community and what resources you think will best engage the city official.
Design and write out an outline for a five-minute presentation about ocean acidification that does the following:
- Explains ocean acidification
- Outlines the impacts of ocean acidification
- Connects the role humans play in ocean acidification
- Connects the issue directly to your community
- Utilizes at least one Pulitzer Center resource
In this lesson, students evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g. print or digital text, video, multimedia) to inform audiences about the impact of ocean acidification in the Pacific Northwest. Drawn from our Ocean Health Gateway, this lesson also asks students to use what they learn from the attached articles in a presentation informing their communities about the impacts of ocean acidification.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.7
Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.
Note: In addition to independent investigation of the attached resources, this lesson includes warm up and reflection exercises that are designed to be facilitated in small groups or by the instructor. However, the student instructions for this lesson can be adapted if students will be exploring these resources independently.
