Sea Creatures and their Habitat – Lesson Plan – Week 4
The following points outline the outcomes you should expect at the conclusion of week 4:
- Describe how human intervention can affect the survival of living things;
- Explore the relationship between humans and the sea;
- Describe the reasons why the survival of living things and the sea can be threatened;
- Explore how humans use and benefit from the sea;
- Students will use the skills of scientific investigation, such as observing, reporting and interpreting;
- Students will develop an understanding of the impact of human intervention within a sea environment;
- Students will identify the impact of an oil spill.
Suggested activities to achieve learning outcomes:
- Brainstorm – How do we use the sea? Make a list looking at areas of recreation, food and study. Prompted discussion on what impact these uses have on the sea environment.
- Role Play – Divide students into scenario’s adopting roles of sea creatures while others are humans. Act out the impact of human intervention. Eg. Students as healthy creatures, then act out the results of an oil spill.
- Floating liquids experiment – Students conduct an experiment to see the effects of an oil spill in a sea environment. Using a glass of water as a sample, observe what happens when oily liquids are added to the mix. Develop an understanding that like these oils, when an oil spill occurs, the oil covers the surface and the water cannot breathe. This means oxygen cannot get through the surface and affects the sea life. Students complete a worksheet describing what they did, how they did it and what they think would happen if this had occurred in the sea. For further details on this activity please refer to the Melbourne Aquarium’s education page, http://www.melbourneaquarium.com.au/education
Assessment Focus:
The following points may help with the assessment of week 4.
- Contribution to discussion;
- Did students demonstrate their understanding of the topic throughout the role play?;
- Student record sheets;
- How effective were students in using the skills of scientific investigation – were they able to draw conclusions based on the evidence presented?;
- Through discussion, could students describe the impact of an oil spill in a sea environment?
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