Lesson 7 and 8: What is Duration: 50 minutes Suggested learning sequence coral video draw and label a diagram of the Introduction – structure of coral View the GBRMPA Coral Bleaching and explain how corals get their food the Great Barrier Reef animation that explain coral get its colour shows the life cycle of coral, the role explain the role of zooxanthellae in zooxanthellae play in the life cycle, and relation to how climate change and associated explain why coral is such an rising sea temperatures can cause important part of the Great Barrier coral bleaching (see web links’ ‘useful Reef for video link). describe an ecosystem explain the different threats corals Discuss the clip with students. Ask face questions such as: explain how corals repair themselves What happened in the clip when the coral started to die? Students choose two or three Why did the coral start dying? different topics and share their findings with the rest of the class. What happened to the ecosystem when the started to grow You could also ask students to each again? write one paragraph about a different What is the importance of coral on topic to generate a class constructed the Great Barrier Reef? report about coral for display. Activity Investigating coral – OPTIONAL EXTRA ACTIVITY To – Use Resource 7 Coral information for – build knowledge about coral, students to take notes on the two main investigate coral via local resources types of coral soft coral and hard – such as Reef HQ, Underwater World, coral. museums, scientists, information centres, libraries, or other resources Ask students to form pairs or small available in your local area. groups. Each pair or group chooses either soft or hard coral to research. Review with students the scientific vocabulary pertinent to this lesson (See You could also have other books, fact Resource 2 Word bank for suggested – sheets and images of coral available for terms). students to use. Ask students to research a number of Students add learning and topics. Some suggestions are: reflection to their science journal. (See Resource 3 Student reflections for – explain the life cycle of coral examples of sentence starters you can explain the survival needs of coral use to guide student reflections).
Lesson 7 and 8: What is Duration: 50 minutes Suggested learning sequence Introduction – coral video View the GBRMPA Coral Bleaching and the Great Barrier Reef animation that shows the life cycle of coral, the role zooxanthellae play in the life cycle, and how climate change and associated rising sea temperatures can cause coral bleaching (see ‘useful web links’ for video link). Discuss the clip with students. Ask questions such as: What happened in the clip when the coral started to die? Why did the coral start dying? What happened to the ecosystem when the started to grow again? What is the importance of coral on the Great Barrier Reef? Activity – Investigating coral Use Resource 7 – Coral information for students to take notes on the two main types of coral – soft coral and hard coral. Ask students to form pairs or small groups. Each pair or group chooses either soft or hard coral to research. You could also have other books, fact sheets and images of coral available for students to use. Ask students to research a number of topics. Some suggestions are: explain the life cycle of coral explain the survival needs of coral draw and label a diagram of the structure of coral explain how corals get their food explain coral get its colour explain the role of zooxanthellae in relation to explain why coral is such an important part of the Great Barrier Reef describe an ecosystem explain the different threats corals face explain how corals repair themselves Students choose two or three different topics and share their findings with the rest of the class. You could also ask students to each write one paragraph about a different topic to generate a class constructed report about coral for display. OPTIONAL EXTRA ACTIVITY – To build knowledge about coral, investigate coral via local resources such as Reef HQ, Underwater World, museums, scientists, information centres, libraries, or other resources available in your local area. Review with students the scientific vocabulary pertinent to this lesson (See Resource 2 – Word bank for suggested terms). Students add learning and reflection to their science journal. (See Resource 3 – Student reflections for examples of sentence starters you can use to guide student reflections).
Reef-Guardians-2016-Year-8-Coral-Bleaching.docx