Opportunities to monitor student learning Resources Lesson 9: What is coral bleaching? Duration: 50 minutes Suggested learning sequence Introduction review about what coral bleaching is, what – causes it and what its impacts on the Watch the GBRMPA Coral Bleaching Reef might be. Students could reflect clips again (see web links’ for ‘useful back on information from the beginning links). of the lesson to help them think about what to write. Ask students to apply their knowledge and understanding of how coral forms, Ask students to share their paragraphs. what it needs to survive, and the behaviour of zooxanthellae to create a OPTIONAL EXTRA ACTIVITY definition of what coral bleaching is and If time allows, students could complete what causes it. a futures circle to look at the long term and short term impacts of coral Pose the question what does coral – bleaching in more depth. See Resource bleaching mean for the Great Barrier 8 Futures circle. – Reef? Write down some of the students’ The futures circle is a circular form of a responses for students to reflect on cause-and-effect chart that asks later in the lesson. students to look at the environmental, Activity Data economic and social impacts of coral – bleaching, while also looking at what As a class, read Reef Beat Poster 2 - could be done to help stop coral Coral Bleaching from the 2009 Great bleaching from occurring. Barrier Reef poster series. Review with students the scientific Clarify unknown words and ask vocabulary pertinent to this lesson (See students if they have any comments Resource 2 Word bank for suggested – about the information. terms). Discuss the graph on the poster and ask students to predict what will happen Students add their learning and if the sea temperatures continue to rise reflections to their science journal. (See short term and long term. Resource 3 Student reflections for – – examples of sentence starters you can Ask students to use the information in use to guide student reflections). the poster to write their own paragraph
Opportunities to monitor student learning Resources Lesson 9: What is coral bleaching? Duration: 50 minutes Suggested learning sequence Introduction – review Watch the GBRMPA Coral Bleaching clips again (see ‘useful web links’ for links). Ask students to apply their knowledge and understanding of how coral forms, what it needs to survive, and the behaviour of zooxanthellae to create a definition of what coral bleaching is and what causes it. Pose the question – what does coral bleaching mean for the Great Barrier Reef? Write down some of the students’ responses for students to reflect on later in the lesson. Activity – Data As a class, read Reef Beat Poster 2 - Coral Bleaching from the 2009 Great Barrier Reef poster series. Clarify unknown words and ask students if they have any comments about the information. Discuss the graph on the poster and ask students to predict what will happen if the sea temperatures continue to rise – short term and long term. Ask students to use the information in the poster to write their own paragraph about what coral bleaching is, what causes it and what its impacts on the Reef might be. Students could reflect back on information from the beginning of the lesson to help them think about what to write. Ask students to share their paragraphs. OPTIONAL EXTRA ACTIVITY If time allows, students could complete a futures circle to look at the long term and short term impacts of coral bleaching in more depth. See Resource 8 – Futures circle. The futures circle is a circular form of a cause-and-effect chart that asks students to look at the environmental, economic and social impacts of coral bleaching, while also looking at what could be done to help stop coral bleaching from occurring. Review with students the scientific vocabulary pertinent to this lesson (See Resource 2 – Word bank for suggested terms). Students add their learning and reflections 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