Lesson 3: What is the structure and function of chloroplasts? Duration: 50 minutes Suggested learning sequence Introduction – setting up As a read Resource 5 – Procedural text – chloroplast search. Note the steps where students will answer questions in their science journal. Discuss with students what chloroplasts do and what they should be looking for when they examine the plant cells under the microscope. Note: In this lesson, students will need to gain an understanding of how plants create energy using sunlight. This is important for when they learn about zooxanthellae in Lesson 6. Activity – Cell observations Complete the steps in the Resource 5 – Procedural text – chloroplast search to observe chloroplasts and draw and describe their structure. As a discuss what students observe under the microscope and how the chloroplasts use the sunlight to make energy for the plants. 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). Opportunities to monitor student learning Resources
Lesson 4 and 5: What are the structures and functions of different animal cells? Duration: 1 hour 20 minutes Suggested learning sequence Introduction – setting up As a class, read Resource 6 – Observing animal cells. Note: To save paper instead of giving Resource 6 to everyone, have students draw their own table for cell diagrams and descriptions and answer questions directly into their science journal. Discuss with students what different kinds of animal cells they can think of e.g. skin, blood, hair, nerve cells. Ask students if they think that all animal cells will look the same under the microscope or if they will look different? Why? Set up for the Resource 6 – Observing animal cells activity. If need be, have students draw the table in their science journal for cell diagrams and descriptions. Note: If coral cells are not available, teachers could provide students with pictures of coral cells from books or the Internet. See ‘useful web links’ for examples. Activity – Cell observations Have students observe the microscopic slides of different animal cells and draw and describe them. Discuss with students what they observed. The questions in Resource 6 – Observing animal cells could be done as a class or used as discussion points once the activity has finished. As a class, relate the structure of the different animal cells to their function. Compare and contrast the basic structures of the animal cells observed to the plant cells from the previous lessons. Have students summarise these similarities and differences in a chart in their journal. 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). Opportunities to monitor student learning Resources
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).
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).
Ask students to form pairs and in five minutes, write down a number of ways they can reduce their carbon footprint and therefore help stop coral bleaching. Ask the students to share their responses and create a class list of what they can do as individuals, as a class, as a school, as a family, as a community. Review with students the scientific vocabulary pertinent to this lesson (See Resource 2 – Word bank for suggested terms). Students add their learning and reflection to their science journal. (See Resource 3 – Student reflections for examples of sentence starters you can use to guide student reflections). Opportunities to monitor student learning Resources
Year 8 Science: Coral bleaching — information poster Name: Purpose: To explain how coral forms and survives and its role in the Great Barrier Reef. Use knowledge of cell structure and function to explain the process of coral bleaching and what causes it to happen. To give examples of long and short term effects of coral bleaching. To explain which scientific evidence has improved your understanding of coral bleaching and describe what can be done by individuals to help solve the problem. Science Understanding Science as a Human Endeavour Science Inquiry Skills Biological sciences Use and influence of science Communicating Explains how coral forms and survives and its role in the Great Barrier Reef. Uses knowledge of cell structure and function to explain the process of coral bleaching and what causes it to happen. Gives examples of long and short term effects of coral bleaching Explain how science evidence has improved our knowledge of coral bleaching and describe what can be done by individuals to help solve the problem Completes an information poster that uses appropriate language and representations to communicate science ideas Integrates all explanations with science knowledge Thorough explanation of how scientific evidence which has improved our knowledge of coral bleaching, has also informed solutions to the problem Coherently and concisely uses relevant scientific language and representations throughout A Links all explanations with science knowledge Explains how scientific evidence which has improved our knowledge of coral bleaching, has also informed solutions to the problem Coherently uses relevant scientific language and representations throughout B Explains how coral forms and survives and its role in the Great Barrier Reef. Uses knowledge of cell structure and function to explain the process of coral bleaching and what causes it to happen. Gives examples of long and short term effects of coral bleaching Explains how scientific evidence has improved our knowledge of coral bleaching and describes what can be done by individuals to help solve the problem Completes an information poster that uses appropriate language and representations to communicate science ideas C Partially explains how coral forms and survives. Recalls some knowledge of cell structure and function to partially explain coral bleaching and what causes it to happen. Gives a partial examples of effects of coral bleaching Statements about what can be done by individuals to help solve the problem of coral bleaching Completes an information poster that uses everyday language and representations to communicate science ideas D Recalls some information about coral, cells, coral bleaching and its effects Statements about the problem of coral bleaching Information poster with fragmented use of language and representations E Teacher feedback: