Profile Sheet Original Title: Scientists Address the Changing Sea Turtle Population Primary Subject Area: Science Outside Subject Area: Language Arts Description of student roles and problem situation: The Students will be divided into two different groups where the first group will act as environmentalist. The environments will work closely with investigations of the current beach environments in hopes to find solutions for the Sea Turtles. The second group will be the concerned residents in the Bay County Area particularly the beach residents. Both groups will work on investigating the current beach environments and researching the Sea Turtles beach environments. The students will research possible solutions and share these solutions within their group. As a group, they will decide on the “best” solution and present it to the audience of parents, school administrators, fellow students, FWC environmentalists, and concerned Panama City Beach residents. Teacher: Lauren Abbott Grade level: 5th Grade Adaptations for Students from Non-Western culture: Include resources from the student’s culture Include audience members from the student’s culture Research values system of culture and align instructional techniques and classroom activities with these value systems. Adaptations for ESOL Student: Include resources in the student’s first language Use community resources to include a representative speaking the student’s first language in the audience for presentations Allow students to present in first language Allow native language dictionaries Title, Learner Characteristics, and Next Generation Sunshine State Standards Teacher: Ms. Abbott Title: Environmentalists explore the expanding beach factors affecting the Sea Turtle population. Primary Subject Area: Science Outside Subject Area: Language Arts Class and Level: Life Science (Regular) Grade Level: 5th Grade Primary Sunshine State Standards: Science- 5
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the FWC reviews, issues, and administers permits for both and management activities conducted with marine turtles within the state. Staff also monitors marine turtles held in captive/holding facilities. Sea turtles face new perils as nesting season begins June 06, 2011 02:22:21 PM By DEBORAH WHEELER / Florida Freedom Newspapers SEASIDE — Turtle season 2011 is in full swing. The season kicks off in late May and continues through the end of October. This year is right on schedule, said Sharon Maxwell, director of South Walton Turtle Watch. In just the few days since the season kicked off, three loggerhead nests already have been found. There also have been five false crawls, in which a turtle comes ashore to lay eggs but for some reason turns around and crawls back into the Gulf of Mexico. “We used to never have false crawls, but now we do,” Maxwell said. Maxwell attributes that to the number of people going to the beach at night carrying flashlights. Sea turtles prefer total darkness when coming ashore to lay their eggs. “She may come ashore and try two or three times before laying her eggs if she doesn't feel things are right,” said Maxwell. “It's really distressing to us.” As the number of false crawls increase, the numbers of actual nests are diminishing. “We went from 58 nests in 2000 down to 25 to 30 in recent years,” Maxwell said. “It has really dropped off.” Another problem has arisen for the Turtle Watch volunteers to deal with. “We can’t publish the dates the nests are found or their exact locations,” she said. The problem is that some people are too eager to see hatchlings unearthing themselves from the sand. They figure out the due date and try to make a party out of the event. “We have people going and sitting at the nest waiting for the eggs to hatch and it becomes a big party with lots of alcohol and gets out of hand,” an exasperated Maxwell said. “So, we don’t want dates published any more.” Last year during the height of the oil spill, all turtle eggs were dug up along the Gulf Coast and taken to Florida’s Atlantic coast. So what to expect this season?
At the same time, there has been an increase in what are known as “false crawls,” an attempt by a turtle to come ashore that was in some way thwarted. Last week, McKenzie and Ehrman documented one false crawl. Lamont said researchers are not sure why they are seeing an increase in false crawls. “We saw the same thing at Eglin AFB,” Lamont said. “We saw a strong decrease (in nests). That has been an international trend, actually. We are seeing it everywhere, this decline. “That is one reason they are considering moving Southeast Atlantic sea turtles from threatened to endangered. They are the only sea turtles not already considered endangered.” But the decrease in nests, Lamont added, may be the result of event that happened 40 years ago. “It is very difficult to pinpoint because we don’t know where the life cycle is being impacted,” Lamont said. The major reason is that turtles nest in familiar haunts, but spend most of their lives roaming the oceans, underwater, invisible to most, until they decide to nest, the timing of which is dictated by the individual turtle. As a result, the UF research team has been aggressive in adding a tagging program to the monitoring of nesting turtles. Each turtle is tagged to identify it and also tagged with what amounts to a GPS chip that allows researchers to track movements. The hope is to better understand population size and track distribution and timing of nests. What is generally understood – though theories abound – is that at some point during incubation or in leaving the nest turtles have it hard-wired in their brains by magnetic orientation the area of their birth and in turn the area they will return to in giving birth as an adult. “I don’t think people realize that these turtles have a relationship with that beach, just as people do,” Lamont said. “I think that personally ties people to the turtles. “The information we are getting (from the Turtle Patrol groups) is huge and it is the only work being done on Northwest Florida loggerheads.” Read more: Problem Statement, Know/Need to Know Boards, and Possible Resources PBL Statement: How can we, as Environmentalists, investigate potential problems resulting in the increase in Sea Turtle deaths in such a way that:
information aligns to the problem. Students have found at least four references. related to the problem and they have found less than four references to support their solutions. 80% or more of the information aligns to the problem. References do not align to the problem and the student has found only one supporting reference. Alignment to Problem Statement 10 points Identifies two solutions that align with all conditions stated in the problem statement. 7 points Identifies only one solution that aligns with all conditions stated in the problem statement. 3 points Neither solution aligns with all conditions stated in the problem statement. Required Components 20 points Report must contain The group’s problem statement At least five correct facts about Sea Turtles. A 100% correct description of the environmental changes that could help Sea Turtles survive. An accurate comparison and contrast of the adaptations of Sea Turtles on the beach and the physical characteristics that enable them to survive. Two different solutions to the stated problem. Supporting evidence for choosing each solution. Four justifications for choosing one solution over another. 15 points The report contains Three correct facts about Sea Turtles. 80% or more correct description of the environmental changes that could help Sea Turtles survive. 80% or more accurate comparison and contrast of the adaptations of Sea Turtles. Only one solution. Less than four justifications for choosing one solution over another 5 points The report contains less information than listed in the “Adequate” category. Mechanics 5 points Report contains no grammatical errors (spelling, capitalization, punctuation, subject/verb agreement) 3 points Report contains 2-3 grammatical errors. 1 points Report contains more than 5 grammatical errors.
Score Conversion 38-45 A 31-37 B 24-30 C 17-23 D 12-16 F Oral Presentation Rubric Criteria Superior Adequate Unacceptable Delivery 10 points The student maintains eye contact 90% of the time using appropriate body language and gestures during presentation. Uses appropriate volume control and fluctuations in volume to show purpose and emphases on important information. The student adheres to the 2-3 minute time frame for the individual presentation. The student will use appropriate multimedia sources such as powerpoint and videos as well as graphics for both individual and group presentations. 5 points The student maintains eye contact 80% of the time using appropriate body language and gestures. Uses appropriate volume control 80% of the time and fluctuations. The student adheres to the time frame. The student does not use appropriate multimedia sources or graphics for the presentations. 3 points The student maintains eye contact less than 80% of the time. Does not use appropriate body language and gestures. Volume control is inaudible. Student does not adhere to the time frame. Student does not use multimedia or graphics for the presentations. Comprehension and Accuracy 10 points Student answers all audience questions correctly, providing at least 2 accurate facts 5 points Student answers 80% of audience questions correctly, providing at least 1 accurate fact 3 points Student fails to answer questions correctly or could not provide any fact Quality of Individual Solution Explanation 10 points Individual solution aligns to all conditions in group problem statement 5 points Solution aligns with all but one condition 3 points Solution fails to align with 2 or more conditions Quality of Individual Justification Explanation 10 points Reason given for advocating the group “best solution” Is factually based, accurate and fiscally 5 points Reason is based on facts, accurate, but may not be fiscally feasible. 3 points Reason is not based on facts or accurate, but may or may not be fiscally feasible.