This resource includes a video, transcript, and interactive quiz about the various methods of protecting species and natural habitats.
It also discusses legislation and conservation programs, genetic diversity, reintroduction programs, international research and education programs, and biodiversity hotspots.
Teaching Tips
Positives
It shows how research and education are vital to protecting the ecosystems and species that support all life on Earth.
It identifies a number of conservation efforts such as the IUCN Red List, the Endangered Species Act, CITES, Species Survival Plans, marine reserves, national parks, and conservation areas.
Additional Prerequisites
To help students understand the magnitude of the extinction event currently underway, you could share this article about the loss of wild mammals and birds, this PBS video about the 6th mass extinction, and this video about biodiversity and humans.
Differentiation
Civics classes and social studies classes could use this resource when discussing the importance of international cooperation to solve global problems.
Science classes could use this video as a hook for lessons about ecosystems, biodiversity, environmental regulations, genetics, and population dynamics.
Other resources on this topic include this video about ecosystems, this video about oceans, this interactive resource about the impacts of agriculture, this table of solutions to climate change, and this video about conservation.
Scientist Notes
This 12-minute video by the California Academy of Sciences covers a range of topics centered around biodiversity conservation, including habit loss, policy and legislation, and methods of preservation and restoration. This resource presents plenty of examples to demonstrate these concepts. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-3 Create a computational simulation to illustrate the relationships among management of natural resources, the sustainability of human populations, and biodiversity.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
HS-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.7.9-12 Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and complex causal reasoning.
