Some resources from federal government sites are currently unavailable; when possible, we’ve provided alternative non-government links to ensure continued data access.
Provided by: BioInteractive |Published on: April 19, 2021
Lesson Plans Grades 9-12
Synopsis
In this activity, students will learn how warming temperatures affect corals and graph the temperature data from a specific coral reef site to assess the risk of coral bleaching in the area.
The Educator Materials provide a detailed overview of the activity.
Both the ZIP file and the Resource Google Folder contain all the documents needed to complete the full activity: student worksheets, maps, graphs, and links to data.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should know how to use spreadsheet programs to graph the data.
Teachers may want to walk students through the activity if students are unfamiliar with how to make predictions based on scientific modeling.
Differentiation
After completing the activity, students could compare the results from their location to students' results from other locations to determine whether some regions of the world are more affected by warming ocean temperatures than others.
Geography classes could learn more about the locations to see how damage to the coral reefs in the regions might impact tourism or other industries.