This article explains how Hong Kong's waters have been called a Hope Spot because of the commitment to conservation and wildlife protection.
Students will learn about the steps that are being taken to conserve the ecosystem, the collaboration between stakeholders, and their plans for the future.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This article is informative and has many opportunities for cross-curricular implementation.
This resource would fit well in a text set provided for student learning or research.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should be fluent readers of non-fiction.
Students should understand the importance of biodiversity to an ecosystem.
Differentiation
Cross-curricular connections can be made in language arts classes working on non-fiction reading strategies or social studies classes discussing the civic responsibilities of governments and individuals.
After reading, have students identify three key concepts from the article and discuss their thinking around them with a group or as a class.
As an extension, consider having students research other ecosystems that have been impacted by human activity and what can be done to help them.
Teachers can allow students time to look at images of any species they are unfamiliar with or research organizations they haven't heard of.
Other resources related to these topics include this video about human impact on biodiversity, this interactive map on global biodiversity hotspots, and this video about protecting species and various efforts to conserve biodiversity.
Scientist Notes
The resource spotlights the impacts of human activities on marine resources and biodiversity in the southern ocean of Hong Kong covering about 41,700 hectares. It draws attention to the importance of advocating for marine resources conservation and taking action to protect these Hope Spots globally. The resource is void of scientific misconceptions and is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-4 Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
HS-LS2-6 Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Civics
D2.Civ.1.6-8 Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of citizens, political parties, interest groups, and the media in a variety of governmental and nongovernmental contexts.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.2 Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.6 Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness or beauty of the text.
