This simplified scientific paper is about the effects of storms on ocean environments in protected and unprotected marine areas.
Students read the article, answer comprehension questions, and watch videos to learn about the scientific method, research design, and how climate change and fishing are affecting the seabed.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The first video follows the story of a collaborative effort between conservationists, fishermen, and scientists to protect a marine area, while not sacrificing the livelihoods of the people who rely on its resources.
The paper includes an abstract, introduction, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion. It can therefore be used to introduce students to reading more complex scientific papers.
Additional Prerequisites
Teachers must fill in a form with their name, email, and school information to access the teacher's key, which includes answers to the comprehension questions.
The difference between conservation and preservation should be made clear to students before the lesson. Otherwise, the concept of fishing in a conservation area may be confusing.
Differentiation
It may be helpful for some students to use the audio version of the article found at the bottom of the webpage.
Have students think critically about what factors incentivized and enabled bottom trawling and overfishing, to begin with, and what could have been done to prevent the resulting marine degradation.
Younger students can answer the comprehension questions in groups.
This lesson can also be used in economics and civics classes during lessons about the unintended consequences of economic and policy decisions.
Scientist Notes
This resource underscores the impact of overfishing and extreme weather events on marine resources, seabeds, and fish populations. It explores ways to understand the impact of storm surges on fish populations in marine protected areas and non-protected areas. Areas with more species and organisms do have the potential to recover faster after storm surges than heavily fished areas. This resource provides insights and draws our attention to protect marine resources from over-exploitation. The study was in-depth, methods used (especially the monitoring procedures) were conscientiously applied to determine the temporal changes in fish population in protected areas. All these procedures have been rigorously reviewed, and this resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
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
MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
HS-LS2-1 Use mathematical and/or computational representations to support explanations of factors that affect carrying capacity of ecosystems at different scales.
HS-LS2-2 Use mathematical representations to support and revise explanations based on evidence about factors affecting biodiversity and populations in ecosystems of different scales.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.7.6-8 Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; trace the text's explanation or depiction of a complex process, phenomenon, or concept; provide an accurate summary of the text.
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.2 Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.
