Introduction
You may be wondering what endangered species are. They are a native species that face a high risk of extinction in the near future. Reasons for endangerment could be natural selection, environmental, and yes, human influences. There are many reasons a species could be endangered, we need to be able to find ways in our private lives and globally how we can work to conserves these species. This is what the we will be investigating in this Webquest.
Task
Your group's task is to gather relevant information on your assigned species, prepare a power point and present to the class information on the species and what you can do as a private citizen and through government to help change the status of these animals.
You will be required to do some research and will have the opporturnity to observe your animal at the zoo on our field trip day.
Process
1. You will need to designate your group of three.
2. You will need to be behavior scientists and researchers throughout this process.
3. As a team, you will need to adopt an endangered, threatened or vulunerable species from the Phoenix Zoo that you will learn more about and give a presentation to the class.
4. Part one: You will need to gather backgroup information on your speicies from field guides and electronic resources. What are general physical and behavior charactoristics of your animal? Describe their ecosytem and explain their environmental needs. Please collect all information in your science journal in the notes section. Data can be in the form of notes, pictures or observations. This needs to be done before our field trip to the zoo to meet your adopted animal. Begin by using the two websites below. You will need to have at least three sources for you informaiton . http://edventures.phoenixzoo.org/parents.html http://www.kidsdiscover.com/spotlight/endangered-species/
5. Part two: At the zoo, you will observe your anmials behavior and physcial charactoristics. This should be done using pictures, ethograms, and other types of media to support your observations. You must observe you animals at 10 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m. What are the physcial and behavior charactoristics of your adoptive anmial? List as many observation as you can. Remember observations are not alway visual. You will develop at least 5 more questions about the anmials behavior and or physical charactoristics and make infereneces based on your observations and then research to answer your new quesitons.
6. Part three: When that is done you will look at reasons the species is endangered and what private citizens as well as goverments can do to get your animal off the endanger species list. What can you do personally? What is your action plan to save this species from extinction? What should the govermnments do? Does the animal have a SSP plan?
Here is a good place to start your research.
https://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Protect-Wildlife/Endangered-Species.aspx
7. Part four: Once you have gathered your information and pictures your group needs to discuss and develop a presentation class using Powerpoint. You will highlight your animal using pictures of your adopted animal, their name, their individual and physcial charactoristics. Then you will include general information of the species. Finally you will discuss conservation and remedies.
8. Through out this process HAVE FUN : )
Evaluation
Below you will find the grading rubric for the project. You will need to turn in your science journal that includes all your as well a citation page for your sources.
|
|
Exceeds 4pts |
Accomplished 3pts |
Developing 2pts |
Beginning 1pt |
|
Science Journal: 1. Research genral charactoristics 2. Observations and ethograms data table. 3. Conservation |
Subject knowledge is evident. shows depth in understanding the species. All three components are present. |
Includes essential information & exemplifies knowledge of the information researched. All components in the Science Journal are complete but you need to elaborate more. |
Minimum topic points covered, some knowledge is evident but still some incorrect information &/ or unorganized. Does not include all information in Science Journal and only has 1-2 components completed. |
Information is confusing, unorganized, incorrect. Science Journal is not turned in. |
|
Powerpoint presentation. |
Presentation represents a high understanding of the functions of a power point, clean layout, complete self set up and runs errorless. Slides are colorful, have at least one picture per slide and are informative. |
Presentation shows an understanding of the functions of power point, completely self set up. Slides may need more color and information. There may not be at least one picture on each slide. |
Presentation uses a limited range of Power point functions, unorganized, minor set up complications. Slides need more color, pictures and information. |
Presentation severely lacking power point functions, not easy to follow, needs teacher assistance in set up. Slides need more color, pictures and information. |
|
Oral Presentation |
Originality, comfortably presented, evidently rehearsed for ease of delivery |
Logically organized, ease of delivery, good delivery tactics |
Clear & understandable presentation, limited delivery tactics |
Unclear/ unorganized, no evident delivery tactics utilized |
|
Overall flow/ mechanics of presentation |
No grammatical errors/ misspelling evident |
No more than 2 grammatical errors/ misspellings |
No more than 4 grammatical errors/ misspellings |
5 or more grammatical errors/ misspellings |
|
Team Work |
The work load was divided amongst team members evenly |
Team members contributed the necessary research required, but shared evenly |
Team members contributed but work load was uneven |
Work load was not divided evenly, one member did a significantly large amount of the work load or a significantly lesser amount of the workload |
Conclusion
This lesson was done for 8 grade Science. It is conservation based unit to allow students the opportunity to understand endangered species and what they can do to help.
Credits
Michelle Mills for supplying Animal list from the Phoenix Zoo
Teacher Page
Your contact for Phoenix zoo should be Michelle Mills. Also this lesson should be done after you have investigated ethograms and have done many observation activities with your students so they know what they need to do when they are at the zoo. Also, all research should be done in the scientific notebook we keep for class. For example here is an ethogram they may want to use as an example.
Sample Ethogram
| Type of Behavior | Behavior | Code | Description of Behavior |
| Solitary | Groom self | GS | Animal engages in washing or smoothing its own fur or hair using tongue or forelimbs |
| Sleep | S | Animal assumes species-specific position for sleep, stays in one place and is not alert to environmental changes | |
| Rest | R | Animal stays in one place but may be roused easily by environmental changes | |
| Locomote | L | Animal moves from place to place | |
| Food Related | Eat | E | Animal consumes food it finds in its environment |
| Look for Food | LF | Animal searches the environment for food items | |
| Drink | D | Animal consumes water or other liquids found in its environment | |
| Social | Groom Others | GO | Animal engages in washing or smoothing the fur or hair of another animal in its environment |
| Play | P | Animal engages in interactions with others that may involve locomotion, climbing, manipulating objects or other activities that show a relationship between two or more interacting animals | |
| Aggressive | Fight | F | Animal engages in physical conflict with another animal in ite environment |
| Steal Food | SF | Animal approaches another animal that has located food in the environment and either by physical force or distraction, removed that food item from the vicinity of the other animal |
https://dochub.com/kimberlymorton6d8f7802/eLL1zW/inventorydetail-iucn-endangered
https://dochub.com/kimberlymorton6d8f7802/pppVxV/inventorydetail-iucn-critically-endangered
https://dochub.com/kimberlymorton6d8f7802/pppVmb/inventorydetail-iucn-near-threatened
https://dochub.com/kimberlymorton6d8f7802/zDDlw7/inventorydetail-iucn-vulnerable-1-1