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Overview:
Coral reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef are some of the most productive and important ecosystems on earth, and they are vanishing at an alarming rate. Students will learn what coral reefs are and about the different types of reefs, the ecology surrounding these biological playgrounds, and the human impact on them. Additionally, this lesson will provide an opportunity for students to debate whether human contact should be impeded around coral reefs, a constructive approach for defending controversial environmental issues.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, biology
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 4: "The physical and human characteristics of places"
Standard 14: "How human actions modify the physical environment"
Time:
Three to four hours
Materials Required:
- Computer with Internet access
- Writing materials
Objectives:
Students will
- understand what coral reefs are, where they are located, and how humans impact their future;
- build writing skills and search the internet for relevant information; and
- gather the knowledge to critically reason and debate issues about coral reef issues.
Geographic Skills:
Asking Geographic Questions
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
What are coral reefs and where might you find them? Are there different types of coral reefs and different types of coral? Pose these questions to your students and write their opinions on the board or on a large piece of paper.
Development:
Give students a brief overview of coral reefs by explaining that they are composed of small invertebrates, called coral polyps, that live in colonies. Most coral are reef-building organisms in which the living coral builds atop dead coral colonies. Thus, the Great Barrier Reef is not only the largest structure built by living organisms in the world, but one of the most species-diverse. Have students go to National Geographic's expedition, Dangerous Archipelago, to learn about explorer Jon Bowermaster's adventures in the South Pacific, an area with plentiful coral reefs.
With the rise of human activity in and around coral reefs, the reefs have begun to suffer, undergoing changes such as coral bleaching. Places like Key West, Florida, once teeming with wildlife, are beginning to be vast deserts of coral skeletons. As a result, the United States and other countries have developed initiatives such as National Geographic's Sustainable Seas Expedition, UNESCO's World Heritage Convention, and NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program to protect what's left of the coral reefs and other important marine environments. However, by driving out tourism or enforcing stricter environmental laws, business and commerce suffer.
Divide your students into two groups and select two scribes and three speakers for each group. The two groups will take opposing sides on the issue of preserving coral reefs, and will prepare for a class debate on the subject.
The first group will defend environmental measures to preserve the world's coral reefs, and may even suggest that those measures be tougher, especially on companies that pollute the ocean. How will the world change if coral reefs continue to be destroyed?
The second group will defend the interests of those who feel strict environmental laws will cause them serious financial damage. Students in this group could represent a large corporation that drills or trawls along coral reefs, or the government of a small island that depends on tourist divers for economic income. They should make a case for why changing the way they operate to save coral will affect not only them, but others as well. What might be the economic impact on the people who work in industries that will have to change the way they operate?
Each team should review the following Web sites to prepare for the debate. They should not only study their own point of view, but be prepared to rebut the ideas of the opposing group.
National Geographic: Geography Action! 2003—Habitats
National Geographic: Virtual World—Great Barrier Reef
National Geographic Magazine: Coral in Peril
National Geographic News: Raw Human Waste Killing Off Coral Reefs?
National Geographic News: Scientists Check Coral Reefs Health from Above
National Geographic: Expedition—Dangerous Archipelago
University of the Virgin Islands: Coral Reefer
Reef Life
UPI: Study—Coral Reefs in Peril Worldwide
USGS: Protecting the Nation''s Coral Reefs
Closing:
After the debate, bring the class back together to discuss the key points in the debate. This will be a chance for those students who were in a group that opposed their own viewpoint to express their opinions. Is there a middle ground that could make everyone happy?
Suggested Student Assessment:
Using what they have learned in the debate, have students form pairs and compose a letter to their senator about coral reef issues. The pairs should be writing as an unlikely pair of advocates for coral reef protection: one is an environmentalist and the other someone whose livelihood sometimes threatens coral reefs (e.g., the president of an oil company that drills near reefs or a diving instructor whose students sometimes damage coral).
The letter should explain that, while they disagree on many things, they both see the value of saving the world's coral reefs. They should outline a strategy of compromise so that neither person "wins."
Extending the Lesson:
- Ask each student to discuss the issue of protecting coral reefs outside of class with their family and friends. Provide each student with a survey that the family and friends must complete with comments.
- Have students form small groups to make posters highlighting one particular species (either plant or animal) found in a coral reef and create a species profile, including where it lives, what it eats, how it reproduces, whether or not it is endangered, etc.
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