EDUC 2220- Educational Technology Lesson Plan

Conservation Around the World

Claire Sinard
Grades 9-12/ Environmental Science/Biology

Common Core Standards:

“Earth’s Resources (pg 31)

 Availability of Earth’s resources, extraction of the resources, contamination problems, remediation
techniques and the storage/disposal of the resources or byproducts.
 Conservation, protection and sustainability of Earth’s resources.”

Lesson Summary:

Students will obtain knowledge about endangered species and their importance to their ecosystems. They will
also receive an introduction to Conservation Organizations and Conservationists before they set out to find
other conservation organizations and conservationists for their final project on the section.

Estimated Duration:

This lesson will take 3-5 days. I will divide the lesson into three days and allow the remaining two days for in
class work and presentation of the projects.

Commentary: In order to get my students hooked, I will begin with a Kahoot! to establish their prior
knowledge then show them a YouTube video about conservation. I will follow that with a PowerPoint
discussing what an endangered species is and how it is classified.

Instructional Procedures:
Day 1:
1. Do Pre-Assessment: 1) Students take Kahoot! 2) Students complete class KWL Chart via GoogleDocs
2. Show Conservation Biology Video (“hook”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZmqwdBeuKs
3. Mini-Lecture: PowerPoint showing: Review –What is an Endangered Species.

Day 2:
4. Lecture: What is Conservation –Conservation Organizations
5. Students are assigned a country and search (on laptops) for most endangered species in that country and
explore IUCN Red List’s description of that species. Students will use Google Search with a change in their
location to make results region specific.
6. Students will then create a brief Informational Sheet about their country’s most endangered species and what
its biggest threat is, then link it to a QR code before printing it out on a notecard. (this will be used later in the
 year for a review scavenger hunt)

Day 3:
7. Lecture: showing Important figures in conservation and what they’re known for.
8. Show TED Talk Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lJg4GEjj6M
9. Students research and choose a Conservation Group/Organization not already discussed and chose a menu
option to complete final assessment. (see in Materials Needed)

Day 4:
Students will work in class on Assignment Menu options

Day 5:
Assignment Menu presentations

Pre-Assessment:
I will begin by doing a Kahoot! to establish their prior knowledge on the causes of endangered species, then
give them a KWL chart to fill in to see what topics they are already familiar with and what they want to learn
about.

Scoring Guidelines:
This will not be given a grade, however, depending on the scores to each of the questions, I will take
time at the beginning of the first lecture to review more in depth about what the major threats to
wildlife are. The KWL chart allows me to see what topics they have discussed and are familiar with so
I can pull reference from their past and build upon prior knowledge.

Post-Assessment:
The Final assessment is a menu option. This allows students to be able to create a project which allows
students to showcase their knowledge in a manner which presents their abilities the best. The students
also get to pick their own Conservation Group/Organization so they can choose one which focuses on
their favorite animal, or they can choose one based off of its founder, as a role model and an important
figure. By allowing students this choice, they can either create a project on something which interests
them or can find role models who look like them in this field. Scoring Guidelines:
I have given a rubric/list of required information to appear on their final product. If students include all
of the necessary information in a creative (project) or professional manner (paper) then they will earn
passing grade. Lack of information or presence of lower academic grade level errors (grammatical, etc.)
will result in loss of points.

Differentiated Instructional Support

Students are given the opportunity to receive information via lecture/PowerPoint, videos, and active student
group and class discussion.
Extension
National Geographic –This is a link to National Geographic’s website so students can see stories of active
conservation efforts and see events that are currently happening all over the world.
Planet Earth –This is a link to the Planet Earth three part video Planet Earth: The Future which explores the
possible world that lies ahead of us if conservation acts fail to succeed and if people do not do their part.
IUCN –This is a link to the webpage for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature which is a
global organization dedicated to monitoring the number of individuals in species and determining their threat
level as well as the major causes to their declines.
Red List –This is a link to the online database of organisms and information regarding their threat level,
the regions they are found, and the main threats they are facing, as well as a variety of other information.

SSP –This is a link to the Species Survival Program which is a program that involves identifying which
animals, within zoos, are allowed to breed to allow the most genetic diversity individuals to repopulate a
species prior to release in the wild.

Homework Options and Home Connections

Students will be assigned a final assessment Menu Option where they can choose to complete one of the
following: 3-5 page paper, PowerPoint/Prezi, Brochure, Video/Music Video, Story (picture book), Wanted
Poster, or any other ideas they might have. Students will be researching a Conservation Organization of their
choice as well as a prominent Conservationist in that Organization or field. Within their project they must
include all of the following: Name of Organization, Where organization is located, How is it funded,
Description on what it does, What type of research/action do they do, Important Figure in organization,
Success Stories, Outlook on species, and interesting facts.

Interdisciplinary Connections

Students will be learning about and studying how different conservation organizations function and how they
are located geographically. This will allow the lesson to discuss how the cultural norms and economic status of
a country as well as its level of development can impact both contribution to threats on wildlife and efforts to
promote conservation. (Geography) Another key aspect of Conservation is how it has changed over the years,
and how societal norms influenced its success and failure, therefore students will need to apply their
knowledge of historic events to understand why things were not done the way they are now.

Materials and Resources:

For Teacher will need:
teacher
s Kahoot! questions
1. What does the “H” stand for?
a. Harvesting
b. Horticulture
c. Habitat Loss
d. Habitat Reconstruction
2. What does the “I” stand for?
a. Invasive Species
b. In Situ
c. Invading Organisms
d. Introduction of alien plants
3. What do the “P’s” stand for?
a. (human) Population
b. Pollution
c. Both A and B
d. Pesticides
4. What does the “O” stand for?
a. Over use
b. Over harvesting
c. Over abundance
d. Over taking

Chat station questions and answer sheet

1. American Grey Wolves have been reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. Since their
reintroduction, the ecosystem has been restored and the animal populations have begun to
balance out. With their reintroduction, however, they have been hunting farmers livestock.
Because of this, farmers are hunting the wolves, which are no longer considered endangered.
Do you think framers should be allowed to shoot wolves who hunt their livestock? Why?
2. What are the pros and cons for capturing an entire species, rendering them extinct in the
wild, to attempt to repopulate them.
3. What is the greatest threat to wetlands and rivers? Why is this such a problem?
4. Discuss the importance of educating locals about conservation efforts and why it can
determine the success or failure of an organization

PowerPoints for lessons (teacher will make devised around the following outline
1. Review—What are threats to wildlife?
a. Habitat Loss
b. Invasive Species
c. Population
d. Pollution
e. Over-Harvesting
2. What is an endangered species?
a. Define
b. IUCN Red List
 i. What the red list is
ii. Classifications for red list
1. EX, EW, CR, EN, VU, NT, LC, DD, NE
2. Highlight Species that have gone extinct in students lifetime
a. Various Rhinoceros
i. Several species are extinct
ii. Species with only 1-3 remaining individuals
b. Vaquita
i. 12 left in wild
ii. Failed conservation project
c. Honeybees
i. Responsible for 2/3 of the food we eat
ii. Critically endangered
3. What is conservation?
a. Conservation
i. Define
ii. Identify daily activities which are acts of conservation
1. recycling
2. turning off water and lights
3. reusable water bottles
4. plastic bags
iii. Students read “One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the
Gambia” by Miranda Paul
b. Conservation Organizations
i. Look at examples of some
1. Partners in Conservation
a. Founded by Charlene Jendry (Columbus Zoo and Aquarium)
b. Educates locals in Rwanda and DR about importance of
conservation
c. Provides jobs for locals with jobs to prevent bush meat slaughter
2. World Wildlife Fund
a. Focuses on educating people
b. Forests, marine, freshwater, wildlife, food, and climate
c. Global organization
ii. Highlight success stories and failures(why they failed)
1. Vaquita
a. Attempted to catch and reproduce
b. Only 12 left in world
2. Manatee
a. Hit by boats
b. Moved off of Endangered Species List
3. Mexican Wolves
a. Hunted to brink of extinction
b. Repopulated in Zoos
c. Reintroduced to wild
i. Restored ecosystems
ii. Keystone Species
4. American Alligator
 a. Hunted to brink of extinction
b. Repopulated in zoos
c. Reintroduced to wild
5. North American California Condors
a. Captured all remaining individuals
b. Repopulated in Research institutions
c. Reintroduced to wild
6. Elephants/Rhinos (pink horns)
a. Success: stopped poachers from taking ivory
b. Failure: still killed to prevent future mis-tracking
7. Hellbenders
a. Educating public about run off
b. Breeding in research facilities
c. Reintroduced to wild with high success rate
iii. Important Figures
1. Jane Goodall
a. Foremost Expert on Chimpanzees
i. No PhD
ii. Researched out of Cambridge
b. Born London
c. Worked in Kenya for years
d. Moved to Tanzania
2. Rachel Carson
a. American Marine Biologist
b. Author
c. Conservationist
i. Synthetic pesticides
ii. Ban on DDT and other pesticides
3. Temple Grandin
a. Autistic
b. Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University
c. Addressed animals stress during transport
d. Key player in Animal Welfare
4. Steve Irwin
a. Born in Australia
b. Started Zoo
c. Focused on Wildlife Education
d. Discovered new species of turtles
e. Dedicated life to animal welfare/conservation
5. Margaret Murie
a. Naturalist
b. Author
c. Adventurer
d. Conservationist
e. “Grandmother of Conservation Movement”
f. Created Arctiv Wildlife Refuge
6. Theodore Roosevelt
a. Debilitating athsma
 b. Conservation President
c. Set aside lands for National Parks and reserves
7. Pan Wenshi
a. Born in Thailand
b. Moved to Shantou
c. Research saved Giant Pandas
8. Valmik Thapar
a. Born in Bombay
b. Natural Historian
c. Wildlife Documentary Filmmaker
d. Conservationist
e. One of India’s most respected wildlife experts and
conservationists
f. Followed Indian tiger populations
i. Tiger task force
ii. Project Tiger

Display and link to videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZmqwdBeuKs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lJg4GEjj6M
GoogleDoc for KWL chart
What do you Know about Conservation?
What do you Wonder about Conservation?
What did you Learn about Conservation?

For students Students will need Laptop, video camera, phones, cameras, access to WiFi, digital
templates for Wanted Poster and brochures. Students will also need means to take notes
with.

Key Vocabulary
HIPPO acronym
Endangered
Conservation

Additional Notes