Related subject area: Science

Overall problem: Which restrictions (if any) should be applied to activities around the coral reefs of Kailua Bay to insure their lasting protection?

Relationship of problem in this lesson to overall problem: In the previous lesson, students identified the overall problems and developed an understanding about what coral reefs are and how they are important us. To address the overall problem of evaluating the state of the coral reefs in Kailua Bay, students need to know if coral reefs are in danger and if so, why they are in danger. The problem in this lesson is for students to identify the threats to the coral reefs by exploring the causes and consequences of the threats.

Estimated time required: 1 to 2 class periods

Student outcomes/objectives:

• Students will be able to create a table describing causes, consequences, and remedies of the threats to the coral reefs.

Prerequisite skills or knowledge:

• Basic internet skills
• Basic reading and writing skills

Teacher preparation:

• Print Student Journal / Activity sheets for these activities.
• Bookmark appropriate websites for students.
• Secure Internet computers and projection equipment.
• Download the video file and Real Player if needed

Student reflection and assessment: Student reflection activities | Assessment

Education standards supported by this lesson:

National Science Education Standards | Project 2061 Benchmarks

National Standards for School Mathematics | National Technology Standards | National Geography Standards

Cross-curricular connections to support National Education Standards for this lesson:

math | technology | geography

FRAME the lesson by having students begin to think about what a bleached coral reef might look like.

Stimulate students’ interest and get them to think about the threats to the coral reefs by showing a coral reefs image.

What is Coral Bleaching

Ask students to describe what they see in the picture.

• What did you see?
• How is the coral reef on the far left different from the coral reef on the far right?
• Why do you think the coral on the left has a different color from the coral on the right?
• Which color do you think the bleached corals have?

Provide both the bleached coral reef images and healthy coral reef images and prompt students to think about the difference between the bleached coral and healthy coral.

Examples of bleached coral next to healthy coral

(1) http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/
features/coralfeaturetext.htm

(2) http://www-cies.geog.cam.ac.uk/www-cies/FOCUS/images/Fig3kt.jpg

Examples of healthy corals

Examples of bleached corals

(1) http://www.theonlinedispatch.com/
WorldReports/Bonnielynn/
Harbor%20Island/Bleached%20Coral.jpg

(2) http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/bleached1.jpg

Prompt students to think about the causes of coral reefs’ bleaching

• What does bleaching mean?
• Why are coral reefs bleached?
• Why do corals lose their symbiotic zooxanthellae?

Prompt student to think about what changes in a coral's environment can cause coral bleaching

Teacher Background

• Coral bleaching
• Coral Reef Symbiosis
• Symbiotic relationship(zooxanthellae)

Sample student responses:

• Coral reefs
• Coral reef on the far left has a purplish color while the coral reef on far right is completely white.
• The coral on the left is healthy while the coral on the right is bleached.
• White.

• Coral bleaching is the whitening of coral colonies.
• Coral are bleached because of the loss of symbiotic zooxanthellae algae from the tissues of polyps.
  

• An adverse change in a coral’s environment (i.e. an increase in ocean temperature) can cause a decrease in the number of zooxanthellae. Hig light intensity, low salinity, and pollutnts can also cause or worsen bleaching.