Sample Unit Sequence
Tuning in: Sample Activities
Students draw the people in their community who live and work with the Great Barrier Reef. Ask students to share drawings and talk about:
- What lives near them (ie the Great Barrier Reef)?
- Who lives near the Great Barrier Reef?
- How do they know this?
- How do these people help protect the Great Barrier Reef?
- Things they can do to help the Great Barrier Reef because 'it is under pressure'
Photo Gallery
Students bring photographs of the Great Barrier Reef (or download from www.reefed.edu.au) and its islands, animals and plants to share. In groups, talk about features of the Great Barrier Reef such as:
- Size
- How it differs and why
- Types of coral found
- Types of animals found
- Types of plants found
- Areas for boating, fishing, visiting, and other recreational activities
- Areas they enjoy being in
- Areas they are not allowed in and reasons for this.
Establish students' prior knowledge by asking questions such as:
- What things would you expect to find in the Great Barrier Reef?
- How can you tell if something is natural or human-made?
- Who works there?
- Who uses the Great Barrier Reef?
- What do they use it for?
Shared Book Approach
Read picture books about the Reef, seas and oceans as open places to use and enjoy. For example:
Baker, J. Where the Forest Meets the Sea, Julia McRae, 1987.
Brown, A. Turtle's Song, University of Queensland Press, 2001.
Carle, E. A House for a Hermit Crab, Hodder & Stoughton, 1996.
Cooke, A. Fun by the Sea, Wetpaper, 2001.
Freymann, S. One Lonely Seahorse, Scholastic, 2000.
Grant, J. Everyone likes the Sea. Wetpaper, 2001.
Hook, C. Coral Reefs, Macmillan, 2000.
Lister, A. Magic Beach, Allen & Unwin, 1990.
Maris, S. At the Beach, Wetpaper, 2001.
Rose, D.L, Into the A, B, Sea, Scholasic, 2000.
Toft, K.M.& Sheather, A. One Less Fish, University of Queensland Press, 1997.
Winters, B. Be safe at the Beach, Wetpaper, 2001.
Winters, B. Sea Creatures, Wetpaper, 2001.
Discuss the special and unique parts of the Great Barrier Reef and its surrounding environment.
Ask students:
- What is this place?
- What is this place like?
- Where is it?
- How is it used?
- What is happening at this place at this time?
Predict and list features students think would be the most common in the Great Barrier Reef and its surrounding environment. Test these by counting the number of times the feature occurs. Make a class graph of results.
Read and discuss stories, book a live videoconference with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's Education Team or show videos where the Great Barrier Reef is the major setting. Draw students' attention to the variety of settings, features and uses of the Great Barrier Reef.
Resource 1.1
Where do I live?
Students write addresses on cards and read these aloud so classes can recognise that they are all part of the Great Barrier Reef catchment. Make a large map of the Great Barrier Reef coastline or of your region's coastline and have students pin where they live on it to show their proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. Pin a photograph of each student nearby too, if possible.
Talk about the area in which students live. Discussion could include where they live in proximity to the Great Barrier Reef, features they like about living there, what they might like to do on the waters of the Great Barrier Reef coast etc.
Preparing to find out: Sample activities
Photofiles
www support - see: www.reefed.edu.au
Collect/download photographs of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park reserves and/or work and recreational opportunities within them. Students share these and talk about features and activities they recognise. Identify things that are found only on the Great Barrier Reef as opposed to other areas.
Ask students:
- What do we mean by the Great Barrier Reef?
- Why is it important?
- What does it support?
- What plants and animals live on the Reef?
- What is the Reef made of?
- What activities might be undertaken while in and on the waters of the Great Barrier Reef?
- What can be seen in the photographs that cannot be found in other familiar places?
Make charts of student responses and use these to develop focus questions for the unit.
Class Chart
With the class, prepare a class chart of things students know about the Great Barrier Reef. Students could draw pictures and explain them while the teacher scribes. Prepare a list of questions students want to investigate. Ask students to offer possible answers to these.
Magic Circle
Place incomplete statements on cards and place them in a box:
- A reef is…
- Reefs are more than…
- Reefs produce food and shelter for…
- We depend on reefs for…
- We snorkel and dive in…
- Corals in reefs are…
- Reef plants…
- Reef animals…
Students can sit in groups and take turns to select a card. Read these and ask students to discuss the statement in groups. Students report back some of the information gained.
(Adapted from Hill, S. Games that work - Cooperative Games and Activities for the Primary School Classroom, Eleanor Curtin, 1992).
Finding Out: Sample Activities
Class database
Students prepare a class database listing the Great Barrier Reef and its nearby coastal towns across the top and questions asked or information sought down the left hand side. Questions might include:
- What is it?
- Where is it?
- Who works there?
- Who uses it?
- Why do people use it?
- Do people have to pay to use it?
- When can people use it?
- What is it made of?
- What can people do there?
Build up information as the unit progresses. Identify and group elements of the marine system like plants, animals, birds, people and other reef life. Talk about ways these depend on each other, how they make the local area a better place in which to live and how students and their families use and care for them.
What would happen if…
Present scenarios such as the following:
- The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park closed down
- There was no reef for marine animals to swim in
- The waters of the Reef were so polluted that we couldn't enjoy swimming or fishing.
As a class, discuss these. Then, in pairs or groups students role play to show what they would do if the situation described occurred.
Use an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective
Find out about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history on the Great Barrier Reef. Describe why the Reef is so important to them.
Read the Reef Beat article on Indigenous people and the Reef. See www.reefed.edu.au/reefbeat and explore the Hot Topics section of the GBR Explorer for additional information.
Research the relationship and importance of the coastal and marine environment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, past and present.
Describe the ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people use the coastal and marine environment today.
Examine the ways the Great Barrier Reef is represented in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, music, dance and oral traditions. Support students to demonstrate this understanding by drawing what the Great Barrier Reef means to them using their own design symbols.
Observing, Collecting, Recording
Whilst learning the Great Barrier Reef virtually via viewing a video, undertake the following activities:
- Talk about the natural and built features of the Great Barrier Reef
- Ask questions about the Reef and its surroundings
- Identify and describe objects in the Reef and on the Reef
- Record information about the Reef eg its colours, plants within it, animals and different areas seen
- Identify whether the Reef is there naturally or whether it has been 'planted'
- Record understandings about the resources the Reef provides to meet our needs.
Also observe, collect and record a range of things. For example:
With the help of adults, students identify human-made and natural features within the Great Barrier Reef, or make a set of cards and play "Spot the Reef features". Using a number of cards with Great Barrier Reef features on them, ask students to say which are human-made and which are natural features and why. Also, ask students which features are resources we need and want.
Resource 1.2
Collection:
Photograph structures and features for identification. Collect illustrations, pamphlets or fact sheets about features and uses of the Great Barrier Reef.
Tips
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is home to:
- More than 2900 coral reefs built from 359 species of hard coral
- Six of the world's seven species of marine turtles
- Over 2200 species of native plants
- Over 1500 species of fish
- Over 200 species of birds.
Resource 1.3
Ask students to decide what purpose each feature or use serves.
Tip
File the checklist of words and symbols as evidence of students' skill in applying the concepts "natural" and "human-made".
Sorting out: Sample activities
What's in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park?
In the earlier activity, students found things using their senses. Ask them to recall things seen, heard or touched, then to share ideas with a partner and draw responses.
Brainstorm words and record on a chart. Invite students to illustrate these, then group words on a class chart.
For example:
Things found in the Great Barrier Reef
| To see |
To hear |
|
To touch | When seeing the Great Barrier Reef I feel |
Concept maps
Create a concept map showing what the Great Barrier Reef consists of and then sort and classify descriptions into categories (eg natural objects and human-made objects). Repeat the activity to illustrate the ways the Great Barrier Reef is used for work and recreation.
Classifying information
Students place a picture/name card of an object in the Great Barrier Reef on their chest. They then move around the class to find one or more students with cards that might belong in a group similar to theirs. Students justify their groupings.
What am I?
Play "What am I?". Each student states something known about the Great Barrier Reef. Record and illustrate responses. Make a class big book.
Six Hat Thinking
Introduce Edward de Bonos's Six Thinking Hats. Place cut out hats on the floor and group responses as a class.
|
Red Hat = feelings
What are my feelings about the Great Barrier Reef?
|
White Hat = Information
What are some facts we have learned about the Great Barrier Reef? |
|
Blue Hat = what thinking is needed
Think of ways to prevent problems developing in the Great Barrier Reef
|
Green Hat = new ideas
What is possible for us to do as users of the Great Barrier Reef? |
|
Black Hat = weaknesses
What questions or issues does our learning about the Great Barrier Reef raise?
|
Yellow Hat = strengths
What are the good points we have learned about the Great Barrier Reef? |
Place cut out hats on the floor and group responses as a class.
Use the Blue Hat to determine major areas and focus questions for future investigation.
Class Database
Prepare a wall grid to record information collected by students in future investigations. The left-hand column might indicate names of sections of the Great Barrier Reef eg. Far Northern Section, Cairns Section, Central Section, Mackay Section, or others identified by students.
Columns across the top might indicate the types of information collected and suggested by students, for example:
- Uses of the Great Barrier Reef
- People who work there
- People who use it
- Types of plants
- Types of animal life
- Other natural features
- Special features
- Problems or neglected areas.
Tip
Assessment idea: use checklist to record student contributions to the database. This might include their capacity to suggest categories as well as provide information. This will indicate students' skill in following a task through to completion and capacity to collect and record information appropriate to the task.
Family Snapshot
To assist with this activity, ask families to help students complete a survey. Students ask parents about areas of the Great Barrier Reef they have visited including its name, location and features. With the help of family members, students complete Resource 1.4. On another page students draw other activities they and their families might do whilst visiting or working on the Great Barrier Reef to later share with the class.
Resource 1.4
Graphing
At school students cut up their survey sheets, sort responses and use these to make a class graph of the various activities. Students make statements from the graphed data.
Tip
Assessment idea. Ask students to identify:
- The most popular activity
- The least popular activity
- Activities with the same level of popularity.
This will indicate student's capacity to interpret visual information.
Categorising Pictures
Using photographs collected during earlier activities, divide them into categories. Ask students:
- Can we put all the photographs in groups?
- What might we do if some are in more than one group?
Students write or dictate captions for photographs, eg how people use the area, why the area is so important, etc.
In groups, make a collage, paint a mural or make a class big book.
Modeling
In groups or individually, students construct models of places that are important/ significant to them on the Great Barrier Reef. Use plasticine, play dough, construction kits and blocks and natural materials to make something chosen by the students to show the properties (eg natural and human-made) and to identify places special to them and others.
Display under appropriate labels. Invite other students and/or parents to view and hear about the models.
Design a game
In pairs or individually, students design a game matching animals, plants and people to the Great Barrier Reef.
Going further: Sample Activities
What was here before?
The purpose of this activity is to increase student awareness of the idea of change and to consider traditional uses of these areas by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups.
Read Window by Jeannie Baker to the class, then ask students what they think might have been on the land where their house or school is now. Ask similar questions in relation to the Great Barrier Reef.
Arrange a visit to an area of importance to local Indigenous groups. Seek advice about places to visit. During the visit, draw students' attention to the ways Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people used:
- Areas within the Great Barrier Reef for shelter
- Animals from the Great Barrier Reef for food
- Plants and animals from the Great Barrier Reef for medicines
- Natural objects to make tools, hunting weapons and other equipment
- Plants, soils and seeds for ceremonial purposes, rock and cave painting and decorative art work
- What areas of the Great Barrier Reef mean to their culture and traditions.
At school, organise a program of Aboriginal arts and crafts. These could include:
- Using different coloured soils and clays
- Making paint or dye using grasses, pine needles etc.
- Building models of shelters using natural products.
Making Connections: Sample Activities
A problem on the Great Barrier Reef
Ask students to identify problems they think could occur on the Great Barrier Reef. Group together those that relate to caring for the Great Barrier Reef, safety and sharing areas.
Generate possible solutions for these problems.
Tip
Assessment tip: Prepare a chart to record student findings
Problem | Example |
Solution |
|
Safety | ||
| Caring for the Reef | ||
| Sharing areas |
Role-Plays
Role-play the following scenarios:
You want to stop on an island in the Great Barrier Reef for a picnic. A family is just leaving a beautiful spot and leaves the area littered with rubbish. What might you do?
You want to use a barbecue on an island during the Christmas holidays, but fires are not permitted from November 1 until April 30. What might you do?
You notice people cutting down and damaging trees and plants on an island. It is an offence to cut down or damage any standing trees or plants. What might you do?
Reef-walking is allowed on the Great Barrier Reef, but it is expected that reef-walkers do not damage or remove coral. You come across someone stepping on coral and living matter and picking up species that are attached to the reef flat. What might you do?
You see someone throwing out their bait bag whilst fishing on the Reef. This is against the Fishing Code. What might you do?
Sign-making
Students design signs for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to promote acceptable behaviour. Paint, draw or write about the place where the sign could be erected.
Present students with a problem situation found on areas of the Great Barrier Reef.
Invite students to place their sign with others that relate to the problem.
Who looks after the Great Barrier Reef?
From the class database, select people found using the Great Barrier Reef. Students draw pictures, which show how different people such as rangers, divers, snorkellers, fishers, tourists and families care for reef areas. In this activity students begin to understand that care of open places is the joint responsibility of those who work there and those who use the area.
Introduce students to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority as the organisation that conserves and protects the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
Locate information from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority website www.gbrmpa.gov.au about the way the Great Barrier Reef and its plants and animals are looked after.
www support - see http://www.reefed.edu.au/library
Rules of the Reef
Students refer back to the grid made to classify problems. Students suggest a rule for some of these problems to make the Great Barrier Reef safer, neater or to protect its natural values.
Taking Action: Sample Activities
As a class, suggest how we can make sure people look after the Great Barrier Reef.
Students could:
- Contribute to a class article for the school newsletter
- Prepare a display of special places and features in the Great Barrier Reef and invite other classes or parents to view it and ask questions
- Speak to other classes about the use and care of Great Barrier Reef areas
- Write letters to newspaper editors
- Inviting knowledgeable people to speak in class
- Make a poster to advertise the use of Great Barrier Reef areas
- Create a calendar illustrated with Great Barrier Reef environments and/or plants and animals.
Other ideas
- Turn your classroom into the Great Barrier Reef.
- Decorate the entire classroom to look like the habitat of a reef community as much as possible. Don't forget signs, facilities, special places, as well as the corals, plants and animals. Consider the work and recreational activities undertaken on and in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef.
- You may like to make up an information sheet about the Reef to tell other classes in your school about it. They may like to visit your 'Great Barrier Reef'.
Reflection: Sample Activities
Ask students to complete a self-assessment and reflection activity using the following questions:
- What is the most important thing I have learned about the Great Barrier Reef?
- What have I learned about myself and how I might treat Reef environments?
- What would I still like to find out about the Great Barrier Reef?
- What piece of work am I most satisfied with? Why?
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