Upper Primary Years 5 - 7 SOSE and Science

Main Idea

During this unit, students will take on the role of "Reef Rangers". They will investigate some of the human impacts affecting marine ecosystems, and in particular the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park World Heritage Area. Students will be given an insight into, and openly discuss, the ways we all can help minimise these human impacts on the Great Barrier Reef.

When most people think of the Great Barrier Reef they only think of the coral and the beautiful fish. The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area includes the reef, sea grass beds, and the ocean surrounds it, reaching our coastline and connecting to our estuaries and rivers. It belongs to a very complex and sensitive ecosystem that all humans can affect, no matter where they are in the world.

Key Understandings

All marine ecosystems are very important to human survival. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is the only representation of this type of ecosystem on Earth. Although the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is found along the northern section of the Queensland coastline, every member of the Australian and global population can have an effect on the survival of the Great Barrier Reef. Most marine ecosystems, including the Great Barrier Reef, are known as multiple-use resources. This means a wide range of people want to use the Great Barrier Reef for many different reasons, such as tourism, cultural activities, recreational fishing, commercial fishing and scientific research. To ensure the future survival of these ecosystems, the human activity within them must be balanced to ensure that exploitation is minimal.

Focus Questions

• What and where is the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area?
• How and why do humans use its resources?
• What are the major human impacts?
• How do these impacts affect the organisms that inhabit the reef ecosystem?
• What effects might these impacts have on humans? and
• What could or should be done to reduce the negative impacts of humans on the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area?

Key Terms

Algae, algal bloom, anchor, Best Environmental Practices (BEPs), biodegradable, biodiversity, carnivore, catchment, chemical fertilisers, coral bleaching, coral cay, coral reef, coral, current, degrees Celsius, detergents, equilibrium (balance), filtration, fishing nets, flippers (fins), food web, herbivore, impacts, island, jellyfish, life cycle, management, mangroves, molluscs, monitor, multiple-use resource, nursery, nutrients, oil spill, omnivore, photosynthesis, plastic, pollution, predator, recycle, run-off, scavenger, sea grass, estuary, sensitive, solutions, storm water drain, styrofoam, sustainable, turtle exclusion devise (TED), unique, World Heritage Area, zooxanthallae.

Key Learning Areas

• SOSE;
• English;
• Science; and
• The Arts.

Key Competencies

• Collecting, analysing and organising information;
• Communicating ideas and information;
• Solving problems;
• Using technology; and
• Working with others and in teams.

Outcomes

At the end of this unit, teachers should be able to make judgments about students' learning outcomes in relation to their ability to participate in, and contribute to, the following activities:

SOSE

In Place and Space

3.2  Students create and undertake plans that aim to influence decisions about an element of a particular place.
3.3  Students cooperatively collect and analyse data obtained through field study instruments and surveys, to influence the care of a local place. 
3.4  Students use and make maps to identify costal and land features, countries and continents, and climate zones.
3.5  Students describe the values underlying personal and other people's actions regarding familiar places. 
4.1  Students make justifiable links between ecological and economic factors and the production and consumption of a familiar resource. 
4.2  Students predict the impact of changes to environments by comparing evidence. 

Science

In Life and Living

3.1  Students draw conclusions about the relationship between features of living things and the environments in which they live.
3.3  Students describe some interactions between living things and between living and non-living parts of the environment. 
3.5  Students create and establish a model environment, which meets the needs of living things within it.

Attached Documents

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Reef Rangers - Teaching Unit
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