Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences
Spring 2011 Activity Write-up Form
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Turn in one Activity Write-up Form with both partner’s names on it.
Target length is 4-5 pages (typed, dbl-spaced, 12 pt font, 1 inch margins)
Due March 22
100 points possible
This form is to be used when submitting activities for the Communicating Ocean Sciences
to Informal Audiences course. Fill in the sections using narrative, bulleted or list format
when appropriate. Be sure to include enough information to allow for a review of your
activity by the instructors. (Points for each section are listed below.)
List both partner’s names: Kathleen Mallory, Lisa Schardien, William Hare
Name of this Activity: There Aren’t “Plenty More Fish in the Sea”
Synopsis of the Activity (Please provide 2-3 sentences that summarizes your Activity.)
[5 points]
The main goal of this activity is to engage the public with a hands-on fishing
activity to become aware of the human impacts the fishing industry has on marine
ecosystems. Learners will be invited to explore conventional fishing methods to discover
the negative effects it has on marine populations and ocean topography. Then, they will
apply what they have learned to the real world and discuss possible solutions.
Audience (Who is the main target audience of this activity? e.g., The general public?
Learners under 10 years old? Adult audiences? Please explain.) [5 points]
The activity itself is designed for younger audiences to positively engage them in
the discovery of the harmful effects of fishing. However, it is not likely that the audience
will only consist of younger learners. So the overall goal is to get everyone involved and
build their knowledge about the process of fishing. While engaging younger students, we
could provide older visitors with more specific information. In addition, we would
openly discuss possible solutions and ways of applying the knowledge gained through
our activity that can be used by both older and younger learners.
Activity (Learning) Goals (Please describe your goals for this Activity. These might
include things like "Opportunity to interact with animals", "Investigate using hands-on
inquiry", "Promote a deeper appreciation for _________ ") [10 points]
1. Recognize that humans impact ocean environments and ecosystems directly and
indirectly.
2. Promote a deeper appreciation for how marine species affect us and how they
affect each other.
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3. Identify sustainable alternatives to conventional fishing and understand the need
for them.
What concepts or misconceptions are you addressing with the activity? [10 points]
1. The ocean is not an infinite resource; the rate at which we take things out of the
ocean is not sustainable.
2. If one species is removed or becomes extinct, it will affect the remaining species
and ecosystem in which it lived.
3. The ocean floor is not a flat area of empty land, but full of wildlife and resources
that are vital to the survival of our planet.
4. The ocean provides a way of life and food for many people and fishing cannot be
completely removed from our economy. However, if we continue to remove
organisms at the current rate, fishing will eventually disappear on its own.
5. There are less-harmful methods of fishing that can be implemented and certain
things people can do as individuals to protect marine environments.
6. Industrial fishers do not just fish with fishing poles, but with large nets that allow
greater damage to the environment.
Ocean Literacy Principles (Which Ocean Literacy Principles connect to this Activity?)
[5 points]
1h. Although the ocean is large, it is finite and resources are limited.
5c. Some major groups are found exclusively in the ocean. The diversity of major
groups of organisms is much greater in the ocean than on land.
6b. From the ocean we get foods, medicines, and mineral and energy resources. In
addition, it provides jobs, supports our nation’s economy, serves as a highway for
transportation of goods and people, and plays a role in national security.
6e. Humans affect the ocean in a variety of ways. Laws, regulations and resource
management affect what is taken out and put into the ocean. Human development and
activity leads to pollution (point-source, non-point source, and noise pollution) and
physical modifications (changes to beaches, shores and rivers). In addition humans have
removed most of the large vertebrates from the ocean.
6g. Everyone is responsible for caring for the ocean. The ocean sustains life on Earth
and humans must live in ways that sustain the ocean. Individual and collective actions
are needed to effectively manage ocean resources for all.
Vocabulary (Key terms that will be defined and used in the activity.) [5 points]
1. Ecosystem: We will be using this word a lot because we want to stress the
interconnectivity of different species and how they form a whole in the ocean
2. Bycatch: Learners should recognize that when conventional fishing methods are
used, bycatch is an indirect impact on marine ecosystems
3. Biodiversity: Our lesson will stress the connection between marine organisms and
how the removal of individuals affects the ocean as a whole
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4. Endangered Species: Understanding that many of the animals caught as bycatch are
relatively few in number and even the removal of a small number of these species
makes a significant difference
5. Extinction: Recognize how extinction affects the food chain and changes the
ecosystem
6. Topography: Discuss how the area in which organisms inhabit is just as crucial as
the organism themselves
Guiding Questions (e.g. What are some questions that will help guide the visitors to a
deeper understanding of the topic and associated concepts? Please note which questions
you plan to ask learners to check for prior knowledge, engage them in the activity,
encourage discussion and to check for understanding? [15 points]
Check for Prior Knowledge:
1. Have you ever gone fishing before? How did you go fishing and what did you
catch?
2. What does it mean when someone says an animal has gone extinct, such as the
dinosaurs?
3. What would happen if tomorrow all the fish died in the ocean? What would
happen to rest of the ocean and what would happen to humans?
Engage in the Activity:
1. What kinds of animals do you think people catch?
2. How many fish can fishing boats catch at a time? In a day?
3. Do fisherman always catch what they want?
Encourage Discussion:
1. What happened to the ocean floor during our activity? Do you think this happens
in real life?
2. How many fish did you catch and how many “non-fish” did you catch? What
does this mean?
3. What do fishermen do with the things they catch that they don’t need?
4. Can you think of a way to save the animals that fishermen catch by accident?
5. What would happen if the nets broke off of the ships?
Check for Understanding:
1. How does fishing with nets impact the topography of the ocean floor? The
animals? The ecosystem? Humans?
2. What can you do to help reduce the negative impacts humans make on the ocean?
3. How does fishing relate to species endangerment and extinction?
Additional Teaching Strategies (e.g. What part(s) of the learning cycle are you
addressing? In what ways is your activity inquiry-based?) [10 points]
At the start of our lesson, we would invite learners to engage in our activity with
questions about what they know and their experiences with our topic. In a positive way,
we would address any preconceptions or misconceptions they may have about the subject
of over-fishing. Then, we would allow them to make inferences about what they will
discover at the end of our experiment before beginning the exploration process. Though
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only a few learners will have the chance to actually participate in the fishing process,
every member of the group will receive a chance to sort out the organisms that were
caught. As they start to sort, they will begin to invent concepts by deciding what
constitutes something that was meant to be caught as opposed to something that wasn’t.
They would also start to recognize the changes in the tanks and think about what this
might mean. We would engage them with guiding questions to help them formulate
explanations about what is happening to these ecosystems and why it is important. Of
course, we will ask them why they think what they think and see if they have any
questions during this process. We will then encourage them to apply their new
knowledge and skills to actual situations in the real world. Here they will develop a
deeper understanding of the effects of conventional fishing. Lastly, we will ensure that
they gained consistent and accurate knowledge through reflective questioning. We will
give learners a chance to confront their past knowledge and thoughts that may have been
inaccurate or incomplete.
Materials [5 points]
1. Two tubs to be filled with a mixture of sand and rocks.
2. Small fake plants
3. Small toy fish and marine organisms
4. Netting (Either from cutting portions out of a larger net or from material)
5. Fishing sinkers to weigh down the nets
6. Water
Set-up Procedure (How do you set up your activity on the floor? How have you
designed your activity to catch the interest of visitors passing by?) [5 points]
We will fill one tub with sand and place the small fake plants at its base. The
other tub will be filled with sand on the bottom followed by small toy marine organisms.
Each tub will be filled with water. Clean-up and resetting the activity will be relatively
easy as we will only need to re-prop the plants in one of the tubs and place the toys that
had been removed back into the other tub. We will be prepared with extra supplies in
case little children decide to walk away with ours.
Activity Description (Please summarize your activity by providing a narrative
description of how you do your activity including how you handle visitors dropping in
and out at different times and how you handle visitors that want to use the materials in
ways that are different from what you intended.) [20 points]
We will begin the presentation of our activity by inviting learners over and asking
them questions about their experiences with and knowledge about fishing. In addition,
we will try to personalize their experience by introducing ourselves and asking for them
to do the same (if the group is small enough to do so). Before engaging in the activity,
we will ask learners to observe what the tanks originally look like before the fishing takes
place. We will then call up two volunteers, one for each tub, to actually preform the
fishing process using nets. Since we have three group members, one member of the
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group will be at each tub making sure the learners are on track while our third member
continues to engage the rest of the group and with a discussion about what is happening
in the activity. This third member will also welcome incoming learners and bring them
up to speed with what has been accomplished so far.
Once the volunteers have finished fishing, we will start with the tub that contains
only plants. We will ask them to observe the tank again and tell us what has changed.
From there, we will discuss what topography is and why it is an important part of the
ocean. We would illustrate with examples of local habitat changes or destruction as a
result of conventional fishing. After recognizing the changes that occur, we will
collaboratively explore how habitat destruction affects human life and not just marine
life.
We will then move on to the second tub, which allows for greater exploration than
the first. We will ask the learners to sort the toys they caught first according to what is a
fish versus another type of organism and then into what was meant to be caught versus
what was caught by accident. Before progressing through the rest of the lesson, we
would engage any misconceptions they may hold about the classification of organisms
and the use of animals as resources for humans. Once they have classified the organisms,
we would ask them to calculate how many toys were in each pile as well as how many
organisms there were to begin with. By developing these “ratios,” they will be able to
visibly see what endangered species are and why bycatch is so destructive.
Lastly, we will have our students apply the knowledge they have gained during
this activity to the bigger picture of what happens in the ocean. We will ask them what
they think they can do to prevent such destruction and loss of species. Then, we would
give them some examples of possible changes industries can make so that fishing can be
a more sustainable process.
During our activity, it is likely that visitors will drop in and out at random times
or we will have learners who use materials in different ways. To ensure that the activity
goes as planned and that everyone has a chance to participate and learn, we will
constantly ask questions for understanding that go back to the main learning concepts and
goals. We will also utilize the fact that we have an additional member to answer any
questions and engage new visitors while the other two assist the volunteers and ensure
that they use the materials appropriately.
Background and Additional Resources
(Is there particular science content the presenter needs to know? If so, please provide
some of that background scientific knowledge here and any good resources you found.)
[5 points]
In addition to confidently knowing all of the vocabulary we will be using, we
must be able to apply it appropriately to our learning goals. Specifically, we would need
to research examples of endangered marine species, habitats that have been altered or
destroyed by fishing, and possible solutions to the overfishing problem. We would also
need to understand the process of fishing and how the nets are used in real life as well as
how this relates to biodiversity.
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