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 the conventional fishing method of
trawling 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 we can
discuss possible solutions of what can be done to improve the fishing industry.
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.
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2. Promote a deeper appreciation for how marine species affect us and how they
affect each other.
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 (trolling for example) 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
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3. Biodiversity: Our lesson will stress the connection between marine organisms and
how the removal of individuals affects the ocean as a whole
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. Who here has gone fishing? What did you use to go fishing? What did you catch?
2. Do fisherman fish the same way we do? How many fish can fishing boats catch at
a time? How many do they catch in a day?
Engage in the Activity:
1. Do you think fisherman always catch what they are going out to fish for?
2. What do you think lives on the sea floor? Does anything live on the sea floor?
Does fishing destroy the sea floor?
3. What do fishermen do with the things they catch that they don’t need?
Encourage Discussion:
1. What happened when you were fishing? Did you catch everything you wanted?
2. What happened to the ocean floor during our activity? Do you think this happens
in real life?
3. Can you think of a way to save the animals that fishermen catch by accident?
4. 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. What does it mean when someone says an animal has gone extinct? How does
fishing relate to species endangerment and extinction?
4. Do you think it’s important to conserve these species? Why?
5. 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?
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
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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
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 sand and water
2. Black construction paper to cover the sides of the tub
3. Small fake plants
4. Colored magic marbles to designate bottom dwelling fish, scallops, and sea turtles
5. Netting
6. Follow-up questionnaire with a pencil provided
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]
The first tub will be filled with sand, water, fake plants, and two colors of magic
marbles: one to designate shellfish and the other to designate bottom dwelling fish. Our
main goal of this first activity is to demonstrate what exactly happens to the bottom of the
ocean floor. By using only shellfish and bottom dwelling fish, our main focus is to show
how the destruction of the sea floor affects both of these species. The second tub will be
filled with sand, water, and three colors of magic marbles: one to designate shellfish, one
to designate bottom dwelling fish, and one to designate the bycatch of sea turtles. Here, it
will be easy to see the significant amount of unintended catch that trawling accounts for.
In addition to our two tubs, we have designed our own poster to illustrate some
other types of conventional fishing. Under each photo there are major facts that describe
how each type of fishing works and why it is destructive to our ocean and ocean
environment. On the other side of the poster there are facts and photos about what is
commonly fished for in New Jersey waters: bluefish, scallops, fluke, and clams. We will
also have laminated pictures of different types of bycatch taped alongside our table so the
learners will be able to get a picture in their mind of what bycatch looks like in real life.
Our activity, poster display, and bycatch pictures will catch the interest of visitors passing
by, as well as the Swedish fish we will be giving out to participants.
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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 colored magic marbles 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
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, bring them up to
speed with what has been accomplished so far, and evaluate them as to how they respond
to our guiding questions.
Once the volunteers have finished fishing, we will start with the tub that contains
only plants, shellfish, and bottom dwelling fish. 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 shellfish and bottom dwellers they caught
from the sea turtles that were mistakenly caught. By asking the learners questions about
how this applies to fishermen on boats, they will be able to better understand that
fisherman have no control over what they catch. Before progressing through the rest of
the lesson, we would engage any misconceptions the children might have about the
classification of organisms and the use of animals as resources for humans. Once they
have seen the ratio of what they meant to catch verses the sea turtles they caught by
accident, 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
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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 will prepare
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. We will be knowledgeable about the current state of NJ fisheries
and have a few simple facts that will be easy for our learners to remember. Also, we have
listed major fish on our poster that are currently affected by commercial fishing industries
in our ocean.
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