Disaster at Sea
A cross curricular challenge for Key Stage 3
Teachers Pack
George Thomas Johnson
School of Biological Science, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park,
Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ
Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4
Pupil Success Criteria checklist: .......................................................................................................... 4
The mission: ........................................................................................................................................ 4
Resources needed: .............................................................................................................................. 4
Teachers Notes: .................................................................................................................................. 4
Where is the ship? .................................................................................................................................. 5
Learning Objectives:............................................................................................................................ 5
Overview ............................................................................................................................................. 5
Distance Table ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Distance Map ...................................................................................................................................... 6
Finding the ship ................................................................................................................................... 7
Oh no! Oil Spill! ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Learning objectives ............................................................................................................................. 8
Overview ............................................................................................................................................. 8
Area and perimeter of the spill ........................................................................................................... 8
Spill areas ............................................................................................................................................ 9
Fixing the ship ................................................................................................................................... 10
How far? How fast?............................................................................................................................... 11
Learning objectives ........................................................................................................................... 11
Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 11
Distance versus time and gradients of a line .................................................................................... 11
Distance and time data ..................................................................................................................... 12
Ecological Damage ................................................................................................................................ 13
Learning objectives ........................................................................................................................... 13
Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 13
Food pyramids and how organisms are linked to each other .......................................................... 13
Equipment ......................................................................................................................................... 13
Mersea Island Ecosystem .................................................................................................................. 14
Decontamination .................................................................................................................................. 16
Learning Objectives........................................................................................................................... 16
Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 16
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Teachers notes .............................................................................................................................. 16
Equipment ......................................................................................................................................... 16
Protocol ............................................................................................................................................. 16
Write up ............................................................................................................................................ 16
Poisons in the water ............................................................................................................................. 17
Learning Objectives........................................................................................................................... 17
Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 17
Equipment ......................................................................................................................................... 17
Protocol ............................................................................................................................................. 17
Write Up ............................................................................................................................................ 17
Writing it all up ..................................................................................................................................... 18
Learning Objectives........................................................................................................................... 18
Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 18
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Introduction
Welcome to the teaching pack for the Disaster at Sea learning resource. This resource is aimed at
developing the problem solving and independent investigative skills of pupils within Year 8, and can
be either delivered as an entire resource with the accompanying workbook or as individual stand
alone lessons. Workbook specific tasks and details will be highlighted by a box.
Pupil Success Criteria checklist:
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I can use distance tables
I can substitute numbers with letters to solve problems
I can calculate area and perimeter
I can use Pythagoras’ theorem to calculate the length of a triangles side
I can handle data and use it to produce graphs
I can draw foodwebs and explain how toxicity moves up them
I can qualitatively describe the effect of chemicals upon the ecosystem
I can describe the different reactivity of metals to sources of heat
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The mission:
Complete all the tasks within the work book. At the end, collate your information into a poster giving
all the pertinent information that you have uncovered through the tasks.
Resources needed:
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The Disaster at Sea workbook (if being delivered in its entirety)
The worksheets for the individual tasks (if being used as stand alone lessons)
Materials to construct their posters (if using the workbook)
Chemicals and equipment as listed in experimental datasheets
Teachers Notes:
The Disaster at Sea resource comprises 3 mathematics tasks and 3 science tasks. It is recommended
that pupils work in small groups of no bigger than 6 if the resource is being delivered en masse, or
groups of two if being delivered as individual tasks, and that the pupils are assessed through a
poster. It aims to draw on a range of knowledge and skills from across the curriculum. Powerpoint
displays are available for delivery with the tasks.
The tasks presented in this booklet are complete, including answers in italics. The pupils should be
issued with a workbook or worksheets without the answers.
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Maths Task 1
Where is the ship?
Learning Objectives:
To work with distance tables
To Substitute letters with numbers to solve problems
Overview
A tanker ship has run aground near Mersea Island in a recent freak storm. Unfortunately the
Captains last message was garbled, and only part of it came through. You have at your disposal the
distance tables to calculate how far the ship has travelled, and you have maps to help you as well.
Can you determine the exact position of the ship?
Distance Table
The following distance table is used by the ship’s captain to calculate how far he is travelling each
day. Use the data from the map to complete the table.
Great
Yarmouth
Great
Yarmouth
Lowestoft
Felixstowe
Harwich
Mersea
X
5
46
48
65
Lowestoft Felixstowe
5
X
41
43
60
46
41
X
2
19
Harwich
Mersea
48
43
2
X
17
65
60
17
19
X
Can you determine the route the captain has taken over the past few days if the ship has travelled
234 miles?
(Bear in mind the ship was heading to Mersea when it hit trouble but will not have travelled the
whole distance and you can use a port more than once. Try and ensure you use each port at least
once.)
Great Yarmouth to Mersea to Harwich to Great Yarmouth to Lowestoft to Great Yarmouth to Mersea
to Felixstowe to Mersea
How far away from Mersea was the ship when it hit trouble?
7 miles
(Workbook only question)
5
Distance Map
All values are approximates, and are by sea routes. Arrow lines denote distances of specific coloured
lines.
6
Finding the ship
As the ship started to run into trouble, the captain sent out a distress call detailing the ships exact
position. Unfortunately, due to the atmospheric conditions, the signal has become garbled. The
coastguard station that picked up the signal has put the position into two formulae for you to
decode.
Can you decode the message to find the ship?
The vertical position of the ship can be found by calculating a:
10 = 4 + 2a
a=3
The horizontal position of the ship can be found by calculating b:
56 = 57 – 3b
b=19
Can you work out where the ship is on the map?
The position of the ship is grid (19,3)
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Maths Task 2
Oh no! Oil Spill!
Learning objectives
To calculate area and perimeter
To draw a construction using compasses
Overview
A tanker is currently leaking, and its toxic cargo is spilling across the ocean. You need to calculate the
area of the spill, as well as the exterior perimeter of the toxic sludge which is creeping across the
ocean. You will also need to calculate the size of patches required to fix the hole in the ship.
Area and perimeter of the spill
Below are some equations to help you calculate the area of the spill. To calculate the perimeter, add
up all the sides of the shape of the spill. Remember that the perimeter of a circle is the
circumference.
Triangle
Square
Area = ½ × b × h
Area = a2
b = base
h = vertical height
a = length of side
Circle
Rectangle
Area = w × h
Area =
w = width
h = height
π × r2
Circumference = 2 ×
r = radius
Look at the pictures of the three parts of the spill, and calculate the area the spill is covering and its
perimeter. Some useful numbers have been given for you in the pictures.
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π×r
Spill areas
What is the area of spill 1?
200 m2
What is the perimeter of spill 1?
60 m
What is the area of spill 2?
36 m2
What is the area of spill 3, using whole numbers only?
615 m2
What is the circumference (perimeter) of spill 3, using whole numbers only?
87 m
Which shape gives the spill the largest area and perimeter?
A circle
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Fixing the ship
Now that you have calculated how bad the spill is, the ship needs fixing. Can you, using the
equations previously, calculate the size of patches needed to fix the three holes in the ship?
The following known dimensions are available for the holes.
Hole 1:
Base = 30 metres
Height = 12 metres
Hole 2:
Length = 12 metres
Hole 3:
Diameter = 10 metres
Using this information, calculate the area and perimeter of the patches required to stop the ship
from spilling any more chemicals into the ocean.
Hole 1:
Area = 180 m2
Hole 2:
Area = 144 m2
Perimeter = 48 m
Hole 3:
Area = 78 m2
Perimeter = 31 m2
Which hole requires the largest patch? Can you explain why?
The triangle as it has the largest area and perimeter of all the holes.
(Workbook only question)
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Maths Task 3
How far? How fast?
Learning objectives
To use data to construct graphs
To calculate the gradient of a straight line graph
Overview
We need to find out what type of speed a ship was travelling before running into danger. To do this
we need to plot a graph and compare it to other types of speed. You will need to also calculate the
gradient of the graph.
Distance versus time and gradients of a line
The first task you have is to plot the speed of the ship, this will be based on the distance the ship has
travelled from Great Yarmouth, without factoring in any stoppages. From this graph you should be
able to see if the ship was, when outside of port, maintaining a constant speed, and also be able to
calculate the gradient of the graph. To calculate the gradient of the graph, use the following graph to
help you:
The gradient is calculated as Gradient = Change in Y / Change in X
To help describe the speed of the ship, use the following as a guide:
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Distance and time data
The following data was taken from the ships log. Use it to calculate total time taken, in minutes, and
its distance at that point:
Distance from Great Yarmouth (miles)
Time of Day
0
10:00
18
11:30
36
13:00
54
14:30
72
16:00
90
17:30
108
19:00
126
20:30
144
22:00
162
23:30
180
01:00
198
02:30
216
04:00
234
05:30
This should generate a graph which looks like:
Time spent traveling in minutes
0
90
180
198
216
234
252
270
288
306
324
342
360
378
Distance over time graph for the
Disaster at Sea
250
Distance (Miles)
200
150
100
50
0
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Time (minutes)
The gradient of the line should be (based on measuring with a ruler):
1/1 = 1
What type of speed was the ship moving at? As the graph is a straight line, the ship was moving at a
steady speed.
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Science Task 1
Ecological Damage
Learning objectives
To understand how toxins move up food chains
To understand ecological relationships through food webs
Overview
The chemical spills from the Disaster at Sea have been pushed by the tide onto the mud flats around
Mersea Island. This is having wide reaching, and devastating consequences upon local plant and
animal life, with the chemical killing many of the local wildlife. Can you piece together how this is
happening?
Food pyramids and how organisms are linked to each other
Organisms within a given ecosystem are linked together through their interactions as predator/prey
and their input of chemicals into the local environment, as well as the transference of energy
through the environment.
Using the data provided, construct a food web to show how the amount of toxin is transferred up
the foodchain. Highlight any organism which has consumed enough poison to be killed. This amount
is 100 ppm.
To calculate the amount in each organism, at each tier, multiply the amount found in one organism
on the previous tier, by the number of that organism eaten by the organism’s predator.
An example is:
1 Catfish (middle tier predator) eats 10 snails. Each snail has 10ppm of the chemical within them.
This means the catfish eats 10 x 10 ppm of the chemical, giving it 100 ppm of the chemical.
Equipment
Scissors
Worksheets
A3 Paper
Glue Sticks
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Mersea Island Ecosystem
The following data has been gathered by scientists assisting you in your investigation. Use it to
construct a food web showing the different levels of toxicity in the food chain.
Organism
PPM of Chemical found
Tier in Food Pyramid
Seaweed
Sea Snails
Small Fish
1 ppm
2 ppm
3 ppm
Bottom
Bottom
Bottom
Large Fish
10 ppm
Middle
Water Rat
15 ppm
Middle
Bird of Prey
100 ppm
Top
Number of
organisms below
eaten daily
0
2 Units of Seaweed
3 units of Seaweed
or 2 Snails
10 units of seaweed,
2 small fish and 2
snails, 5 snails
15 units of seaweed,
3 small fish and 3
snails
10 Large fish or
Water Rats
Using this data, can you construct a food pyramid, showing how much Toxin is found at each level?
Additional to this, they can add bottom tier linkages as well showing how all organisms are linked
Bird of
Prey
100 ppm
Water Rat
15 ppm
Large Fish
10 ppm
Sea Snails
2 ppm
Small Fish
3 ppm
Seaweed
1 ppm
Which organism will die first, and why, remembering that an organism ingesting 100 ppm of toxin
will die?
The bird of prey will die first as it will ingest the 100ppm of chemical which will be fatal.
How many days will it take for each organism to die?
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Seaweed = 100 days
Small Fish = 33 days
Sea Snails = 50 days
Large Fish =10 days
Water Rat = 7 days
Could some of the organisms die sooner?
Yes as they can ingest more toxin, depending on what they eat in a day.
Based on their eating habits, what is the maximum amount of toxin that each organism, except the
seaweed, could eat in a day?
Bird of Prey = 150 ppm
Water Rat = 15 ppm
Large Fish = 10 ppm
Small fish = 4 ppm
Sea Snails = 2 ppm
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Science Task 2
Decontamination
Learning Objectives
I can qualitatively describe the effect of chemicals on the ecosystem
Overview
As well as the problem of the toxin moving through the ecosystem, it is also having serious negative
consequences on the local organisms. You need to examine and describe the effect it is having on a
range of samples gathered from the area prior to the chemical spill.
Teachers notes
This is the first of two practical experiments, with a focus on qualitative description of a chemicals
effect on samples. Good laboratory practice should be followed, even though the samples used are
innocuous substances. The “chemical” can stain clothing so care should be taken.
Equipment
For this practical the pupils, in small groups, need:
2x White Feather, 2x Plant sample, 2 x Cork Sample, 1x Sand Sample
1x Sample of “chemical”
8x Conical flask
4 Petri Dishes
Fairy Liquid 1% solution
Tee-Pol 1% Solution
Distilled water
Wash bottle
1ml Pasteur pipettes
Stop Clock
Protocol
1. The pupils will prepare their samples by placing them into the petri dishes, and adding to
them olive oil (just inform the pupils it is oil).
2. The pupils will leave the samples for 5 minutes
3. The pupils will then observe the effects of the oil noting colour changes, staining, stickiness
etc.
4. They shall then place into the conical flasks the funnels adn filter paper
5. Into the filter paper they shall place their oily sample (each sample needs two flasks)
6. They will then pipette 3ml of fairy solution onto one of each sample, and 3 ml of tee-pol
solution onto the other half of the samples, noting any effect.
7. They shall then wash the samples carefully noting any observations.
Write up
The pupils will take notes of their observations during the practical and then will write up their
experimentations, making particular note of the effects of the chemical upon the different samples.
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Science Task 3
Poisons in the water
Learning Objectives
To understand the different reactions of metals with heat
Overview
Within the chemical spill, a mystery chemical has been isolated, which is causing the greatest
amount of damage to the environment. Can you discover what it is by comparing it to known
samples?
Equipment
5 wire loops
Known metal salt samples (NaCl, KCl, Mg2Cl and Cu(II)SO4 salts)
Test Tube rack
Bunsen Burner
Heat Proof Mat
Unknown Metal Sample (KCl)
Test tube filled with distilled water
5 petri dishes
Distilled water
Protocol
1. The students should prepare their areas, ensuring that Bunsen burners are on a safety flame
2. They should place the metal salts into Petri dishes, with labels identifying what they are
3. They should first sterilise the loops on a roaring flame before dipping into the distilled water
test tube
4. The loop should then be placed into the sample of known metal salts, using one loop for
each salt.
5. The loop should then be placed into the flame, with students noting observations of colour
change
6. The unknown salt should be done last, pupils can repeat steps 3 and 4 to get an exact
descriptive match
Write Up
Students should write the experiment up in a standard format.
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Student Conclusions
Writing it all up
Learning Objectives
To present work in a standard format and in a concise, scientific manner
Overview
Now that the pupils have completed all or some of the tasks, they need to present the work to the
rest of the class. In groups no more than 6 they need to create a poster similar to the example found
within the resource.
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