Alycia Lackey: Using Ocean Sustainability in Bio 103: Saving Planet Earth at Murray State University
About this Course
60
students
Two 75-minute lecture sessions
Bio 103 Syllabus (Acrobat (PDF) 223kB May18 18)
Bio 103 Saving Planet Earth (3 credits). A study of the problems faced by humans on Earth, including human population growth, over-exploitation of natural resources, habitat destruction and extinction. The philosophical, ethical, and scientific basis of these problems and their solution will be discussed. The course will also explore the potential for humans to live in a sustainable fashion on the planet, and emphasize the social responsibility and civic engagement required to do so.
Through this course, students will understand the fundamental problems of human existence on Earth, the ways in which such problems can be solved, and how this understanding can lead to ways in which you can assist in the preservation and restoration of the planet. Some of the problems we will discuss include human population growth, over-exploitation of natural resources, habitat destruction, climate change, and extinction. We will discuss the scientific, philosophical, and ethical basis of these problems and their solutions. The course will also explore the potential for humans to live in a sustainable fashion on the planet and emphasize the social responsibility and civic engagement required to do so. Through this course, students will develop a new world view, allowing you to make better decisions in your daily lives about your own personal influence on the Earth's future, and to potentially lead and influence others in this regard.
To understand these problems, students will also develop scientific literacy -- understanding scientific concepts and processes needed to make decisions personally and as a member of society. You will strengthen your abilities to read and understand popular press science articles; identify scientific issues that underlie local, national, and global decisions; evaluate the quality of scientific evidence based on the source of methods used to generate it; and develop and critically evaluate arguments based on scientific evidence.
In a two-week module on climate change, we had previously covered a broad array of consequences of climate change. Incorporating Unit 3 provided an in-depth look at the effects of climate change on ocean ecosystems. The videos with personal stories helped students identify with the real-world impacts of climate change that are already occurring. These data gave students detailed insight into the threats to coral reefs, many of which are exacerbated by climate change.
Using this unit, students were much more engaged in the consequences of climate change when they could dig into these specific examples, compared to previous semesters when I only covered consequences broadly without depth or additional data to examine.
My Experience Teaching with InTeGrateMaterials
I really enjoyed how these materials connected climate change to impacts on the ocean. This is a topic I had covered generally in previous classes, but these materials motivated me to cover ocean warming and acidification in much more detail. The essay assessment helped this material stick with the students. On their final exam, many students included details they learned from this unit in an open-ended essay.
Relationship of InTeGrate Materials to my Course
Unit 3 made up approximately 75-min lecture session in a two-week module on climate change. I implemented this unit two-thirds into the course. Earlier in the semester, we covered ecological principles, including relationships among organisms in an ecosystem, as well as biological diversity and threats to diversity. Thus, I emphasized Unit 3's learning goals #3 and 4 on how global climate change affects coral reefs, diversity, and food webs.
I modified this unit to emphasize learning goals we had not yet covered at this point in the course. I integrated the slides into existing lecture material. I organized the videos and some lecture materials into a worksheet-guided small group activity interrupted by whole-class discussion.
Classes were usually 50% lecture and 50% in-class group work. Also, students had completed multiple group exercises guided by a worksheet in class. Thus, students were used to interactive, small-group activities.
Ocean Sustainability Module
I only used Unit 3 Ocean Habitat and Community Ecology. I revised the materials used to emphasize Learning Goals #3 and 4 because we had covered the other learning goals earlier in the semester.
Unit 3
- I presented my own lecture material with animations and brief class discussions that covered changes in carbon dioxide and temperature over time, types and sources of greenhouse gases, impacts of climate change on weather and climate, and impacts on climate change on the ocean.
- I have included the slides relevant for this unit Ocean acidification & warming slides (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 2MB May18 18), which begin by briefly describing how ocean acidification occurs.
- The next series of steps involved a worksheet Climate change & ocean acidification - worksheet (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 184kB May18 18) I created that incorporated a video and some material from the unit's lecture slides. Students worked in small groups but completed a worksheet individually.
- In small groups, students worked through Part 1 of the worksheet with revised questions about the ocean acidification video "Sea Change: The Pacific's Perilous Turn" (part of activity 3.2). I played the video in sections and allowed time for students to discuss and write answers in small groups. We then discussed a subset of these questions as a class to check their understanding. (Note that I used this video in class, but the original unit lesson plan assigned this for homework. In the future, I might assign it as homework so students can review parts of the video as many times as needed to answer the questions on their own before class.)
- I then presented a few slides (modified from the unit's lecture slides) about coral reefs and threats to reefs.
- In small groups, students worked through Part 2 of the worksheet that used a diagram from the unit's lecture slides. I added questions that assessed students' abilities to interpret the diagrams.
- We completed Part 3 of the worksheet in our next class period because we ran out of time. (However, I could have completed the full worksheet and activity if I had not included about 30 minutes of my own lecture material at the start of the first class.) Part 3 of the worksheet involved watching a PBS short: "Coral Reefs Die as Ocean Temperatures Rise, Water Acidifies", which was one of the unit's recommended videos in the References and Resources section. The YouTube link was outdated, however, so my worksheet includes a functional link.
- After class, students were assigned a two-paragraph essay summarizing what they had learned from lecture material and the activities guided by the worksheet. The essay prompt is on the worksheet. Essays were graded using the following rubric.
Assessments
I used the individual worksheet and the essay as assessments. The individual worksheet was graded for correctness and completion. The essay was graded based on the rubric provided in the "Unit-by-Unit Breakdown" above. The worksheet assessment encouraged students to engage with the material and each other in class, and class discussion provided them with feedback before submitting their answers. Students received the graded worksheet before the essay was due. The essay encouraged students to synthesize what they learned from these activities and to add their perspective on the consequences of climate change on ocean ecosystems.
Outcomes
My goal for incorporating this unit was to provide in-depth coverage and examples of effects of climate change. In class, students appeared engaged in the videos and threats to ocean ecosystems, including coral reefs. Student essays reflected their elevated concerns about effects of climate change on the ocean after completing these activities. Using this unit, students were much more engaged in the consequences of climate change when they could dig into these specific examples, compared to previous semesters when I only covered consequences broadly without depth or additional data to examine.
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