Teaching Sequence

15 minutes	Part B: Article Analysis
30 minutes	Part C: Cost-Benefit Analysis
5 minutes	Reflection

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Begin by explaining to students that in this lesson they will be investigating a small part of the complex ecosystem of Kangaroo Island, off the South Australian coast. They will be drawing on their knowledge of ecosystems and investigating the impact of bushfires on native and invasive species.

Step 2.

Distribute the following article; The Conversation - Fire-ravaged Kangaroo Island is teeming with feral cats. It’s bad news for this little marsupial. Students spend some time independently reading the article, taking notes to summarise the article.

Step 3.

Engage students in a brief class discussion to ensure they have grasped the content of the article and are using appropriate scientific language in their summaries.

Explain that they will be focusing on the key relationship at the centre of the article between the native Dunnart and the invasive feral cat.

Part B: Article Analysis

Step 1.

Hand out the Student Worksheet.

Independently, using the Student Worksheet, students use the article and their own inferences and prior knowledge to record the factors that have lead to population changes in the Dunnart and feral cat populations on Kangaroo Island.

While the article directly names a few factors for both species, students will be required to infer some changes based on their understanding of bushfires. Should the students need it, The Conversation includes a short species profile of the Kangaroo Island Dunnart (under Mammals).

Step 2.

Guided by the Student Worksheet, students will move on to consider the role that bushfires have had on these factors. Students will be challenged to consider the timescale of impacts and will need to think broadly about how the bushfires have affected the entire ecosystem, not just the key relationship we are focused on.

Part C: Cost-Benefit Analysis

Step 1.

In this section, students will conduct a cost-benefit analysis of three different forms of feral cat population control mentioned in the article:

Poison Baiting
Exclusion Fencing
Trapping

Students are encouraged to think about both the ecological impact, as well as the economic, social and ethical implications.

Step 2.

Organise the class into groups of three. One student will be responsible for analysing one of the three methods of population control. Guided by the Student Worksheet and using the article as well as independent research, students list the ecological, economic, social, and ethical considerations and impacts, both positive and negative.

Step 3.

Once students have completed their independent research, have them compare and contrast their method with those that the two other members of their groups investigated.

Explain to students that the goal for each group is to select one strategy overall that they believe is the most effective method for controlling the feral cat population.

Step 4.

Each group will presents their reasoning to the class, briefly highlighting the reasons for their selection.

Consider provocative questions to challenge student's conclusions, such as:

'Imagine there is limited money for bushfire recovery on Kangaroo Island. How would you convince me this is the best value for money?'
'Your approach might not be too popular amongst cat owners. How would you communicate the importance of this to those people?'
'The local rangers would want to make sure that native species aren't also being impacted by this solution. How would you convince them yours is the safest approach?'

Step 4.

After gathering a variety of solutions from different groups draw the class towards some reflection on the activities completed. Especially, draw attention to the range of valid and viable options, and that often it is the circumstances - beyond the purely scientific ones - that may determine the best outcome.

Step 5.

Students can then work independently to select the strategy they think would be most suitable and write a short (half to one-page) piece to explain why they have chosen this strategy.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What has this lesson made you think about?
What is still challenging for you about this topic?
What questions do you now have about this topic?

Extension

An important part of this article was the enormous effort from citizen scientists to monitor the numbers of Kangaroo Island Dunnarts.

A similar project is currently taking place to monitor invertebrate species in the bushfire recovery of Kangaroo Island. Hundreds of participants have taken photos of spiders, beetles, butterflies and other invertebrates in backyards or seen on bush walks.

Use the project's website to see what species volunteers are seeing across the island. Think about which of these might be important to the recovery of the Kangaroo Island Dunnart.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Beyond the Bushfires - Kangaroo Island, Bushfire Hotspot

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