Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Ways to protect the ocean

10 minutes

Find Out: Introducing Mission Blue Hope Spots

10 minutes

Take Action: Exploring Mission Blue Hope Spots

Tune In: Ways to protect the ocean

Step 1

Explain - as we’ve learnt, it can be difficult to set up marine protected areas - luckily, there are lots of groups and organisations working to effectively protect marine areas outside of setting up MPAs. If we study Dora from Blueback, we quickly understand that we can all take productive actions that lead to better outcomes for the ocean.

Step 2

Watch clips from the film:

Blueback - protesting (vimeo.com/794747400)

Blueback - Abby and Dora travel out to Macka's boat (vimeo.com/794748349)

Blueback - Abby showing her pictures to council (vimeo.com/794747907)

As we know, Dora finally manages to set up Longboat Bay as a marine protected area - what are some of the actions she took before she was able to achieve this goal? (Prompt students to think about the rest of the film)

Find Out: Introducing Mission Blue Hope Spots

Step 1

Explain that as people who all have our own relationships with the ocean, we can all help maintain its health. Dr Sylvia Earle is one woman who has dedicated her life to protecting marine areas.

Dr. Sylvia Earle is an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, lecturer and advocate for the protection of our oceans. She is the president and chair of the Mission Blue / Sylvia Earle Alliance, an ocean advocacy group. Its most recent effort is to develop a global network of ‘Hope Spots’ dedicated to protecting the biodiversity on which Earth’s interconnected ecosystems depend.

Step 2

Watch the video:

Current State of the Oceans | Sea of Hope: America's Underwater Treasures - National Geographic (youtu.be/rE2DrmJ2l-U)

Step 3

Students should take down 5 dot points about what they learn from the video in the Student Worksheet. You may like to pause this video so students can take some dot points about what the current health of the ocean.

Take Action: Exploring Mission Blue Hope Spots

Step 1

For this segment, it may be helpful to students if you continue relating to the concept of health to humans - e.g. When people are sick - what do we do to fix this? Project the homepage of the Mission Blue website to students and explain that these are a list of 'Hope Spots' from across the globe that are set up to try and improve the ocean’s health.

Step 2

Depending on the class, you may ask students to work in pairs or small groups.

Assign each pair/group a project from the Mission Blue Hope Spots project page. Independently, students research the following (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Summarise what the project is
What do they aim to do?
Where is it taking place (locate it on a map)?
What is being protected?
Who is responsible for setting up the project?
Why is this Hope Spot important?

Step 3

Project a world map on the board (if there is a printed one in the classroom, this may also be used). Each pair/group is to share their findings with the class. They should come up to the board and mark where their project is happening on the world map.

Differentiated Learning

We trust that teachers are the best equipped to know how to cater to the diversity in their classes. At Cool Australia, we incorporate a variety of differentiation strategies into each lesson. Firstly, each lesson in this unit appeals to an array of different learning preferences. Learning activities can be completed in a number of different ways - if a student feels more comfortable speaking rather than writing, there are opportunities to accommodate this. In lessons that feature group work or learning stations, we trust that teachers will use their discretion in knowing how to best organise their students in accordance to positive working relationships and ability. Graphic organisers and scaffolds are often included so students can ‘visually think’ and keep a record of their work. While our lessons are designed to be 55 - 60 minutes in length, we trust that teachers will manipulate lesson and segment times according to the needs of their students.

Blueback - What are Mission Blue Hope Spots?

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