Teaching Sequence

10 minutes	Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge
30 minutes	Part B: What Are Zoos For?
30 minutes	Part C: Conserving Local Animals
10 minutes	Reflection

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Begin this lesson by asking students to work in pairs or small groups to answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What do we already know about zoos?
What do we already know about animal welfare?
Who are zoos for – people or animals? Why?

Step 2.

Once complete, each pair or group should team up with another group to share and compare answers.

As they share their thoughts, remind students of the issues looked at in the Tuning In lesson, and encourage them to reflect on and share any further thoughts they have had about these issues since this lesson:

Animal welfare
The good bits about being an animal in a zoo
The bad bits about being an animal in a zoo
What animals need when kept in zoo enclosures

Part B: What Are Zoos For?

Preparation:

Print and cut up the Zoo Statements so that you have at least one for each student.

Step 1.

Explain to students that there are many arguments for and against zoos. Distribute the statements to students and invite them to form pairs or small groups.

Each student should share their statement with their group and students should spend some time discussing their statements, thinking about:

Whether this statement is a statement for or against zoos
Whether they agree with the statement or not and why.

Allow students several minutes to discuss their statements.

Once complete, invite students to form a discussion circle and ask them to share their statements and whether their statement is for or against zoos. You could also invite some student volunteers to share their opinions about their statements, reminding students of the ground rules you set in the Tuning In lesson.

Invite students to record any 'I wonder' questions they have in their Learnings Journals.

Step 2.

Now, explain to students that even though there are many issues associated with zoos, in the rest of this lesson students will be focusing on the idea that many zoos have a vital role in protecting species through their conservation programs.

The first step is to understand what is meant by ‘conservation program’. Explain to students that conservation programs describe work taken by an organisation or group of people trying to prevent a living thing (such as an animal or plant) from going extinct. Show the following image (also available on the Student Worksheet) and explain that conservation work usually involves three things:

Breeding and release
Reducing threats in the wild
Education and action

To help students build a context around the elements of this work consider using Zoos Victoria's Fighting Extinction program as an example of well-rounded conservation.

Step 3.

Explain to students that they will first focus on breeding. Share the following information with students (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Breeding and release – This means finding out the life-cycle of the living thing you want to conserve and creating the conditions where the living thing can reproduce (have offspring). The aim of many breeding programs is to be able to introduce these animals back into the wild (called release). This means ensuring the captive population of animals you are trying to conserve is healthy enough for you to release animals back into the wild. Releasing animals back into the wild is important because many living things are uniquely adapted to live in their specific habitats; in addition, the habitats they live in need those living things in order to stay healthy.

Extend: Share this Consequence Chart with students, explaining that this is an example of how an environment can be altered when one species is removed. To find out what happened when the wolf was reintroduced to Yellowstone, watch the following clip:

How Wolves Change Rivers (https://youtu.be/ysa5OBhXz-Q).

Step 4.

You can now share the following clip with students, explaining that it describes the conservation program for the Philippines crocodile, the world’s most critically endangered crocodile species.

As students watch, invite them to record anything they think is interesting or important about breeding:

Saving the Philippines Crocodile (https://youtu.be/djj3nznwIq4)

Once complete, invite students to share what they observed about breeding and the crocodile in this clip through a class discussion. Use the following questions to guide your discussion:

What actions in this clip relate to breeding?
How will these actions help this crocodile?

Step 5.

Explain to students that they will now focus on improving habitats. Share the following information with students (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Reducing threats in the wild – This means working to make the natural habitat of the living thing you are conserving healthier by removing waste and pollution, removing pest species, planting more native species and protecting the area to ensure it stays safe and healthy for the species living there. Reducing threats in the wild will also help improve the overall environment in the place where the living thing lives, and will have benefits for other living things who live in or visit that area.

Now re-watch the Philippines crocodile clip, inviting students to focus on actions for improving habitats. Once complete, invite students to participate in a 'Talk and Turn' discussion.

Students should participate in a 'Talk and Turn' discussion around the following questions:

What actions in this clip relate to habitat improvement?
How have these actions helped these animals?

Step 6.

Explain to students that they will now focus on education. Share the following information with students (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Education and action – This means letting the community know what you are trying to do and why. It also means getting the community to support your conservation campaign and take action. This can be done by improving habitats, monitoring living things, changing your behaviour or spreading the word to look after our environment. In some cases, it means providing opportunities for the community to generate income around the conservation program so that they are motivated to protect the living things being conserved.

Re-watch the Philippines crocodile clip, inviting students to focus on education. Once complete, engage students in a lightning round discussion around the following:

What actions for education about the crocodile conservation program did you see in this clip?
How successful do you think the education part of this program has been?
What does this education program make you think about?

Step 7.

Finally, invite students to record any questions they have about the Philippines crocodile program and conservation in their Learning Journal.

Part C: Conserving Local Animals

Step 1.

Explain to students that the example of the Philippines crocodile conservation program they just investigated is an example where an Australian zoo (Zoos Victoria) helped conserve an animal from another country. Zoos also conduct conservation programs for their animals from their own countries.

Display or invite students to access Zoos Victoria's Fighting Extinction website and explain to students that these are the (mostly) Victorian animals that Zoos Victoria have identified as ‘priority species’, meaning that they are local animal species that the Zoo sees as needing urgent conservation attention.

Explain to students that they need to select one of the animals featured on this page to investigate in detail.

Step 2.

Break the class into groups of 3 to 4 students, and explain that each group needs to conduct research (online or in the library) to find out the following (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What type of animal is this?
Where is the natural habitat of this animal?
How has this animal adapted to its natural environment?
What steps are being taken to improve breeding?
What steps are being taken to improve habitats?
What steps are being taken to improve community education?
What issues relating to animal welfare and this animal can you find out? Explain the good bits and bad bits about this animal being in a zoo.

Students need to create a presentation that describes their research. The presentation should include:

Answers to the questions
Information supported by research (online or in the library – remind students to use the Search Strategies for Googling when researching online)
Images

You can provide students with this rubric to show students what is expected of them.

Step 3.

Students should share their presentations with the class. You could distribute copies of the Presentation Assessment Rubric so students can assess the presentations of their peers. Students could record their feedback in their workbooks. Remind students to be kind, helpful and specific when providing feedback:

Allow students observing to ask questions of the presenters. Invite students to record any questions that presenters are unable to answer in their Learning Journals.

Reflection

Step 1.

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

How have these presentations helped you understand what is meant by ‘conservation’?
What did you learn about conservation that was new or surprising?
Do you think zoos should be doing conservation work? Why or why not?

Step 2.

Finally, invite students to think about the following question and record their thoughts in their Learning Journals:

What questions do you still have about conservation and the animals looked at in this lesson?

Invite students to record any 'I wonder' questions they have in their Learnings Journals.

Take It Further

Visit Your Local Zoo

Questions and issues raised in this lesson can be used to guide your students' learning experiences at your zoo. Once you have completed this lesson, consider using the Planning Your Zoo Visit document to work with students to plan your trip to the zoo. Students should also be encouraged to take their Learning Journal to the zoo.

Taking Action

Following your trip to your local zoo, you can use the Taking Action document to guide students to design and implement a social action project around a local animal species they identify as needing conserving. Students can be inspired by the conservation work of the zoo they visit, and you can use learnings from the lesson below to support the students to take action.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

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

Fighting Extinction - What Do Zoos Do?

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