Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

5-10 minutes – Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge
20 minutes – Part B: Understanding Ocean Systems
20 minutes – Part C: Developing The 'Need To Knows'
10-60 minutes – Part D: Actions For Addressing Your 'Need To Knows'
5 minutes – Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Differentiation:

Where students have completed the previous lesson, Take3 - How Are You Connected To The Ocean? - HASS - Years 4 to 6:

Remind students of the driving question that was posed in the previous lesson; ‘How are you connected to the ocean?’
Invite them to suggest some of the ways that we are connected to the ocean and to sort these into the following two categories:
1. Things we need the ocean for;
2. Ways that we impact the ocean.

You can use the Ocean Connection Images from the previous lesson to remind students of some of the ways we are connected to the ocean.

Explain to students that this lesson they will focus on the first category (1. Things we need the ocean for) by turning this category into a question. You could invite students to suggest how this first category could be posed as a question, or pose this question as: How do we need the ocean? Write this question on the board and explain to students that they will be working to explore this question in more detail in this lesson.

Where students haven’t completed the previous lesson:

Begin by explaining to students that in this lesson they will investigate the driving question, ‘How are you connected to the ocean?’ Explain to students that there are lots of different ways that we are connected to the ocean. Share the following clip with students and ask them to pay close attention to the ways different people are connected to the ocean: Take 3 - Connection.
Once the clip is complete, invite students to share what they observed in the clip. Prompt students with the following points: people are personally connected to the ocean through their culture and identity, through their work and study, and through their recreation. Hot tip: You could use the Ocean Connection Images to further explore some of these topics.
Also point out to students that the clip points to two different ways that we are connected and write these two categories on the board:
- We are connected through the things we need the ocean for
- We are connected in the ways that we impact the ocean.
Finally, explain to students that this lesson they will focus on the first category by turning this category into a question. You could invite students to suggest how this first category could be posed as a question, or pose this question as: How do we need the ocean? Write this question on the board and explain to students that they will be working to explore this question in more detail.

Part B: Understanding Ocean Systems

Step 1.

Students will now watch a clip by Take 3 For The Sea and participate in a guided discussion around this clip. This clip describes the role that the ocean plays in the natural systems of our Earth.

https://vimeo.com/451387531/8d92ac9a34

Show the clip once through for students so they can enjoy it from start to finish without interruptions. You could then replay the clip and conduct the guided discussion. You can use the following timings and questions in your guided discussion:

00:17 - How is the ocean described here?
Suggested answer: An incredible interconnected system of saltwater waterways that cover most of the earth's surface and form 90% of our biosphere. What is our biosphere? Our biosphere is made up of the parts of Earth where life exists (Source). This includes the deepest ocean trenches, the roots of the trees, grasslands and rainforests, and the highest mountains.
1:00 - How does Bruce describe the Badtjala view of the ocean?
Suggested answer: He says that they view the ocean much like we view the heart, the oceans pumps water around the earth and the rivers are like the arteries moving water into the land.
2:07 - What does Tim mean when he says that the ocean is a "beautiful, connected system?" How do the other people in this clip talk about these connections?
Suggested: Tim talks about the layers of the ocean but also talks about how the ocean connects all the lands together. He also talks about how rain comes from the ocean and falls on the land. Maddison talks about how there is no one ocean; all the oceans are connected and all the lands are connected. Troy talks about how every waterway is connected.
2:47 - What role do the oceans play in the air that we breathe?
Suggested answer: Maddison explains that we get about 70% of our oxygen from our oceans, and that comes from seagrass and algae and other photosynthetic, organic matter in the ocean. Every two out of three breaths that we take comes from the ocean.
Hot tip: You could take a moment to invite students to observe their breathing for 10-15 seconds and to count their breaths for this time - how many breaths did they take? How many of these would come from the ocean?
3:59 - What other roles do the ocean play?
Suggested answer: The oceans moderate our climate. They prevent us from getting extreme heat and cold on our landmasses. It provides our drinking water, is the primary source of protein for many people on earth, is the most biodiverse system on earth and absorbs more than 30% of carbon emissions.
4:17 - What don't we know about the oceans?
Suggested answer: 91% of ocean species have yet to be classified (studies and described by scientists), and 95% of our oceans remain unexplored.

Step 2.

Now ask students to remind themselves of the question posed earlier: How do we need the ocean?

Invite students to reflect on the following questions through a class discussion:

In what ways does this clip make you think about how we need the ocean?
What is still confusing or unclear to you?

Keep a note of any questions or points raised in response to the final question; these may be useful to the next activity.

Part C: Developing The 'Need To Knows'

Step 1.

Explain that students will now work in their groups or pairs to begin developing a list of ‘need to knows’ that help to answer the question ‘How do we need the oceans? Students will then convert their ‘need to knows’ into questions that can be used to guide research.

Note: You can explain to students that a ‘need to know’ is something you need to find out about a topic in order to understand this topic deeply. In this lesson you are aiming to understand answers to the question: How do we need the ocean? To answer this question we need to identify where our gaps in knowledge are and what we need to find out to fill these gaps. These are your ‘need to knows’.

When beginning to develop their ‘need to knows’, it might be useful for students to begin by listing topics or points that they would like to know more about. For example, topics you could suggest for students to focus on could include:

The oceans create oxygen; most life on Earth requires oxygen
People need the ocean in aesthetic, emotional, cultural or spiritual ways
The ocean provides us with lots of our food
We use the ocean to move ourselves around and to move other things around
The ocean creates our drinking water even though the water in the ocean is salty
You could also use these images to remind students of topics they could develop their need to knows for.

Students should then think about what specifically they would like to know about these topics. They should record their ideas in note form next to each topic they have listed.

Explain to students that this can be a tricky task because they are being asked to admit that they don’t know things. It’s also hard to think of things that you didn’t know you needed to know. It could be useful to students to start each idea with “I don’t know… “. For example, “I don’t know … where oxygen comes from” or “I don’t know … what the difference is between fresh water and salty water”.

Step 3.

Once students have developed a list of ideas they would like to know more about they can begin converting these ideas into questions. This will help them further define what it is they want to know.

Differentiation:

Year 4 students should aim to develop more than 10 questions
Year 5 students should aim to develop more than 13 questions
Year 6 students should aim to develop more than 16 questions.

Optional: If students need support to turn their ideas into questions you could complete the following activity with students.

Share the following statement with students: There are lots of ways that we need our oceans.
Next, explain to students that they will start to think of some questions that relate to this statement. Students will be asked to think of questions starting with HOW, WHY, WHERE, WHO, WHEN and WHAT. You could do this by breaking the class into six groups and assigning each group with one or more question starters (depending on age and ability). You can use the example questions below to help students get started:
- Example of a HOW question: How does the ocean make oxygen?
- Example of a WHY question: Why don't boats sink?
- Example of a WHAT question: What types of fish are the most popular to eat?
- Example of a WHEN question: When did people first start travelling across the ocean?
- Example of a WHERE question: Where do coral reefs grow?
- Example of a WHO question: Who is in charge of the ocean?
Create a table on the board with six columns titled HOW, WHY, WHERE, WHO, WHEN and WHAT, and invite students to share their questions with the class. Add these questions to the relevant columns.
If time permits, you could also work to classify these questions as being either open-ended or closed questions:
- Closed questions - These are questions that can be answered with a ‘yes’, ‘no’ or very short statement.
- Open-ended questions - These are questions that can’t be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but instead require an explanation or justification.

Step 4.

Students will soon need to share their questions with another group. Before they do that, ask each group to test their questions by reading the question out loud and checking that it:

Makes sense
Will lead to the type of answer they want to get (e.g. open-ended or closed).

Step 5.

Once students are happy with their list of questions, they can share their questions with another group. How are the questions generated by the two groups similar and different?

Each group should choose:

One question created the other group that they find most interesting
One question that is not clear to them (can they make helpful suggestions on how to improve it?)

Part D: Actions For Addressing Your 'Need to Knows'

Differentiation:

For students completing the rest of this unit:

For each question they developed, students should work in their groups to think about what actions they could take to address this question. For example, is the best way to answer this question through online research, interviewing an expert, conducting an experiment or surveying a group of people?
Students can record their ideas in note-form next to each question.

For students not completing the rest of this unit:

Students will work in their groups. Depending on age and ability students should select at least one question created by their group that interests them (older students could select more than one question).
Groups then need to conduct the research required to answer their question and create a communication piece to share the results of their research. Depending on time and resources, this could be a video, podcast or poster. The title of the communication piece should be: “How are we connected to the ocean?” All research included in the communication piece should help to answer this question.

Reflection

Students can work independently to complete the following activity (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Think about the following quote by marine biologist Sylvia Earle in reference to the ocean: “No blue. No green.” What do you think this means?

Take Action for the Global Goals

If you'd like to explore further the United Nations Global Goals, consider exploring this infographic with your students.

You could create your own version with students to simplify the message and create key actions for the ocean going forward.

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?

Take 3 - Questions To Explore How You Need The Ocean

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