Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Activating prior knowledge

20 minutes

Find Out: Threats to marine turtles

25 minutes

Take Action: How are people helping marine turtles?

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions

Students will:

understand the threats facing marine turtles and identify actions we can take to protect marine turtles.

Success criteria:

Students can:

undertake online research in response to a set of criteria
present research to the class
know about the threats facing marine turtles
know about actions to help marine turtles.

Tune In: Activating prior knowledge

Step 1

Share the following video with students:

Turtle's Eye-view of the Great Barrier Reef (https://youtu.be/2I6hDqCrI9o)

Explain to students that this video shows a turtle swimming around the Great Barrier Reef. Invite students to share keywords that come to mind when reflecting on the footage in this video. Record these words on the board.

Step 2

Assess what your students already know about marine turtles by inviting students to team up with another student to interview each other using the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Where do marine turtles live?
Are marine turtles reptiles or fish or mammals? How do you know? What features or parts of their body support your answer?
What parts of a turtle's body help them to survive in their environment?
What do you know about how marine turtles breed?

Step 3

Once complete, ask students to share their answers in a class discussion. Suggested answers include:

Marine turtles live in the sea
There are seven species of marine turtle in the world’s oceans (six of these can be found in Australian waters).
Turtles are reptiles
They have scaly skin and depend on external temperatures to regulate their body temperature, like other reptiles. They give birth by laying eggs. Where fish have gills, turtles need to rise to the surface to take a breath of air (although they only need to do this once every 15-20 minutes while feeding, and every 30 minutes when sleeping). Unlike mammals, baby turtles are on their own from the time eggs are laid.
Marine turtles have a range of adaptations that help them survive in their environment
Turtles have very strong front flippers for swimming, while the back flippers are used for steering and digging nests in the sand. Their sight and hearing are good when underwater, but when up on the surface or on a nesting beach neither are very good. Turtles drink the water they swim in: however, they have salt glands behind their eyes that remove salt from the water. This can make it look like they are crying.
Marine turtle life cycle
Female turtles dig nests on sandy beaches to lay their eggs, perhaps trying several spots before finding the right one. They then lay between 60 and 120 eggs (depending on age and species). The eggs take 8-12 weeks to hatch. When they hatch, the hatchlings will wait under the surface of the sand for night time to head for the water; there are fewer predators at night and the temperature drops so it is cool enough for hatchlings to avoid becoming overheated and dehydrated. It is estimated that only one in a thousand mature females will actually go on to lay eggs. Between the ages of 5 and 15 years old, they leave the open ocean and head for a coastal feeding area. They don’t have offspring of their own until they are about 30 to 40 years old. When they are ready to breed they head back to the beach (or very close by) where they originally hatched. A female marine turtle may lay 3-7 nests in one season, but will only breed every few years.

Step 4

Distribute the All About Turtles Factsheet to students (or invite them to access it on the Student Worksheet under Resources), explaining that it shows important facts about marine turtles and their life cycles. Invite students to take a few moments to read through the factsheet, clarifying and confirming points raised in the discussion above.

This factsheet can be used throughout both this lesson and the Design a Turtle Nest Protector - Year 4, 5 & 6 - Lesson 2.

Find Out: Threats to marine turtles

Step 1

Begin the next phase of the lesson by explaining to students that marine turtles have been around for about 100 million years - since before the dinosaurs! However, in recent years, the number of marine turtles has been declining. There are a range of reasons for this decline and most of them relate to human activities.

Explain to students that they will now work in groups to undertake research on some of these threats. Each group will then create a poster or presentation to share with the class that describes the threat they researched.

Break the class into six groups and give each group one of the following factsheets outlining the different threats to marine turtles (factsheets are also available on the Student Worksheet under Resources):

Each group needs to read through their factsheet.

Take a few minutes to check that students understand all of the words and concepts presented in the factsheets.
Explain to students that it's perfectly fine if they don't understand everything!
Clarifying things now will make the rest of the lesson more rewarding

Students will then need to undertake the research necessary to include the following in their poster or presentation (this information is also provided on the factsheets):

A description of the threat and the cause of the threat
How this threat affects turtles
Where this threat occurs
The particular species of turtle that is/are affected

In addition, each factsheet also includes a range of questions on the second page. Students should select one of these questions to investigate and should incorporate the answer to this question in their poster or presentation. Each group is responsible for sharing all the essential information on the threat they researched so that all class members are familiar with each threat.

Each factsheet also includes references where students can find more information.

You could provide each group with this Presentation Assessment Rubric so that they understand what is expected of them.

Step 2

Allow students 20-25 minutes to make posters or write up and practice presentations. Once complete, invite each group to present their poster or presentation to the class. The groups watching need to take notes about each of the threats. Use the Presentation Assessment Rubric to assess the work.

Step 3

To conclude, invite students to participate in a group discussion around the information presented. Consider the following questions:

What was the most interesting or important thing you found out from the posters and presentations?
What would you like to know more about?
Can you think of anything you can do to help turtles? If you don't live close to a nesting beach or to the sea, what can you do? Note: Remind students that no matter where we live, our actions can affect the ocean and the animals that live there. Everything is connected and we all have a role to play in helping turtles and our environment!
How do you feel about turtles after learning this information?

After the final question explain to students that some of the news about turtles can make us all feel sad or angry, but there is good news. Explain to them that in the next part of the lesson they will be looking at some of this good news.

Taking it Further!
Invite students to work in groups or as a class to discover the closest nesting beach to you. If you have a nesting turtle population locally, research what threats they might be facing and what actions are already being undertaken to protect nesting beaches and individual nests.

Take Action: How are people helping marine turtles?

Step 1

Begin by explaining that there are many people who are working to help marine turtles in different ways. Students will now investigate some of the actions that people are taking to help turtles.

Watch the following clip as a class and engage students in a guided discussion around the clip using the timings and discussion points below:

WWF - Protecting Marine Turtles in Coastal Kenya (https://youtu.be/xv9p66beA0)

Consider watching the clip once without stopping before your guided discussion to allow students to follow the content of the clip uninterrupted

Suggested guided discussion timings and questions (suggested answers also included):

0:21 - Why is the life cycle of turtles treacherous? How do different threats affect turtles at different stages of their lives?
Suggested answer: Predatory land animals and humans still eat eggs and hatchlings; eggs and hatchlings are driven over by vehicles on beaches; hatchlings are attracted by lights from street lights, hotels, fishing boats, torches and camp fires away from the sea or towards danger; predatory sea animals eat hatchlings; older turtles are at risk of being eaten for food and at risk of ghost nets, boat strikes, fishing and water pollution.
1:06 - Why does marine turtle conservation require visiting so many different types of habitats at different times of the day?
Suggested answer: Marine turtles inhabit a range of different habitats (e.g. beach, reefs or open water) and are present in these areas at different times. Hatchlings emerge from their eggs at night or during a rainstorm when temperatures are cooler, while older turtles might sleep in deep water, wedged in rocks near the shore, or around coral reefs. Hatchlings sleep while floating on the surface of the water.
1:34 - What sorts of research might be required to learn more about turtles?
Suggested answer: Tracking their movements; finding out what they eat; tagging turtles to see which ones return to the beach to nest; keeping track of how many there are and how often they nest, the number of eggs that are produced and the number of hatchlings that make it to the water; researching whether marine turtles are more active at particular times of the day or year or whether marine turtles change their behaviour because of changes in climate; and undertaking checks of their overall health (such as how fast they are growing, if they have any diseases or injuries and what chemicals they have ingested).
1:44 - Why are turtles so important to the sea?
Suggested answer: All marine species are vital to the health of oceans and to ocean habitats. They are an integral part of a food chain, providing food for birds, sharks, fish and crabs. They also help to keep reefs healthy as they trim and graze on seagrass and algae that would otherwise smother the coral: this helps to heal bleached coral reefs.
1:51 - Why does it take a village to educate a man? What does this mean?
Suggested answer: It means that a child has the best ability to become a healthy, capable and responsible adult when the whole community has an active role in the raising of that child.
1:58 - Why might you require a community to ensure marine turtles are protected?
Suggested answer: Everything we do on land affects the ocean, so every person in the community has a role in protecting marine creatures, including marine turtles.

Once your guided discussion is complete, consider inviting students to share other reflections and thoughts about the clip, including:

How does this video make you feel?
What things did you find surprising or interesting about this clip?
What actions were the people in this video taking to protect marine turtles?
What other things do you think people could do to help protect turtles?

Step 2

Finally, lead students to the conclusion that protecting beaches and nesting sites continues to be one of the most important things we can all do to help turtles. Explain to students that it isn't just up to the people who live near the beaches where turtles nest to do something about protecting turtles and nesting sites; turtle migrate and although they may not nest on your beach, they might be feeding in the ocean near you, so no matter where we live we can all help in looking after our oceans.

Invite students to consider some of the ways we could all help to protect beaches, for example:

Keep our beaches and waterways free from litter, and to take some rubbish away with you when leaving the beach (see Take 3 for more information).
Keep off dunes and other sites where turtles (and other animals) might be nesting.
Keep pets on a lead when on the beach, and keep them away from nesting sites.
Don’t pollute waterways by letting things like chemicals go down the drain – these can end up in the sea and harm turtles and other marine organisms. Even if you live in the desert you can impact the ocean!

Learning opportunity: An important part of real-world learning is the opportunity for students to present their learning in a public arena. World Turtle Day on the 23rd of May every year is the perfect opportunity to showcase students' work and celebrate students' passion for marine turtles and as a way of protecting the marine environment. Invite parents, guardians, colleagues and other students into the classroom. This will allow students to have a voice and ensure they have a far reaching impact.

If you do live near a turtle nesting beach, invite students to consider:
• What things could be done to protect the beach and the nests?
What programs already exist to help the beach and nests?
How could you get involved in helping to protect your beach and nesting sites?

Reflection

Invite students to write a short reflection piece or poem aimed at convincing others to take action to help marine turtles. This piece could:

Include information about threats to turtles and actions that may be taken to help them.
Include details about how student thinking on the issue changed with this lesson and why students think we should act.
Focus on turtles' wonders and/or the sadness of declining turtle numbers and the threats posed to them.

Threats to Marine Turtles

Go to

Summary

Learning intentions

Success criteria:

Students can:

Lesson Guides and Printables

Lesson Details

Skills

Curriculum Mapping

Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Additional Info

Related Professional Learning

In this lesson