Examine the Literature – EXPLAIN

ACTIVITY OVERVIEW:

Class led reading and discussion of a peer-reviewed journal article pertaining to the Cheeca Rocks reef site and data featured in the Generation Ocean: Coral Reefs 360 film and Activity 3. Enables students to verify, explain, and interpret the observations made in the review of photo-mosaic imagery.   

ACTIVITY AUTHORS:

Stephanie Killingsworth ^1,2,3 (view profile)

AUDIENCE:

Middle – High School Students

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

• What is happening to corals in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary?
• How do we know what’s happening to these corals?
• Why are the observed changes in Florida coral reefs significant?

TIMEFRAME:

40 minutes

MATERIALS:

• Digital or print copies of relevant peer-reviewed journal article(s)
  • Suggested: Gintert, B.E., Manzello, D.P., Enochs, I.C. et al. Coral Reefs (2018) 37: 533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-018-1678-x.
• Digital or print notebook pages for student note taking

ACTIVITY STEPS:

1. Teacher briefly introduces class activities and assigns chunking text from article to small groups. [2 min]
2. Students read assigned chunk text and mark important information (highlighting or underlining). [13 min]
3. Students lead class-wide Socratic Seminar discussion of article. [25 min]

EVALUATION:

Quantity and quality of contributions made to Socratic Discussion.

EXTENSIONS:

If undertaking Activity 5, recommend having students record yet unanswered questions from discussion to facilitate expert Q&A.