Does Conservation Work?

Grade Level: 9 - 12 Project Time Span: 2 weeks to 1 quarter

Purpose: To familiarize students with the scientific process and how it relates to modern actions inenvironmental management and conservation.

Goals:

1. Students will collect data on the presence of organisms in various coastal ecosystems on the islandof Oʼahu

2. Students will compare the effects of different methods of environmental management andconservation on organism populations in four unique coastal ecosystems on the island of Oʼahu

3. Students will better understand the relationship between human society and the environment, as well as the potential impact of human action on the environment

4. Students will better understand the significance of food webs, nutrient cycles, and various ecological relationships in supporting life

Objectives (Standards):

1. Students will understand and be able to explain dynamic equilibrium in organisms, populations, andecosystems, as well as the effect of equilibrium shifts (3.4)

a.

Students will gather information regarding the various marine organisms that are endemic tofour unique coastal ecosystems on the island of Oʼahu

b.

Students will gather information regarding the changes over time seen in four unique coastalecosystems on the island of Oʼahu

2. Students will understand and be able to explain biogeochemical cycles within ecosystems (3.1)

a. Students will gather information on the cycling of biochemical compounds (water, nitrogen,carbon, oxygen), as well as the relationship between the cycles and the lives of various marineorganisms

3. Students will understand and be able to explain how energy and matter flow through living systemsand the physical environment (3.3)

a.

Students will gather information about the connections between the various marine organisms present in coastal marine ecosystems on Oʼahu Students will develop a testable hypothesis and revise it as needed (1.1)

b.

Students will gather information about the environmental management and conservationpractices in place in 4 sites around the island of Oʼahu and hypothesize about the sitesʼ current environmental condition and the effect it has on various marine organisms

4. Students will design and safely implement an experiment (1.2)

a. Students will design an experiment that will enable them to collect data on the environmentalconditions of coastal marine environments, as well as the presences of various marineorganisms

5. Students will understand the connection among hypotheses, experimentation, scientific evidence,and conclusions (1.4)

a. Students will draw their own conclusions on the effects of environmental management andconservation actions based on the findings of their study

6. Students will use the appropriate tools and techniques to organize, anaylyze, and validate any datacollected, as well as defend and support conclusions, explanations, and arguments based on logic,scientific knowledge, and evidence from data (1.2 & 1.3)

a. Students will write a lab report documenting their preliminary research, original (and revised) hypotheses, individual goals and objectives, materials, methodology, collected data, dataanalyses, and conclusions

7. Students will communicate the components of a scientific investigation (1.5)

a. Students will present the findings of their study (contents of lab report) to their peers in an oralpresentation using visual and multimedia aids