Lesson overview

In this lesson students will develop their understanding of indirect threats to coral reefs, such as climate change, which causes the sea temperatures to rise and coral bleaching to occur. The context of the lesson is how human activities outside of Com village could be harming the local reef.

Learning outcomes

• List human actions which can have an indirect impact on reefs.
• Define and use the terms ‘coral bleaching’, ‘sedimentation’, ‘turbidity’ ‘global warming’ and ‘ocean acidification’ correctly.
• Explain the cause and impact of a range of threats.

Lesson steps

1. Crown-of-thorns starfish (10 mins)
   Students set themselves targets based on the learning criteria of the lesson. Using the clues work out what has caused the crown-of-thorns starfish explosion.
2. Indirect threats (25 mins)
   Using the information available at the different stations and watching the videos students are to complete the different activities and questions on the activities Sheet. Using the red, yellow and green cards students participate in the traffic lights game to assess their learning and understanding.
3. GCSE Style Exam Question (15 mins)
   Students demonstrate their learning by answering the exam question. Using the mark scheme students peer assess each other’s answer.
4. Self-reflection (10 mins)
   Students decide if they have met their targets set at the beginning of the lesson and reflect on the lesson’s importance to the context of the unit of work and answer the questions.

England

GCSE Science

AQA Trilogy

• 4.7.1.2 – Students should be able to explain how a change in an abiotic factor would affect a given community given appropriate data or context
• 4.7.3.1 – Students should understand that many human activities are reducing biodiversity
• 4.7.3.5 – Students should be able to describe some of the biological consequences of global warming
• 4.7.3.6 – Students should be able to describe both positive and negative human interactions in an ecosystem and explain their impact on biodiversity

AQA Combined Science: Synergy

• 4.4.2.3 – Explain how some abiotic and biotic factors affect communities
• 4.4.2.6 – Describe negative human interactions within ecosystems and explain their impact on biodiversity

OCR Twenty-first Century Science

• 3.4 – Explain how some abiotic and biotic factors affect communities, including environmental conditions, toxic chemicals, availability of food and other resources, and the presence of predators and pathogens

OCR Gateway Science

• 4.1e – Explain how abiotic and biotic factors can affect communities
• 6.1a – Describe both positive and negative human interactions within ecosystems and explain their impact on biodiversity

Edexcel

• 9.2 – Explain how communities can be affected by abiotic and biotic factors
• 9.9 – Explain the positive and negative human interactions within ecosystems and their impacts on biodiversity