This half-hour program allows discussion about wildlife trade and how it affects biodiversity around the world. Students will learn
different ways wildlife is used by people and how to protect wildlife by becoming wiser consumers. This workshop has both pre- and post-visit classroom activities and more activities. These activities are designed to enhance each student's knowledge of the topic to be covered.
What is an example of animals and plants being connected?
How important are the connections among species in an ecosystem?
How can humans effect the connection between wildlife?
Lesson:
Have students brainstorm different animals and plants that live in a particular ecosystem (ex. lake, forest, desert, meadow, or ocean). Write the names of the different species on separate pieces of paper until each student has a piece of paper with a unique animal or plant identity. Have students stand in a circle and put their species name in front of them on the floor. Start with one species and begin creating a "web" by passing string to a different species that is somehow connected to the previous. Ask the students how the two species are connected and continue passing the string. As each student continues to hold the string, a visible web is formed, demonstrating the connection within the ecosystem. Some species may be connected into the web several times and will thus hold more string. Ask the students what would happen if one of the species in the ecosystem became extinct or was removed from the ecosystem. Demonstrate this by selecting one species to be eliminated and ask the student to sit down. Try to see which species is connected to the most other species.
To analyze references to plants and animals in different media to see how they influence people's perceptions and attitudes toward wildlife.
Lesson Preparation:
books, newspapers, magazines, and pictures of animals.
Useful Vocabulary:
domesticated, perception, personality, popular media, wild.
Teachers Guided Questions:
What trends are there in the ways plants and animals are portrayed in the media?
Did different sources characterize them in different ways?
How might people be affected by these images? How might these perceptions differ from those of someone who lives in direct contact with that plant or animal in the wild?
What are some of the connections between people's perceptions of wildlife and wildlife trade.
Lesson:
Brainstorm different names of plants and animals with the students. Have them give words to describe the species named. Then invite them to identify the subjective (ex. beautiful or mean) and the objective words given (ex. white, hairy). Discuss the words given and describe any conflicting descriptions. Ask the students how they formed their opinions of the plants and animals on the board.
Have each student find four different images of plants and/or animals in popular culture through movies, magazines, books, newspapers, or television. Develop a chart that describes the images according to: personality traits of the character, physical and behavioral traits of the character, life-like or fictional, wild or domestic, character's relationship with humans and any other characteristics. Once the chart is complete have the student choose one plant or animal and create an eye-catching poster that conveys the ways their plant or animal is portrayed in the popular media.
To describe the role of CITES in regulating wildlife trade and to explore the complexities of international decision making while practicing negotiation and consensus-building skills.
Lesson Preparation:
information about elephants, the ivory ban, CITES, and the requirements for changing a species' listing on CITES.
What do you think is the best CITES listing for the African elephant?
Did your viewpoint change during the activity? Why?
What was the most difficult aspect of reaching a group decision?
Would you like to be the facilitator or one of the professionals responsible for making decisions like this? Why or why not?
Lesson:
The students will be learning about a real-life issue that CITES members faced in 1997 when deciding whether to reclassify African elephants from Appendix I to Appendix II. Each student will become a participant of the Conference of Parties (COP) and will make a decision on the ivory ban issue. One of the goals of this activity is to learn to resolve issues and to reach a consensus.
Have each student research information about elephants, the ivory ban, CITES, and the requirements for changing a species' listing on CITES. Arrange groups according to the different participant viewpoints: East Asian Nations, North American Nations, Southern African Nations, and East African Nations. Allow groups to familiarize themselves with the viewpoint of the countries they represent. Form a discussion about the ivory ban with the entire class and have all the groups come to a general agreement based on the information they know of the issues and the viewpoints of the participants. Afterward, compare the class consensus with the actual results of the CITES conference in 1997.
LA.C.1.4.3 Content Standard:
Uses effective strategies for informal and formal discussions, including listening actively and reflectively, connecting to and building on the ideas of a previous speaker, and respecting the viewpoints of others.
Science G: How Living Things Interact With Their Environment
SC.G.2.4.6
Knows the ways in which humans today are placing their environmental support systems at risk.
Social Studies B: People, Places, and Environments
SS.B.2.4.4
Understands the global impact of human changes in the physical environment.
Social Studies D: Economics
SS.D.1.4.1
Understands how many financial and nonfinancial factors motivate consumers, producers, workers, savers, and investors to allocate their scarce resources differently.
