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Endangered Organism Project

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Instructor: Sara Brassler

Workshop: World Conservation Issues

Targeted Grade Level(s): grades 9-12

Content Area(s) Covered: Biology

Anticipated Duration:  6-8 50-minute class periods

Rationale: Students can select an endangered organism and find out how the organism meets characteristics of life, as well as details of how it became endangered and what needs to be done to prevent it from going extinct.

Objectives:

1. Students should learn how different organisms meet the characteristics of life.
2. Students should also learn about specific endangered species and what caused their endangerment.
3. Students should work cooperatively in pairs to complete a power point research project.

Sunshine State Standards:

• SC.D.2.4.1: understands the interconnectedness of the systems on Earth and the quality of life.
• SC.G.1.4.1: knows of the great diversity and interdependence of living things
• SC.H.1.4.1: knows that investigations are conducted to explore new phenomena, to check on previous results, to test how well a theory predicts, and to compare different theories.
• SC.H.2.4.1: knows that scientists assume that the universe is a vast system in which basic rules exist that may range from very simple to extremely complex, but that scientists operate on the belief that the rules can be discovered by careful, systemic study.
• SC.H.3.4.5: knows that the value of a technology may differ for different people and at different times.
• SC.H.3.4.6: knows that scientific knowledge is used by those who engage in design and technology to solve practical problems, taking human values and limitations into account.

Resources/Materials Needed:

1. Media Center and Internet access
2. Computer with PowerPoint
3. Endangered Organism Project assignment sheet
4. Project/Presentation Rubrics

Procedures:

1. Introduce project to students.  Read over entire project and ask for questions.
2. Please see “Endangered Organism Project” for all project instructions.  It is designed so that students can work on project with minimal teacher direction, freeing the teacher to monitor progress and answer questions. 

Informal/Formal Assessments:

1. Students were assessed weekly based on the information they turned in at each deadline.
2. Students were assessed based on the rubrics included on their oral presentation as well as their PowerPoint presentation.  (See Rubric for Endangered Organism Project)

Evaluation/Reflection:

I think this project went well.  I used it as a final exam for my class.  I wanted students to have a high success rate and they did.  A few students decided not to turn in the project and their grades turned out accordingly.  Depending on the level of students working on the project, some students had a hard time understanding what I was asking them to give me with some of the questions.  I was pleased how, when presenting projects, many students caught mistakes they had made in the PowerPoint and corrected them during the presentation.  I will definitely use this project again!