An Ocean Without Sharks

This unit will introduce students to the ethical and environmental issues created by the shark finning industry. Students will develop questions about the industry while looking at a photo of shark fins removed from living sharks. Throughout the unit, students will analyze pieces of evidence to answer their questions and eventually come to understand the environmental effects of shark finning.

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Learning Objectives

Students will know

Population dynamics
Function of predator/prey relationship

Students will understand

How changes in populations lead to unbalanced ecosystems
Predator extinction can lead to extinction of other species lower down the food chain

Students will be able to

Investigate the effects of shark finning
Simulate population and ecosystem dynamics
Analyze data about the population dynamics to understand connections between predator, prey, and producers.

Standards Alignments + Connections

Next Generation Science Standards Connections

MS-LS2-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Connections

7.10B: describe how biodiversity contributes to the sustainability of an ecosystem

8.11A: investigate how organisms and populations in an ecosystem depend on and may compete for biotic factors such as food and abiotic factors such as quantity of light, water, range of temperatures, or soil composition

8.11C: recognize human dependence on ocean systems and explain how human activities such as runoff, artificial reefs, or use of resources have modified these systems

Italics denote aspects of the standard not covered in the activity bundle.

Unit Plan

Activities to Gather Evidence

What are the fins used for?

Shark Finning Industry

Students watch National Geographic’s Shark Fin Soup and the Smithsonian’s What if There Were No Sharks?. They then apply their knowledge of food chain effects to a visual model.

Shark Finning Worksheet

How do populations change when a top predator is removed?

Population Dynamics

Students use a simulation to conduct experiments and collect population data about a given ecosystem.

Food Web Simulation

What are the effects of shark finning we can see now?

Real World Data

Students analyze real-world research to investigate the relationship between sharks, sea turtles, and seagrass.

Realistic Effects of Shark Finning

What is the status of different shark species?

Shark Conservation

Students research a shark species and design a campaign poster in favor of its conservation.

Shark Conservation Campaign

Conclusion Assessment

Students must construct a claim backed up by evidence and reasoning to answer the following question:

How does shark finning affect marine ecosystems?

Additional Resources

Shark Finning article and Crash Course Kids Food Webs video

What is Shark Finning? Worksheet

Wildlife Forensics: Shark DNA video

Video Worksheet

Endangered Species Act: At a Glance

ESA Worksheet

Conservation of Sharks article

Conservation worksheet

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