SEA TURTLES

by Douglass Shudde, Karen Stevens,
and Dana Kickler
 

Introduction | Task | Resources | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion
Teacher Page


Introduction
You're on vacation in South Padre Island.  Late one night you beg your parents to take you on a walk along the beach.  They finally give in and you set out. The night is cool and crisp and the air smells salty. Suddenly, a large, dark figure appears in front of you dragging slowly across the beach.  You are cautious, but your parents think it is ok to move closer to investigate.  You realize it is a sea turtle coming onto the beach.  It's huge!  You can't believe the massive size of this animal, and you get lost staring in amazement.  Suddenly, you realize more people on the beach coming to see the animal.  Bright headlights pierce your eyes and you wonder what a car is doing on the beach.  When it pulls up closer you see "Sea Turtle Inc." written on the door.  What is all this brouhaha?


The Task

You decide to investigate the brouhaha and find out why all these people are interested in this turtle.  This is your task should you choose to accept it:

  • research what, if anything, is causing the people on the beach to be concerned about this sea turtle and write a paragraph about what you find.
  • create a "Save The Sea Turtles" campaign that includes two or more of the following:
    • a web page
    • a poster
    • a letter or email to a public official
    • a commercial using video
    • a multimedia computer presentation
    • write a profile about someone who is committed to saving sea turtles

Resources
School Library Materials
World Wildlife Fund
WWF Conservation Action Network
Texas Parks and Wildlife
Sea Turtle Restoration Project
H.E.A.R.T. Help Endangered Animals - Ridley Turtles
Save The Turtles!
Turtle Trax
Interactive Nova Animal Pathfinders (laser disk)


The Process
  1. You will need to get into a team of three people.
  2. Brainstorm in your group to find out what you already know about sea turles.
  3. Start your research at Sea Turtles Incorporated and read the news to find out about people who find sea turtles like in the introduction and write a paragraph about what you find.
  4. Choose the type of campaign you will do and research the links above to find information about your project.
  5. The projects should:
    1. summarize what should be done to protect sea turtles based on the research you found.
    2. include graphics and pictures to make it visually appealing.
    3. be persuasive.
    4. be presented in a professional manner.
    5. include references to organizations and people involved in turtle conservation.
    6. give resources for others to get involved.

Evaluation

    Click here for scoring rubric
 


Conclusion

You have learned a great deal about sea turtles and now you are ready to take on other causes.  There are many other endangered animals in the world.  For more information check out:

The World Wildlife Fund

Source Credits

Turtle swimming.[online image] available http://www.turtles.org/about.htm 1-22-99

Animated turtle.[online image] available http://www.ridleyturtles.org 1-22-99

Ocean sound.[online wav file] available http://volusia.com/oceanviewtowers/ocean.wav 1-22-99

Jaws theme.[online midi file] available http://www.afcsat.com/JAWS.MID 1-22-99