Lesson Plan Three – Leatherback Turtle

Activity 3: Counting leatherback turtles and marine mammals

Curriculum Connections

Science: Grades 4-6

• Draw inferences and make predictions based on data
• Demonstrate critical thinking and problem solving
• Sort and classify information

Objectives:

Students will learn how scientists count leatherback turtles and other marine mammals from surveillance planes. They will learn why it is important for scientists to count species and what some of the challenges are to doing these types of surveys.

Materials:

• Legal size envelopes
• Legal size paper or computer paper that will fit inside the legal size envelope
• Scissors and transparent tape
• Pencil or pen

Let's get started!

Part One:

In this activity students will break up into groups of 3 or 4. One student will be the pilot of the plane and the other 3 will be the research biologist/scientists.

1. Take the legal size envelope and cut off both ends so a piece of paper can slide right through the envelope.
2. In the top third of the envelope cut a square 'window' so that as the paper slides through the envelope you can see it as is passes by the window.
3. Take the legal paper and attach three or four sheets together end to end with transparent tape, or use an equivalent length of computer paper that will fit through the envelope.
4. At one end of the paper attach a pull tab to help you pull the paper through the envelope. You can make this out of cardboard, paper, or use a bookmark.
5. One student will be a 'pilot' and the others will be 'scientists.' The pilot should go to a separate part of the room and draw small circles randomly over the paper. These circles will symbolize the leatherback turtles or whales. The pilot will need to know the final number but must not tell the scientists.
6. The scientists gather around the pilot who then slides the paper through the envelope at a steady but fast rate.
7. The scientists count the spots as they pass in front of the 'window.'
8. The scientists should then compare their numbers and the pilot can reveal the actual number of marine mammals on the paper.

Variation:

You can make this exercise more realistic and more difficult by varying the size of the spots. Big spots can be whales and smaller ones can be leatherbacks and small whales. Have scientists count both or try to distinguish the spots from each other.

Talk about it! Adapt these questions to further your discussion.

1. Did any of the scientists get the number of leatherback turtles and whales right?
2. What are some of the challenges of counting marine mammals from airplanes?
3. Can you think of other ways to count marine mammals?
4. Why do we need to count marine mammals?

Last updated : 2007-06-12

Important Notices