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Beach Lighting for Sea Turtle Conservation

Difficulty: Grade 6-8
Time: 45-60 mins
Categories:

In this lesson, students will learn about the important roles sea turtles play in maintaining marine ecosystems. They'll explore how light pollution threatens sea turtle populations and how simple design changes can have a major impact on life under water.

Get Started
What this lesson includes
Lesson Content
Ecosystems
Real-World Example

Acuity Brands

Coding Tutorial
Block-based
Assessment
Triangulated Assessment Options
Educator Resources
Finished Code Link
Quickstart Guide

Looking for more resources? Look  here.

Learning Goals

  • Explain at least two roles sea turtles play in marine ecosystems
  • Describe the impact artificial lighting has on sea turtle behaviour
  • Discuss the importance of preserving sea turtles
  • Build a sea turtle-friendly beach light that uses:
    • the solar sensor, sonar sensor and LED ring from the Climate Action Kit, and
    • standard, compound, and nested conditional statements to adjust the brightness of the beach light based on different environmental signals

Materials

Get to Know the Content

  1. Make sure you've completed our 'Getting Started with the Climate Action Kit' course
  2. If it has been awhile, review the kit components featured in this lesson:
  3. Review the lesson, particularly the following thinking routines from Project Zero (Harvard Graduate School of Education):

Big Idea (15 minutes)

Learn about sea turtle behaviour and the important roles these species play in maintaining ocean ecosystems.

Students will:

  • identify the many roles sea turtles play in ocean ecosystems
  • compare and contrast two sea turtle nesting beach scenes
  • learn how light pollution threatens sea turtle survival

Take Action (45 minutes)

Students will explore how we can minimize shoreline light pollution with technology. They will build their own sea turtle-safe beach light with the Climate Action Kit.

We've provided 3 ways students may build the project to support scaffolding and differentiation in your classroom: 'Use', 'Modify', and 'Create'.*

Activity Description
Use

Students will follow a step-by-step tutorial to build & use their beach light.

Success Criteria

I can:

  • build a sea turtle-safe beach light with the Climate Action Kit
  • explain the effect environmental light levels have on the beach light
  • identify conditional statements within code
  • make suggestions to make my light even more turtle-safe

Resources

Tutorial
Final Code
Modify

Students will follow a step-by-step tutorial to build their beach light. After this, they will modify the code and complete a challenge to demonstrate their understanding.

Success Criteria

I can:

  • build a sea turtle-safe beach light with the Climate Action Kit
  • make changes to my code to learn how it works
  • use operators to write Boolean expressions
  • create compound and nested conditionals to adjust the brightness of my beach light based on different environmental conditions

Resources

Tutorial
Final Code
Create

Students will work in a small group to design, build & code their own sea turtle-safe light.

Success Criteria

I can build a sea turtle-safe light that is physically:

  • low to the ground
  • dim
  • red or amber in colour
  • shielded

and uses:

  • two sensors to respond to the environment
  • one compound conditional statement

Resources

Blank Project

*Irene Lee, Fred Martin, Jill Denner, Bob Coulter, Walter Allan, Jeri Erickson, Joyce Malyn-Smith, and Linda Werner. 2011. Computational thinking for youth in practice. Acm Inroads 2, 1 (2011), 32–37.

Use the following criteria to assess student learning. Students can:

Conversations

  • Describe the impact artificial lighting has on sea turtle behaviour
  • Construct an argument to justify the importance of saving sea turtles
  • Explain the purpose of each smart component and building block in the main build (Use, Modify, Create)
  • Explain the purpose of the different types of conditional statements in the sea turtle-safe beach light project (Use, Modify, Create)

Observations

  • Methodically test and debug their code to ensure it functions as intended (Modify, Create)

Products

  • Add comments to the code to demonstrate their understanding of each block (Use, Modify, Create)
  • Create a standard, compound, and/or nested conditional statement that represents a decision making point within their algorithm (Modify, Create)
  • Design their own prototype that satisfies provided criteria (Create)

Next Generation Science Standards

Grade 6-8

MS-LS1-4 Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviours and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants respectively.

MS-LS2-2 Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.

MS-LS2-3 Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

MS-LS2-5 Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.

MS-ETS1-4 Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.

Computer Science Teachers Association Standards

Grade 6-8

2-CS-03 Systematically identify and fix problems with computing devices and their components.

2-AP-12 Design and iteratively develop programs that combine control structures, including nested loops and compound conditionals.

2-AP-17 Systematically test and refine programs using a range of test cases.

2-AP-19 Document programs in order to make them easier to follow, test, and debug.

Common Core State Standards for Mathematics

Grade 6-8

6.EE.B.5 Understand solving an equation or inequality as a process of answering a question: which values from a specified set, if any, make the equation or inequality true? Use substitution to determine whether a given number in a specified set makes an equation or inequality true.

6.EE.B.8 Write an inequality of the form x > c or x < c to represent a constraint or condition in a real-world or mathematical problem. Recognize that inequalities of the form x > c or x < c have infinitely many solutions; represent solutions of such inequalities on number line diagrams.

United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals

11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

14: Life Below Water

Common Career Technical Core Standards

STEM Cluster: Engineering & Technology Career Pathway

ST-ET 1.3 Use computer applications to solve problems by creating and using algorithms, and through simulation and modeling techniques.

ST-ET 2.1 Select and use information technology tools to collect, analyze, synthesize and display data to solve problems.

ST-ET 3.1 Use knowledge, techniques, skills and modern tools necessary for engineering practice.

ST-ET 3.2 Describe the elements of good engineering practice (e.g., understanding customer needs, planning requirements analysis, using appropriate engineering tools, prototyping, testing, evaluating and verifying).

ST-ET 3.4 Illustrate the ability to characterize a plan and identify the necessary engineering tools that will produce a technical solution when given a problem statement.

ST-ET 4.1 Explain why and how the contributions of great innovators are important to society.

ST-ET 4.2 Explain the elements and steps of the design process and tools or techniques that can be used for each step.

ST-ET 4.3 Describe design constraints, criteria, and trade-offs in regard to variety of conditions (e.g., technology, cost, safety, society, environment, time, human resources, manufacturability).

ST-ET 5.1 Apply the design process using appropriate modeling and prototyping, testing, verification and implementation techniques.

ST-ET 5.2 Demonstrate the ability to evaluate a design or product and improve the design using testing, modeling and research.

ST-ET 5.3 Demonstrate the ability to record and organize information and test data during design evaluation.

ST-ET 6.1 Apply the use of algebraic, geometric, and trigonometric relationships, characteristics and properties to solve problems.

STEM Cluster: Science and Math Career Pathway

ST-SM 1.1 Apply science and mathematics concepts and principles to resolve plans, projects, processes, issues or problems through methods of inquiry.

ST-SM 1.2 Use the skills and abilities in science and mathematics to access, share, and use data to develop plans, processes, projects and solutions.

ST-SM 1.3 Use the skills and abilities in science and mathematics to integrate solutions related to technical or engineering activities using the content and concepts related to the situations.

ST-SM 1.4 Explain the role of modeling in science and engineering.

ST-SM 1.6 Communicate with others on inquiry or resolution of issues/problems in the global community.

ST-SM 2.1 Demonstrate the ability to recognize cause and effect when faced with assigned projects or issues.

ST-SM 2.4 Predict the outcomes based on data collected in a project or experiment.

ST-SM 2.9 Analyze change as a result of data differences and changing environmental values.

ST-SM 3.1 Evaluate the impact of science on society based on products and processes used in the real world.

ST-SM 3.2 Evaluate the impact of mathematics on society based on products and processes used in the real world.

ST-SM 3.3 Research how science and mathematics influence the professions and occupations supported by the STEM Career Cluster.

Information Technology Cluster: Programming & Software Development Career Pathway

IT-PRG 4.1 Employ tools in developing software applications.

IT-PRG 6.1 Explain programming language concepts.

IT-PRG 6.3 Demonstrate proficiency in developing an application using an appropriate programming language.

IT-PRG 6.4 Explain basic software systems implementation.

IT-PRG 7.1 Develop a software test plan.

IT-PRG 7.2 Perform testing and validation.

Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources Cluster: Natural Resources Systems Career Pathway

AG-NR 2.3 Examine natural cycles and related phenomena to describe ecologic concepts and principles.