Scholastic's "Wild Animal Watch" series takes
your students underwater to meet the inquisitive stars of the cetacean group
dolphins! You're invited to join us as we follow the work of marine biologists
who study these engaging animals in the wild and in captivity.
In the course of participation in this online project, students will:
- learn about dolphins, their behavior, and their habitats.
- understand what has led to the endangerment of dolphins and how they
can help change the course to prevent extinction.
- improve content-area reading skills, including comprehension and
- analyze and practice persuasive writing to express a point of view.
- extend their knowledge of how scientists conduct research.
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All About Dolphins (Grades
Research biologist Dan Odell answers a variety of questions in this area
of the project including, among others: What are dolphins? What's the
difference between a dolphin and a porpoise? What are flippers and flukes?
What do dolphins eat? In addition to its benefits to older students, this
area of the project includes information that could be introduced to lower
elementary students learning facts about marine mammals.
Dolphin Watch (Grades
Dolphin Watch is the area of the project that involves the research conducted
in the field. You will learn about Dan Odell's project to study bottlenose
dolphins that live in the wild. His reports include information about
conducting field research, dolphin sightings, the travels of dolphins,
and methods used by researchers. A mapping activity used in real dolphin-sighting
data is also included. This area of the project is extensive and is divided
into chapters to help you manage using the information in the classroom
setting. Students will engage in content reading, research, and learn
about data collection. This area of the project can involve students for
six weeks of detailed study and is ideal for students who are interested
in an extensive study of dolphin research.
In the Tank (Grades 38)
In this area of the project, senior research biologist Ann Bowles explains
a study that she is involved with regarding how marine mammals respond
to human-made objects and sounds that may cause problems for marine life.
Learn about entanglements, pingers, and what is being done to and for
these mammals through the studies and experiments that are featured. In
addition to the vast knowledge gained in this area of the project, this
portion lends itself towards ideals associated with ecology and the preservation
of life-forms including our responsibility to be sensitive to the needs
of marine life in the wild.
Cetacean Relations Game (Grades
The Cetacean Relations Game is based on the information that is provided
throughout the project. Students will enjoy answering questions about
dolphins in this game created for participants in the Wild Animal Watch:
Map Activity (Grades
Dolphin sightings are recorded by their location based on latitude and
longitude. The lines of latitude and longitude form a grid, which makes
it easy to locate any place on earth. Students can learn how to plot locations
on a grid map showing longitude and latitude, just like the scientists
studying the dolphins. Use our map of a section of the east coast of central
Florida and the field team's data to plot the locations of dolphin sightings.
Essay Writing (Grades
This project lends itself to providing an opportunity for students to
express their opinions about the topic. With this in mind, students were
challenged to write the most persuasive and well-organized argument for
or against the right of humans to keep marine mammals captive. Winning
essays are posted at this site. Encourage your class to express their
opinions similarly, or perhaps your class can come up with another equally
compelling topic to write about regarding dolphins.
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Scholastic's "Wild Animal Watch: Dolphins" helps students
meet the following national standards established by the National Research
Council of the National Academy of Science (NRC/NAS).
- Students should develop the ability to communicate, critique, and
analyze their work and the work of other students. This communication
might be spoken or drawn as well as written.
"Wild Animal Watch: Dolphins" also helps students meet the following
standards established by the National Council of Science Teachers (NCST).
Regulation and Behavior
All organisms must be able to obtain and use resources, grow, reproduce,
and maintain stable internal conditions living in a constantly changing
- Behavior is one kind of response an organism can make to an internal
or environmental stimulus. A behavioral response requires coordination
and communication at many levels, including cells, organ systems, and
whole organisms. Behavioral response is a set of actions determined
in part by heredity and in part from experience.
- An organism's behavior evolves through adaptation to its environment.
A species moves, obtains food, reproduces, and responds to danger based
on the species' evolutionary history.
Populations and Ecosystems
- A population consists of all individuals of a species that occur together
at a given place and time. All populations living together and the physical
factors with which they interact compose an ecosystem.
- Populations of organisms can be categorized by the function they serve
in an ecosystem. Plants and some micro-organisms are producers — they
make their own food. All animals, including humans, are consumers, which
obtain food by eating other organisms. Food webs identify the relationships
among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.
- The number of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources
available and abiotic factors.
Diversity and Adaptations of Organisms
- Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the
adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient to allow its
survival. Fossils indicate that many organisms that lived long ago are
extinct. Extinction of species is common; most of the species that have
lived on the earth no longer exist.
Standards met for English/Language Arts from the National Council
of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Reading Association
- Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an
understanding of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States
and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and
demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment.
- Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language
(e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with
a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
- Students use a variety of technological and information resources
(e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and
synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
- Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical
members of a variety of literacy communities.
- Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their
own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange
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Lesson Planning Suggestions
"Wild Animal Watch: Dolphins" has an abundance of information and the flexibility
to design its use to meet your classroom's needs. While the topic is stimulating
for large group interaction through discussion, it is also ideal for encouraging
discovery on the part of the students. Below are some suggested ways you
might use the program topic in your school or classroom.
Week One: Discovery
All About Dolphins is an ideal area to begin the
study of dolphins with your class. With your class, develop a list of
questions about dolphins. Divide them into discovery groups and assign
each group to answer a portion of the questions. After locating their
answers, students can teach their peers about dolphins based on the research
they have done cooperatively. The first week of study could involve this
exploration. As an extension, allow students to draw or paint pictures
of what they have learned. Creating a large underwater mural is always
a welcomed addition to elementary walls!
Week Two: Learning About Research
Go through Dolphin Watch with your students, learning
about research skills and how marine biologists study dolphins. Assign
one particular aspect of marine mammal life or dolphin life to pairs of
students in your class. Let students have time to think about the topic
for another week before they independently begin researching their topics.
They will acquire more knowledge about dolphins while thinking about their
topics and how the information will apply
Week Three: Research Skills
Spend this week discussing research skills, strategies, and establishing
criteria for research. Give your students time to work independently through
the project area.
Week Four: Extinction and Responsibility
Using In the Tank, take students through the concepts
involved with extinction and responsibility. As an extension to this topic,
ask your students to list as many extinct animals as they can.
Week Five: Research Paper
Students can use this week to write research papers on the assigned topic.
The complexity of the paper will depend on the age of your students.
Helpful Links to Enhance This Learning Adventure:
Marine vocabulary words and scientific terms are used and explained throughout
the project. They are hyperlinked to a central glossary page. After following
a glossary link, students will have to use the "Back" button on their
browser to return to the page they were reading. We suggest that you print
the glossary page as a reference tool for younger students who may have
trouble following back-and-forth navigation.
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This area of "Wild Animal Watch: Dolphins" includes teacher-approved Web
sites where your students can safely extend knowledge on this topic using
Media Center (All grades art, reading, vocabulary, writing)
Talk with your school librarian or media center director about recognizing
the featured topic through the library setting, providing reading materials
and special resources in a specific area. If younger children are involved,
perhaps the librarian can read selections on the topic or an older student
can be given this responsibility. As an extension, students can write reports
about their readings, present oral or written reports, and illustrate favorite
passages to be displayed.
Bulletin Board Display (All grades art, vocabulary, writing)
Provide a classroom bulletin board or area in your school where students
can be given the responsibility of developing a special display. Assign
a group of students the task of designing the bulletin board; rotate the
groups as you rotate areas of study in the field. Invite other subject-area
teachers such as the art teacher to participate in expanding this learning
Science Journals (Grades 38 technology, research
skills, vocabulary, writing)
Using computer software such as ClarisWorks, Microsoft Word, Microsoft
Works, or The Writing Center by The Learning Company, have students create
and maintain electronic science journals. Allow students to illustrate
their work by using the drawing and painting features of the software.
This will be an excellent place for keeping notes, creating glossaries
of unfamiliar words, and storing pertinent questions.
Science Slide Show (Grades 38 art, technology, research
Have students create a slide show about dolphins using multimedia software
such as HyperStudio or PowerPoint. As a culminating activity, invite parents
to an electronic science fair where students can present their slide shows.
Another method of presentation is to allow parents to go to a computer
to view the presentations independently.
Newsworthy Scientists! (Grades 38 technology, research
skills, vocabulary, writing)
Have each student write an article about dolphins. Compile the articles
into a science newsletter. If your class already publishes a monthly newsletter,
feature a science topic in each issue, rotating the responsibility of
writing the articles throughout the class. ClarisWorks, Microsoft Works,
and The Writing Center all include newsletter templates.
Bibliography (Grades 38 research skills)
Include a lesson in creating a bibliography that includes published
interviews online. The format for this kind of documentation can
be located at the Classroom Connect Resource Station.
Interviews (Grades 38 speaking and listening, research
In addition to posting his field reports, Dan answered students' questions
about dolphins in his interview. Read the interview transcript and discuss
interviewing techniques with your students. Invite a scientist from a
local zoo or ecology organization to your class to share more information
about animal research or endangered animals in your area. Have students
do preliminary research before the classroom visit and prepare interview
questions to ask.
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There are a variety of assessment opportunities built into this project.
Cetacean Relations Quiz
Students test their knowledge by playing our interactive game. It's part
scavenger hunt, part research assignment, because all answers can be found
online in our project.
Try a math-and-mapping activity that uses real field-study data about
dolphin movements and behavior.
Have your students write a persuasive essay taking a position on whether
dolphins should be kept in captivity.
Throughout the project, teachers can observe and evaluate:
- social skills and process through the collaborative experiences.
- oral discussion and comprehension skills demonstrated.
A rubric for assessment of student participation in this project might
include the following general criteria:
|Essay Writing: Writing/Spelling/Grammar
||Misspelling; grammatical errors; not clearly written
||Fewer technical mistakes; expressed a point of view
but offered no supporting facts
||Error-free; well-organized arguments with supporting
||Did not participate in class; unable to complete
Cetacean Relations Quiz or essay assignment
||Learned specific information as demonstrated in
the Cetacean Relations Quiz; was unable to relate information to new
ideas or concepts
||Participated knowledgeably in class discussions;
successfully answered all questions in Cetacean Relations Quiz
||Random or incorrect placement of dolphin sightings
||Most dolphin sightings close to correct latitude
||All dolphin sightings correctly located on the map
For more information on how to create your own assessment rubrics:
The Rubricator by Strategic Learning Technologies
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