The Magic of Coral Secondary Lesson Plan

• This lesson plan and materials include everything needed to deliver a highly engaging and important lesson about coral bleaching. 
• Students will learn through inquiry, reflect on how humans impact coral ecosystems, and cultivate awareness with a culminating art installation.

Positives

• The materials that accompany this lesson are beautifully designed and well researched. 
• The teacher notes that accompany each slide are thorough and will help teachers deliver an engaging learning experience. 
• This lesson can take one session, but there are plenty of optional additional materials that will extend learning.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students would benefit from understanding scientific vocabulary terms such as carbon emissions, carbon footprint, polyp, and zooxanthellae. 
• For the optional extension, teachers will need to locate a space to display the art installation and materials for the artwork. 

Differentiation

• Cross-curricular connections can be made for this resource in a language arts classroom where students use their learning to create persuasive writing, speeches, or public service announcements to persuade their audience to pledge to make a change that will benefit coral and mitigate coral bleaching. 
• Teachers could project the infographic onto a whiteboard and have students mark it up with reactions using dry erase markers to show what aspects of the piece are most meaningful, surprising, or exciting to them. 
• Other related resources include this interactive video about coral bleaching, this lab unit on coral, and this activity where students can interpret data about coral resistance to bleaching. 

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.