Why Are Whales in Trouble — Again?

• In this scientific paper, students learn why whales are important to ocean ecosystems and how researchers used physical and observational data to determine the connections between climate change and changes in the North Atlantic Right Whale population over time.
• Students read an adapted scientific article about the research, answer relevant questions, and watch three short videos about whale populations and the effects of climate change on whales.

Positives

• The adapted paper includes the abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion in an accessible and easy-to-understand format, making it a great introduction to reading scientific papers.
• A glossary of key terms for students is included in the article.

Additional Prerequisites

• To access the teacher's key, teachers must fill in a form with their name, email, and school information.
• Students should know how to read and interpret graphs and maps.
• There is an audio version of the paper, a link to the original paper, and a video describing the resources available on the website.
• The article is also available in Bulgarian.
  

Differentiation

• It may be helpful for some students to use the audio version of the article found at the bottom of the webpage.
• More advanced students can also read the full scientific paper, available on the webpage. Have them compare the level of detail, content, and language used in each to see if any information was left out or abbreviated in the adapted form.
  
• Although the videos add context to the paper, they are not required to understand the paper or to answer the questions included.
• Although not mentioned in the article, students must understand that the largest impact in solving climate change and protecting the whales would come from policy changes that would enact the solutions presented, which is discussed in the "What do Whales Eat?" video.
• This resource can also be used in marine science classes during lessons about the effects of climate change and other human activities on marine ecosystems.
  

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