Teaching Sequence

05 minutes	Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge
30 minutes	Part B: Why Do We Have Zoos?
40 minutes	Part C: Exploring Conservation At Your Local Zoo
05 minutes	Reflection

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Begin this lesson by asking students to share what they remember from the Tuning In lesson. Work with students to create a mind-map on the board around the following question:

What do I think, feel and know about zoos?

Prompt students with the following points:

What is a zoo?
What is animal welfare?
How might zoos make sure animals are happy and healthy?
Are zoos good places for animals to be? How might they be troubling places for animals to be?

In addition, invite students to share any thoughts, questions or reflections they recorded in their Learning Journal during the Tuning In lesson.

Part B: Why Do We Have Zoos?

Step 1.

Invite students to conduct a 'Think, pair, share' routine about the following question, recording this idea in the space provided on the Student Worksheet:

Why do we have zoos?

Think Pair Share
Think pair share is a collaborative learning strategy in which students work together to solve a problem or answer a question.
Think - students independently think about an issue or question and record their thoughts.
Pair - students work in pairs to discuss their ideas and record new thoughts.
Share - students share their thoughts with the whole group or with other pairs to reach consensus.

Once complete, invite students to share their responses with the class.

Through your discussion, explain to students that in the past, zoos were created to show people the animals you could find in the wild. However, now, many zoos have animals that have shrinking habitats in the wild as well as other threats, like disease or hunting by humans or feral animals. Because of this, zoos are increasingly becoming places of animal conservation.

Step 2.

Pose the following question to students:

What might a shrinking habitat or other threats mean for animals? What might happen to these animals if they have no habitat to live in?

Suggest answers that include the animal becoming extinct. Explain to students that extinction happens when an entire species (or type) of animal (or any other living thing) dies out. Once a species becomes extinct, it is gone forever; you will never see it again.

Invite students to record any 'I wonder' questions they have in their Learnings Journals.

Year 4 Differentiation – Pose the following question:

What might the extinction of one animal mean for other living things and the environment in that habitat?

Consider working with students to create a simple consequence chart like the one below to explore this scenario further (or project this one and discuss):

Through this process, ensure that students understand that all living things play an important role in their habitat, and the loss of just one species can result in an unhealthy or less stable environment.

More about this example is available below:

How Wolves Change Rivers (https://youtu.be/ysa5OBhXz-Q)

Step 3.

Now, draw students back to the role of the zoo in helping fight extinction. The work of trying to stop animals (and other living things) becoming extinct is called ‘conservation’.

What does conservation work involve? Project the following image for students to look at (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Explain the image using the following information:

Breeding and release –
This means finding out the life-cycle of the living thing you want to conserve and creating the conditions where the living thing can reproduce (have offspring). It also means ensuring the captive population of animals you are trying to conserve is healthy enough for you to release animals back into the wild.
Reducing threats in the wild –
This means working to make the natural habitat of the living thing you are conserving healthier by removing waste, removing pest species, planting more native species and protecting the area to ensure it stays healthy for the living things living there.
Education and action –
This means letting the community know what you are trying to do and why. It also means getting the community to support your conservation campaign and take action. This can be done by improving habitats, monitoring living things, changing your behaviour or spreading the word to look after our environment. In some cases, it means providing opportunities for the community to generate income around the conservation program so that they are motivated to protect these animals.

Invite students to record any 'I wonder' questions they have in their Learnings Journals.

Step 4.

What does a conservation program look like? Explain to students that they will now watch a clip about the Eastern Barred Bandicoot and how conservation work – including breeding, improving habitats and education – has seen a big increase in the number of these small nocturnal marsupials from Victoria and Tasmania being released back into the wild.

As students watch, invite them to record anything they think is interesting or important:

The story of the bandicoot, the fox and the dog (https://youtu.be/QjKDsgusbS4)

Once complete, invite students to reflect on the clip by engaging them in a class discussion using the following questions:

Differentiation: Year 3 questions –

What was this clip about?
What did you notice about the Eastern Barred Bandicoots?
What did you notice about the other animals in this clip?
What did you notice about the people in this clip?
What else did you find interesting or important in this clip?
What questions do you have about this clip?

Differentiation: Year 4 questions –

What was this clip about?
What did you notice about the Eastern Barred Bandicoots?
What did you find out about the life cycle of the bandicoots?
Which animal in this clip is a predator of the bandicoots? What else did you notice about this animal?
What role do the dogs play in this conservation program?
What else did you find interesting or important in this clip?
What questions do you have about this clip?

Invite students to record any 'I wonder' questions they have in their Learnings Journals.

Step 5.

Explain to students that there are many animals that zoos work to conserve, and there are many more they would like to conserve. For Zoos Victoria, some of these animals are Australian, like the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, and some are from other places in the world. One of these programs is with the rhinos of Uganda. Watch the following clip with students:

Rhino Fund Uganda - saving rhinos on the frontline (https://youtu.be/PGCdwXb23DY)

Once complete, invite students to reflect on the clip through a class discussion around the following questions:

What did you see in this clip?
What does this clip make you think about?
Does this clip talk about the three parts of conservation (breeding and release, reducing threats in the wild and education)? Use examples to show in what ways.
What does this clip make you wonder? What questions does this clip leave you with?

Invite students to record any 'I wonder' questions they have in their Learnings Journals.

Part C: Exploring Conservation At Your Local Zoo

Step 1.

Explain to students that they will now work to investigate some of the animals involved in conservation programs. Depending on age, ability, and access to tablets/computers, students could work as a class or in groups to complete the following activity.

Display or invite students to access Zoos Victoria's Fighting Extinction website and explain to students that these are the (mostly) Victorian animals that Zoos Victoria have identified as ‘priority species’, meaning that they are local animal species that the Zoo sees as needing urgent conservation attention.

Explain to students that they need to select one of the following animals to investigate in detail.

Note: Each animal has been identified as being at Melbourne Zoo (M) or Healesville Sanctuary (H).

Some things to note:

These species have been selected because the content provided on the Zoos Victoria website includes at least one clip that helps explain the animal and the conservation program.
The conservation programs for these animals are based at either Melbourne Zoo or Healesville Sanctuary - if you are planning on visiting either of these zoos following this lesson it might be useful to pick an animal that you will be able to see on your visit.

Step 2.

With the animal selected, invite students to read through the information about the animal and watch any relevant clips. As they watch and read, students should record any information that they find interesting or important. In addition, students should aim to answer the following questions:

Differentiation: Year 3 questions - questions available to download and print here.

What type of animal is this?
Where does this animal live?
What is this animal’s habitat? E.g. desert, forest, grassland, etc.
What climate does this animal live in? E.g. does it live in a hot, temperate or polar zone?
What does this animal eat?
What type of shelter does this animal need?
What is the conservation program doing to help this animal?
What action can you take to save this animal from extinction?

Differentiation: Year 4 questions - questions available to download and print here.

What type of animal is this?
Where does this animal live?
What is this animal’s habitat? E.g. desert, forest, grassland, etc.
What does this animal eat?
What type of shelter does this animal need?
What do you know about the life cycle of this animal? E.g. how many offspring it might have, how long the offspring stay with the adults, whether the offspring look different to the adults etc.
What do you know about any interactions this animal has with other living things, such as with other animals or plants?
What is the conservation program doing to help this animal?
What action can you take to save this animal from extinction?

Step 3.

Once they have had time to answer the questions above, students should work in groups to create a poster that describes the animal they investigated. The poster should include:

An annotated drawing of the animal
A description of the animal that summarises the questions above
A map of the natural habitat of the animal in comparison to the location to your school (your map should include both these locations)
Anything else students think is important or interesting about this animal

As students create their poster, move around the room checking that students are:

Dividing up the work required in creating the poster fairly
Encouraging all group members to contribute so that all students have ownership over the poster
On track to complete the poster in the time required.

Step 4.

Once complete, you could work with students to create a Gallery Walk of posters.

Step 5.

Finally, invite students to record any final ‘I wonder’ questions they have in their Learning Journals.

Reflection

Invite students to read and think about the following statement and answer the question below, providing justification for their response (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Some people believe that zoos should focus their conservation work on the big animals because those are the animals that people come to the zoo to see. Do you agree or disagree with this and why?

Take It Further

Visit Your Local Zoo

Questions and issues raised in this lesson can be used to guide your students' learning experiences at your zoo. Once you have completed this lesson, consider using the Planning Your Zoo Visit document to work with students to plan your trip to the zoo. Students should also be encouraged to take their Learning Journals to the zoo.

Taking Action

Following your trip to your local zoo, you can use the Taking Action document to guide students to design and implement a social action project around a local animal species they identify as needing conserving. Students can be inspired by the conservation work of the zoo they visit, and you can use learnings from the lesson below to support the students to take action.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Fighting Extinction - Exploring Zoos and Conservation

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