CDP Unit on the Galapagos Islands
Ocean Careers

Unit Topic: The Galapagos Islands

Grade Level: Middle School

Content Area/Concepts: Life Skills- Career Awareness, Science, Language Arts

Time: 1 hour

Materials: Reference materials, paper, writing utensil

Objectives:

• Students will gain knowledge of some of the careers that exist that deal with working with the ocean, and the services that they perform for the ocean.

Procedure: Water covers more than two-thirds of the earth's surface. Oceans, lakes, and rivers affect our weather, provide transportation routes and recreational areas, and provide us with food, energy, and minerals. This is especially important for the Galapagos Islands. Many occupations on the Island have to do with water and the conservation of marine life. This makes possible a wide array of career opportunities. A few are discussed below. Learn more about one of the occupations above or research one of your own. Tell why you might choose that particular one as a career, and how that career would be useful to the Galapagos Islands. Describe the education and skills you would need, the duties involved, and any other goals that you might have.

Ocean Careers

-Ichthyologist: A Scientist who studies fish. Topics studied include habitats, classifications, structure, development, geographical distribution, and the relationship between fish and their environment.

-Divers: Perform such diverse activities as repairing ships, conducting research, recovering sunken treasures, and collecting sponges, pearls, and shells.

-Aquaculturists: Engage in raising fish farms, in hatcheries, or in other controlled environments. Fish raised this way are used to replace depleted stock in rivers, streams, etc.

-Commercial fisherman: Catch fish and other marine creatures; they then process their animals for market. Some commercial fishermen specialize in taking people on recreational fishing trips or tours.

-Marine geologist: Study rock samples taken from the ocean floor. In this way they help in locating offshore deposits of petroleum and natural gas. Their research also helps scientists learn about the formation of continents.

-Offshore drillers: Specialize in exploring the ocean floor and drilling for the petroleum and natural gas that they find beneath the floor.

-Marine biologist: Study the plants and animals of the ocean. They perform experiments using their organisms so that they can learn more about human life processes.

Assessment: Students will be assessed by using the Project Rubric, along with the Observation Rubric while the students are working on the projects in class. Students must accumulate 12 points from the Project rubric, and a 5 on the Observation rubric to be successful.

Extensions: A possible extension could include a field trip to a Marine lab or a personal visit to see what each of these careers are like and to talk with actual people about their careers.

References:

Sterling, Mary Ellen. (1990). Thematic Unit: Oceans. Huntington Beach, CA : Teacher Created Materials, Inc. ISBN # 1-5734-284-9