Pool Activity/Field Trip and Simulation

Day 5 - 2nd Week

Goals:

1. Students will become familiar with actual equipment used in snorkeling and scuba gear that is often used in coral reef areas.

2. Students will participate in the art of snorkeling and finding/discovering things frequently done on or near coral reefs by viewing and retrieving some objects in pool gaming activity.

3. Students cooperate in teams to figure out what is in the water and try to come up with as many correct identifications as possible.

Time:

one school morning, approximately 3 hours (field trip)

Resources/Materials:

snorkeling/scuba gear demonstrator along with somebody from the pool, chaperones, teachers, students, swimming gear, coins or other objects to have students retrieve/observe for game, masks and snorkels for students, pictures for students to identify (parts of reef). The following are sites for this:

http://slappy.actwin.com/fish/pictures/adey-pics.html

http://www.nlp.com/fish/pictures/dob.html

http://www.actwin.com/fish/pictures/tyree-pics.html

Procedure:

1. Begin this lesson by going to a local pool for a field trip. It would be necessary here to have previously used permission slips for parental consent. If students don't want to swim still take them to the pool to see the speaker and have an alternate task such as counting up points for the activity at the pool. Also include those students by encouraging them to try on the masks and breathing through the snorkels just to get a feel for them. Pair them up with swimmers so they can work as a team.

2. Students meet around the pool before jumping in.

3. Guest speaker or demonstrator shows how people properly use snorkeling equipment and scuba diving equipment and explain what different pieces of equipment are meant for and the importance of each.

4. Have students practice wearing their masks and breathing through snorkels (out of water).

5. Eventually the students get into pool with their masks and snorkels and practice putting their heads under water while breathing through snorkel. Make sure all of the days activities take place at the shallow end of the pool for safety reasons.

6. Next, ask students to try to retrieve objects (whatever you decide they might be) from the pool on the shallowest end either floating in the water or if it's shallow enough, retrieve things from the bottom. It is up to the teacher how you might want the gaming activity to take place. The teacher could have students get as many things from the pool as possible for rewards, etc. Also the teacher might want students to just identify things in the pool in an effort to teach to just observe things rather than just taking them. Suggestion: Draw and color in pictures that could be put in the pool or have objects under the water for the students to identify and then write down when they come out of the water. Also, for the students that don't want to swim, they could partner up with a swimmer and have them tell what they saw under the water and then they can write it down on paper. At the end, the teacher could check to see who has the most correctly identified objects. The teacher may choose to play some classical music here for the students to listen to while they are practicing the art of diving and snorkeling.

7. Explain to the students that these are similar practices and methods that people in the Caribbean use to discover things. Explain that people often observe organisms and things that attract their attention. "Why might it be bad to always take things from a coral reef or something that you find in the water?" "How does that affect the environment?"

Assessment:

Assess students on how cooperative they were during the day's activity and how well students paid attention during the explanations on equipment use. Use group interaction/participation rubric.

4 the student actively facilitates effective group interaction during pool activity and facilitates the expression of ideas and opinions in a way that is sensitive to the feelings and knowledge base of others

3 the student participates in group interaction without prompting during pool activity; expresses ideas and opinions in a way that is sensitive to the feelings and knowledge base of others

2 the student participates in the activity and group interaction with some prompting and/or expresses ideas and opinions without considering the feelings and knowledge base of others

1 the student does not participate in group interaction even with prompting and/or expresses ideas and opinions in a manner that is inconsistent with the feelings and knowledge base of others

Curricular Strands:

Self - Discovery - students exploring water and snorkeling

Art - the art and skills of snorkeling and observing objects, natures' art

Physical Education - swimming

Cooperative Learning - working with partner(s) in a game

Extensions:

An extension to this activity might be to go to a beach and identify things under the water there.

This page submitted by St. Norbert College Ocean Voyagers Program