Goals:

1. Students will learn the various ways that whales and other marine mammals communicate.

2. Students will participate in a hands on internet activity.

Resources:

1. Whale communication information from:

http://oceanlink.island.net and

http://www.ssec.org/idis/cohasset/DolphinSW.htm

2. Video Clip from National Geographic about whale communication video aired on NBC February 25, 1998.

3. Activity located at:

http://www.oceanlink.island.net

Teacher Background:

All aspects of teacher background dealing with marine mammal communication can be obtained through viewing the video and visiting the resource websites.

Time: This lesson can be split up into parts if there arenít enough computers for all the students to use at one time. The video lasts about 20 minutes and the internet activity will take about 30 minutes for the students to complete. A discussion after visiting the website and watching the video will take about 30 minutes also.

Procedure:

Step 1- Ask a few introductory questions about marine mammal communication. Sample questions would be: How do whales and dolphins communicate? Is it possible for humans to communicate with marine mammals? What are marine mammals?

Step 2- The students will watch the 20 minute video clip from National Geographic.

Step 3- After the video the teacher will prompt the students to discuss the video with questions such as: What did you learn from the video? Did anything in the video surprise you? How do marine mammals communicate?

Step 4- The students can now be divided into groups if there are not enough computers for the students to have their own computer. The students will then be given the internet address http://oceanlink.island.net.

Step 5- After the students have completed the activity and explored other related websites regather and have each group, or have the students now divide into groups and share what they found with the others in their group or the class.

Assessment:

Students will be given points for participation in the discussions about whales. The students will also be given grades for the short presentations in which they present to other small groups or the class.

4 points= Contributed valid points to the discussion

3 points= Some contribution to the discussion

2 points= Little contribution to the discussion with irrelevant points

1 point= Did not contirbute to class discussion

4 points= Students presented information in a clear and creative manner

3 points= Students presented information in a somewhat clear and creative manner

2 points= Students presented information in a clear manner

1 point= Students did not present information

Curricular Strands and Major Concepts:

1. Science- Students will learn about the way a whale communicates with other animals and the biology of different whales.

2. Communication Arts- Students will be orally communicating in small group or class settings, which will enhance their confidence, verbal speaking skills, and oral organization of their thoughts.

Possible Extension:

1. The teacher could find a recording of whale sounds and have the class listen to them and then write a story or dialogue of the whales in the recording.

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