Out and About in the Ocean Community
Finding Out: Sample Activities
Class database
Students prepare a class database listing the nearest ocean and its nearby coastal towns across the top and questions asked or information sought down the left hand side. Questions might include:
• What ocean is it?
• Where is it?
• What other water bodies are near it?
• Who works there?
• Who uses it?
• Why do people use it?
• What can people do there?
Build up information as the unit progresses. Identify and group elements of the marine system like plants, animals, birds, people and other ocean life. Talk about ways these depend on each other, how they make the local area a better place in which to live and how students and their families use and care for them.
What would happen if…
Present scenarios such as the following:
• There was no ocean for marine animals to live in
• The waters of the ocean were so polluted that we couldn’t enjoy swimming or fishing.
As a class, discuss these. Then, in pairs or groups students role play to show what they would do if the situation described occurred.
Use an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective
Find out about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history on the ocean. Describe why the ocean is so important to them.
Research the relationship and importance of the coastal and marine environment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, past and present.
Describe the ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people use the coastal and marine environment today.
Examine the ways the ocean is represented in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, music, dance and oral traditions. Support students to demonstrate this understanding by drawing what the ocean means to them using their own design symbols.
Examine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art
- How do they represent the ocean?
- Is marine life a common theme in their artwork?
- What symbols does each group use to represent the ocean and the things that live there?
-Does their artwork show people interacting with the oceans?
Observing, Collecting, Recording
Whilst learning about the ocean undertake the following activities:
• Ask questions about the ocean and its surroundings
• Identify and describe objects in the ocean and on the ocean
• Record information about the ocean eg. its colours, plants within it, animals and different areas seen
• Record understandings about the resources the ocean provides to meet our needs.
Also observe, collect and record a range of things. For example:
with the help of adults, students identify human-made and natural features within the ocean, or make a set of cards and play “Spot the ocean features”. Using a number of cards with ocean features on them, ask students to say which are human-made and which are natural features and why. Also, ask students which features are resources we need and want.
Collection
Photograph structures and features for identification. Collect illustrations, pamphlets or fact sheets about features and uses of the ocean. Ask students to decide what purpose each feature or use serves.
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