Weedy Sea Dragon Scuba Survey, Seal Snorkel, Portsea, Hot Springs, Rye

CUE DAY OUT
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY DOMAIN

Weedy Sea Dragon Scuba Survey,
Seal Snorkel, Portsea
Hot Springs, Rye

INFORMATION FOR FORM TEACHERS

Date: Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Travel by coach to Portsea (Melways ref: map 156 – E2)
Travel time approximately 1 hour 30 minutes.
Travel time to Hot Springs approximately 20 minutes departing Portsea at approx 12.45pm
Depart for return journey at 2.15pm.

Activities

Those who have chosen the SCUBA diving option will get changed and dive and record weedy sea dragons.
Those who have chosen snorkeling with the seals will gear up, jump on a boat and travel out to Chinaman’s Hat and snorkel with the seals.
Both groups will return, get changed and get on the bus abnd travel to the hot springs. After a brief talk the students will ahve the opportunity to jump into the hot spring pools.
At 2pm students will get changed get on the bus and travel back to school.

Notes:
Please emphasise to students that they will be comfortable.
o Don’t forget the cameras.
o Students will need bathers and I suggest their thermals to snorkel in if the weather is cool, water temp is currently 20 degrees, wetsuit, mask snorkel, fins booties and gloves supplied.
o Sunscreen and hat are essential.
o Bags need to be carried, so bring a backpack.
o Bring lunch – there is no food available. Students are not to use the shops.
o Refer to blog for information about Weedy Sea Dragons.

Objectives / Skills / Outcomes
Learn about and appreciate the impact that our lifestyles have on the surrounding environment, including dredging..
To focus on one particular species in the ecosystem, and appreciate how it is distributed in the area
To learn about and apply the techniques used by marine biologists to study the ecology of a species
To collect data and contribute to the understanding of the ecology of the species

Assessment
The following assessments can be made as observations of the teacher or developed into a student self assessment.

Skills and attributes Guiding questions Observations
Responsibility Did the student demonstrate responsibility and do the right thing? Snorkelling?
Active participation Were they active in their participation during clean ocean? With the weedy identification? With the snorkelling?
Planning and organisation Did they bring all the right equipment?
Teamwork / working together How did they perform with the snorkelling? In identifying the weedy sea dragons in the groups?
Contribution Did they contribute to the day and the activities?
What did the student learn? Did they learn anything about the ecosystems, classification, functions of the wetlands, snorkelling skills?
What did the student learn about themselves? Patience, tolerance, attention to detail, following instructions, getting on with others?

• Big Questions
• why we need to survey the weedy sea dragons,
• benefits of snorkeling with seals
• Portsea beach?
• Choice of
• the history of the Bay seals and aspects of their numbers, diet, threats etc
• Creative peice of writing 300 – 400 words, option could be to research some famous spas through history eg Ancient Rome/ Bath AND in certain cultures eg Japan/Turkey/Hungary .
• What has happened to the beach?
• Assessment criteria for Porsea Day

Brought correct equipment and clothing High Medium Low
Involvement and behaviour on each of the activities you where involved in High Medium Low
Behaviour outside the activities High Medium Low

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