The Great Oyster Mystery Teacher Guide - Estuaries NOAA

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Think of yourself as an armchair sleuth. You must mount a virtual research expedition to Aransas and Copano bays inthe Mission-Aransas Estuary to collect data that will help you answer the following research question:“What caused oysters to decline in 2007 and why did the population rebound so dramatically thefollowing year?”Along the way, you will look at maps and graphs of real scientific data and have the opportunity to gather your owndata online. There’s no rest until you find out what happened! It’s time to get your first clues.Procedure1. In this exercise, you will be using two bar graphs showing the abundance of young oysters in samples taken byresearchers in Aransas Bay and Copano Bay, which are both located within the Mission-Aransas Estuary.2. Look at the Aransas Bay Young Oyster Abundance Graph. Decide what the bars on the graph indicate and what thedata tells you about the young oyster abundance in Copano Bay at different times. Use the Aransas Bay YoungOyster Abundance Graph to fill in the statement below:Clue one: “Abundance of young oysters in Aransas Bay was normal from January 2007 to October 2007. Youngoysters were absent from _________ (month and year) to _________ (month and year). Following theirdisappearance, young oyster abundance was _________ (high, low, or normal) from _________ to _________(months and year).”3. Now look at the Copano Bay Young Oyster Abundance Graph. Use this graph to in the statement below:Clue two: “Abundance of young oysters in Copano Bay was normal from January 2007 to October 2007. Youngoysters were absent from _________ (month and year) to _________ (month and year). Following theirdisappearance, young oyster abundance was _________ (high, low, or normal) from _________ to _________(months and year).”QuestionsQ1. Are there any similarities between the abundance or lack of abundance of young oysters in Aransas Bay andCopano Bay during 2007 and 2008? If so, what are the similarities?Q2. Does one of the bays seem to have more oyster growth than the other? What evidence do you see to back upyour observation?Q3. Have you solved the oyster mystery or do you need more clues?Activity 11: The Great Oyster Mystery 8
Oyster Abundance GraphsActivity 11: The Great Oyster Mystery 9
Page 2 and 3: T E A C H E R G U I D EThe Great Oy
Page 4 and 5: E X E R C I S E 1Clues in the Numbe
Page 6 and 7: 6. Now have student teams examine t
Page 10 and 11: Oyster Abundance GraphsNotes on the
Page 12 and 13: The generated graphs should look so
Page 14 and 15: December 31, 2008.17. Click on the
Page 16 and 17: included, live in a defined range o
Page 18 and 19: S T U D E N T M A S T E RCracking t
Page 20: 4. Use your observations and all of

The Great Oyster Mystery Teacher Guide - Estuaries NOAA

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?