Resource Manual Part Two

MANGROVES AND CORAL REEFS

Their Biology, Ecology, Threats And Opportunities For
Conservation

Note from a presentation given to Primary School teachers as part of the Environment
Tobago, BPtt Leader Award Project, November 7th 2002

Dr Owen Day
Buccoo Reef Trust

CONTENT

1. Mangroves

2. Coral Reefs

3. Buccoo Reef

4. Threats to the marine Environment

5. Research and conservation

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MANGROVE TREES
Mangroves are complex forest ecosystems. In Tobago they are dominated by Red mangrove
trees, and further inland by Black mangrove and White mangrove.

{ SHAPE * MERGEFORMAT }
Red mangrove in Bon Accord Lagoon

Mangrove trees have air-breathing roots

All mangrove trees are able to survive in salt water and in soil which is poor in oxygen
(anaerobic). Mangrove trees have developed aerial or air-breathing roots, which have on their
surface, special tiny pores to take in air called lenticels.

Only air can get through the lenticels, not water or salts. Mangrove roots also contain
large air spaces that transport air and provide a reservoir of air during high tide. Roots for
absorbing nutrients are tiny and emerge near the muddy surface.

Aerial roots can take on different forms. Black mangrove and White mangrove have
short pencil-like roots called pneumatophores. Red mangrove send out prop roots from their
trunk and branches which arch down to the ground for extra support and air absorption.

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Mangrove trees have air-breathing roots

Mangroves are buffer zones between land and sea

Mangroves are a natural water filter. Underwater, a huge number of filter-feeders are fastened
on the tangle of roots: barnacles, sponges, shellfish. These filter feeders clean the water of
nutrients and silt. As a result, clear water washes out into the sea, allowing the coral reef
ecosystem to flourish.

Mangroves stabilize the coast and river banks. Their roots prevent mud and sand from being
washed away with the tide and storms. Mangrove trees also slowly regenerate the soil by
penetrating and aerating it (other creatures such as crabs and mud lobsters also help). As the mud
builds up and soil conditions improve, other plants can take root.

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The mangrove belt surrounding Bob Accord Lagoon is a natural filter for land run-off

When drains are cut through the mangrove, the filter is broken and pollutants can damage the reef.

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{ EMBED PowerPoint.Slide.8 }
Mangroves are important nurseries for fish and shellfish – see fish in

Food

While on the tree, leaves are eaten by all kinds of creatures. Fallen leaves are an important
source of nutrients both within the mangrove habitat and when it is flushed out to the coral
reefs. The leaves are rapidly broken up by crabs and other small creatures, and further broken
down by bacteria into useful minerals.

Refuge

The roots provide a surface for all kinds of creatures from algae, sponges, oysters and small
lobsters. The tangle of roots provides hiding places for young fishes and shrimps from larger
predators. Their branches provide shelter for large creatures like Monkeys (in Trinidad not
Tobago), nesting sites for herons and pelicans, and crevices for insects.

CORAL REEFS
Coral reefs are dominated by animals of the phylum Cnidaria. These include, true hard corals,
soft corals and fire corals

Hard Corals
Species commonly found in Tobago are:
Staghorn coral, Elkhorn coral, Finger coral, Boulder coral, Massive starlet coral,
Common brain coral, Depressed brain coral, Large grooved brain coral, Rose coral
{ SHAPE * MERGEFORMAT } { SHAPE * MERGEFORMAT }
Staghorn coral Elkhorn coral
Boulder coral – plate form Boulder coral – boulder form
Brain coral Rose coral
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Soft corals

Species commonly found in Tobago are:
Sea fans, Sea feathers, Sea rods, Black coral (used in jewelry), Bottle-brush corals,
Sausage coral, Sea whips

Sea feathers Sea rods

Fire coral

Fire coral is very common around Tobago but is not a true coral. It is a hydroid, which produces
a painful burning sensation on contact with the skin - beware when swimming over reefs!
Fire coral (not a true coral)

Coral biology – Main Points

A coral is a colony of small animals called a polyps.

The mouth of the polyp is surrounded by tentacles, which are used to capture plankton. These
tentacles are equipped with stinging cells called nematocysts.
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Polyps of many soft and hard corals contain living microscopic plant cells, called zooxanthellae.
These plant cells are responsible for the green and brown colors characteristic of the living
coral.

Hard reef building coral are called hermatypic coral. They secrete calcium cups called
corallites.
Polyp anatomy (from Richard Laydoo)

Polyps from Boulder coral in close-up
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Coral biology – Symbiosis

In healthy corals, the zooxanthellae produce sugars for the polyp by photosynthesis. In
exchange, waste products produced by the polyps are available to the zooxanthellae as raw
materials.

This arrangement allows corals to grow in clear tropical waters where food and nutrients are
scarce. In fact, plankton often only contributes less than 10% of the energy required by hard
corals, the other 90% comes form sunlight!

This mutually beneficial relationship is one of many examples of symbiosis found on coral reefs.
When the polyp is stressed the zooxanthellae disappear and the coral becomes white—this is
coral bleaching

BUCCOO REEF

The growth of a coral reef is a very slow process. Buccoo Reef is estimated to represent over
10,000 years of coral growth!!!. Some species of coral may grow as little as 1 cm in one year.
All Tobago's reefs are fringing reefs, growing outwards from the coast.

Buccoo Reef is comprised of several zones:
The lagoon, which is closest to shore, is followed by the back reef and the reef flat, also known
as the rubble zone. Beyond the reef flat is the reef crest, which is the shallowest part of the reef
structure and may be exposed at low tide. A breaker zone is also often clearly visible on the
reef crest. Seaward of the reef crest the fore reef slopes down to the sea floor

Buccoo Reef is the largest coral reef in Tobago and was designated a marine park in 1973. Its
massive proportions contain a reef system of five reef flats that are separated by deep channels.
An associated lagoon, the Bon Accord Lagoon is almost completely enclosed by Sheerbird's
Point – also called No Man’s Land - and a dense mangrove belt. The gradual change in the
fauna and flora from the dense mangrove to the outer reef is a biologist’s delight.

This reef complex is also more accessible to the non-diver, as snorkeling and glass-bottom boats
offer an easy way to observe the many habitats and species it contains. The reef flats have wave-
resistant species adapted to turbulent waters, such as Elkhorn Coral, while the reef crests are
dominated by the Star Coral. In the deeper Coral Gardens the coral communities change to large
colonies of brain coral, Starlet Coral and Star Coral, with many soft corals that sway in the
current. Tragically, the Buccoo Reef is today a shadow of what it once was. A combination of
pollution from land run-off and physical damage from reef walking and anchors has degraded
much of this once majestic reef.

If you chose to visit Buccoo Reef on a glass-bottom boat, please do not accept any plastic
shoes you may be offered by the tour operator. Instead, ask to be taken to deeper parts of the
reef, such as Coral Gardens, where you can snorkel and see much more marine life without
touching or damaging any live coral. There is hope to restore this magnificent reef and a
concerted effort from the community, visitors, business and government can make it happen.

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Buccoo Reef and part of it’s associated watershed

THREATS TO THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

What are the main marine environmental issues in the Caribbean? The following are considered
the priority areas of concern for environmental managers.

• Destruction of coral reefs
22% of Caribbean corals have already been destroyed
33% considered at high risk

• Loss of wetlands and mangroves continues due to coastal development

• Increased pollution of coastal waters – mostly related to poorly treated sewage,
agricultural run-off, and industrial waste water

• Over-fishing. Conch, lobster and groupers are particularly vulnerable to over-fisihng
and usually to first species to become scarce in onshore waters. Over fish stocks,
including the large pelagic fish like tuna, dolphin and kingfish, are also at potentially at
risk.

• Climate change. Climate change is already happening and weather patters are changing.
Sea temperatures and sea level are expected to rise and will add additional stress to
coastal ecosystems. The recommendation to coastal zone managers and communities is
to make these ecosystems more resilient to change by reducing the other stressors on
which we can act, such as pollution, over-fishing, sedimentation, etc…

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RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION
Despite the challenges, there are opportunities for promoting the survival of coral reefs and
coastal ecosystems and every individual can play a part in this process. These include:

Pollution – How to reduce it?

Litter and waste
How to reduce? Reduce, reuse and recycle

Chemicals (Fertilisers, herbicides, household chemicals, oil and petrol)
How to reduce? Farm organically, use non-phosphate cleaners, prevent spills from
cars, boats and yachts.

Sewage
How to reduce? Install proper sewage treatment plants and drainage systems

Mud, silt and sand
How to reduce? Prevent deforestation, build silt traps near developments and new
roads, avoid building in rainy season

Environmental Monitoring
Environmental monitoring by government agencies, universities and NGOs is designed to
provide relevant information to policy makers through:
• Coastal water quality monitoring
• Coral reef health monitoring
• Inventory of biodiversity
• Building capacity for Remote Sensing and GIS

For examples, the Buccoo Reef Trust is undertaking the following research on coral reefs:
• Integrated Water Quality and Reef Health Monitoring
• Remote sensing/GIS Mapping Project of Buccoo Reef Marine Park
• Analysis of coral cores

Habitat Enhancement
Habitats can be enhanced in order to optimize their ecological and economic value. This can
include the following:
- Restoring damaged reefs using artificial structures
- Improving management of Marine Protected Areas

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Community Education/Awareness
Community education programmes are designed to promote community and training
opportunities through:
- School programmes
- Media Campaigns (TV, newspapers, radio)

The Buccoo Reef Trust together with Environment Tobago are two NGOs that are actively
involved in community education and awareness programmes. Their activities have included:
• A televised film: “Buccoo Reef – To Rescue and Restore”
• Articles in international and local press
• Workshops and presentations to communities and stakeholders
• Reef Rangers training week
• Primary School Environmental Education Programme

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{ EMBED CDraw }

Wetlands Information Packet
August 2000

Introduction 2
What are wetlands 2
Wetlands of Tobago 2
Wetlands definitions 3
Types of wetland systems 3
Values of wetlands 4
How important are wetlands? 4
How much does a wetland cost? 7
Who pays the costs? 8
Tobago wetlands disappearing! 8
What is threatening Tobago's wetlands? 8
Managing Tobago's wetlands 13
What is the Government doing? 13
What is the way ahead for wetland conservation? 14
What actions can YOU do to help conserve wetlands? 15
International cooperation for wetland conservation: The Ramsar Convention in T&T 16
What is the Ramsar Convention? 16
Why do countries join the Ramsar Convention? 17
What do countries commit to when they join the Ramsar Convention? 17
Trinidad and Tobago and the Ramsar Convention 17
Upcoming plans under Ramsar that will affect T&T 18
References 19
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Introduction

What are wetlands?

Wetlands, as the name suggests, are wet! Essentially, they are transitional
environments where dry land meets water and are therefore covered with water all
the time or part of the time. As such, wetlands are usually found alongside rivers,
lakes, and in coastal areas. Wetlands themselves contain water of different
depths, from water several metres deep to water merely saturating the soil. Even
when a wetland appears dry, waterlogged conditions often occur below the surface
of the soil. The conditions in a wetland also vary over time, with changes daily,
seasonally and over long time periods as wetlands evolve and fill with sediment to
eventually become dry land.

Wetlands of Tobago
Wetlands are found on both the windward and leeward coasts of Tobago. The
largest wetland, the Bon Accord Lagoon / Buccoo Bay Wetland, lies on the leeward
coast and covers approximately 77 hectares. The wetlands on the leeward coast
range from mangrove swamps, to freshwater marshes, annual floodplains, to
freshwater ponds. The other seven wetlands are located at Friendship Estate,
Kilgwyn, Buccoo, Courland Bay, Black Rock Pond, Parlatuvier, and Bloody Bay. There
are also eight fairly small wetlands along the windward coast, mainly mangrove
swamps. These are at Petit Trou (which is the largest at 15 hectares), Little
Rockley bay, Big Bacolet Bay / Minister Bay, Fort Granby, Carapuse Bay /
Roxborough, Louis D'Or, King's River / Frenchman's Bay, and Lucy Vale. (see map
below)
{ EMBED Word.Picture.8 }

Map
showing
locations
of
wetlands
in Tobago.

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Wetlands Definitions
The National Wetlands Policy of Trinidad and Tobago follows the definition for
wetlands in the International Convention on Conservation of Wetlands, or the
Ramsar Convention. This broadly defines wetlands as "areas of marsh, fen,

peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with
water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine
water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres". It also says
that wetlands "may incorporate riparian and coastal zones adjacent to the
wetlands, and islands or bodies of marine water deeper than six metres at low tide
lying within the wetlands". This broad definition means that the Ramsar
Convention covers a wide variety of habitat types, including rivers and lakes,
coastal lagoons, mangroves, and even coral reefs.

Some interesting facts about wetlands:
• Roughly 6% of the Earth's land surface is estimated to be covered with wetlands, equal to 570 million
hectares (5.7 million km2). (World Conservation Monitoring Centre).
• Tobago has remaining only about 105 ha of wetlands (1.05 km2), or 0.33% of the total land area.

Types of wetland systems
As transitional environments, wetlands exist under a variety of conditions, which
has produced a variety of wetland types. In Tobago wetlands are often called
"swamps". However, the types of natural wetlands found in Tobago include
mangrove swamps, freshwater swamps, and lagoons. There are five main types of
natural wetlands:
1. Marine - coastal and not influenced by river flows (e.g., shorelines and coral
reefs). Found in Tobago for example at Buccoo Reef, and Speyside Reef.
2. Estuarine - where rivers meet the sea and the salinity level is intermediate
between salt and freshwater (e.g., mangroves, mudflats). Found at Little Rockly
Bay, Big Bacolet Bay / Minister Bay, Fort Granby, and Louis D'Or,
3. Riverine - land periodically inundated by river overtopping (e.g., flooded forests
and floodplains). Found at King's River, Parlatuvier, and Bloody Bay.
4. Palustrine - where there is more or less permanent water cover (e.g.,
freshwater marshes). Found at Fort Granby, and Carapuse Bay / Roxborough.
5. Lacustrine - areas of permanent water cover with little flow (e.g., ponds). Found
at Black Rock Pond.
There are also man-made wetlands such as fish and shrimp ponds, farm ponds,
irrigated agricultural land, sewage farms, and canals.
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The red mangrove
lagoon at Kilgwyn
is an example of an
estuarine wetland.

Values of wetlands

How important are wetlands?
A dirty, mucky swamp with no apparent human value is filled in and cleared to make
room for new development. Little has been lost as shiny buildings appear in place of
the soggy earth. As wetlands continue to be cleared for agricultural, residential,
commercial, and industrial developments, this remains a common misconception.
Most of the wetland areas of Tobago have already been destroyed, and now less
than one percent (1%) of the land area is covered by wetlands. The tragedy of this
error is that wetlands naturally have an enormous range of direct and indirect
values to Tobagonians.

Physical Benefits:
∑Wetlands protect coastal areas from damage of storm surges and high winds and
stabilize shorelines by slowing runoff and trapping soil in the fibrous roots of the
plants. Destruction of portions of the Kilgwyn wetland has increased the threat of
storm damage to the surrounding coastal land.
∑Wetlands are able to retain floodwaters through their sponge-like action. The
waters are then slowly released, helping to control floods. Excess water trapped in
wetlands slowly percolates through the soil and recharges underground aquifers.
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Benefits to Wildlife:
∑Wetlands serve as nurseries for
many species of animals. Many marine
fish spawn in wetlands found adjacent
to coral reefs for example at the
Buccoo Reef / Bon Accord Lagoon
wetland complex. Local tourism and
fishing industries therefore depend on
coastal wetlands.
∑Wetlands support a high biodiversity
because of the varied wetland
conditions that produce a diversity of
habitats for plants and animals.
Wetlands also have a complex food
chain that supports many different
species. Tobagonians directly use
some of this biodiversity when they
harvest mangrove wood, fish, crabs,
oysters, birds, and other wildlife.
These must be sustainably harvested
if the biodiversity value and the harvest are to be maintained.

Mangrove roots offer
protection for young fish.

Human / Economic Benefits:
∑Wetlands are ecotourism and recreation sites because of their aesthetic appeal
based on the high biodiversity they contain. Hiking, kayaking and other non-impact
uses of wetlands are very valuable socially and economically to Tobago tourism and
recreation industries.
∑Wetlands filter pollutants and sediments and so provide a major environmental
and health benefit in cleaning up contaminated water. Wetlands are so effective
that artificial wetlands are created to purify wastewater from sewage treatment
plants, from storm water runoff, and even from agriculture. Such a plant has been
developed in Bon Accord for sewage treatment. In fact, wetlands can reduce some
pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria after only two hours of contact with wetland
plants.
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The Buccoo Marsh
actually assists in
removing some of the
sewage pollution
escaping from
malfunctioning
treatment plants at
Buccoo and Bon
Accord.

Wetlands as natural cleansers?
How is this possible? Wetlands reduce contaminants in surface
water by acting as settling basins, slowing water flow and
allowing suspended particles begin to settle out and be
deposited in the bottom of the wetland. Insoluble contaminants
such as phosphates, pesticides, and heavy metals attached to
the particles also settle out. Additional sediment covers the
contaminants, burying them, and removing them from the water
so that cleaner water flows from the wetland. Certain plants
(such as sedges and waterlilies) can further separate heavy
metals from the water. The heavy muck soils of wetlands have
high levels of decaying plant organic matter. This organic
matter provides many charged particles that attract and hold
organic molecules, such as pesticides. Thus, the organic
material attracts and binds the dissolved pesticides to the
wetland soil, removing the pesticides from the water. Wetland
soils also support immense populations of microorganisms, some
of which can use pesticides and other organic molecules as food.
Wetlands also use up excess nutrients in plant growth (for
example nitrates and phosphates found in fertilizers and
nutrient-rich soil running into wetlands) which could otherwise
cause chemical and biological imbalances in the water. In these
ways, wetland plant communities can help purify polluted water
and so protect our precious coastal waters and human health.

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How much does a wetland cost?

Wetlands offer important free ecological goods and services such as coastal
protection, flood control and groundwater recharge, nurseries and habitats for
fish and other wildlife, filtration of pollutants and sediments, and storing carbon
dioxide (the principle agent in global warming). In some cases these services may
be directly measured, for example the value of the fisheries industry based on
wetlands, the value of the crab or oyster harvest, or the value of the ecotourism
or recreation industry based in wetlands.

However in many cases, determining the monetary value of wetlands is more
difficult. One way that values can be assigned is by calculating how much it would
take to replace the free ecological services wetlands provide. For example,
wetlands help to purify contaminated water and protect marine ecosystems and
human health, saving the very high costs of installing and maintaining water
treatment plants. Coastal protection structures are often expensive and moreover
less effective than the protection offered by nature via wetlands. Desalination
plants or other costly means
of producing or importing
water are replaced by
groundwater sources that
are recharged by wetlands.
Environmental economists do
these types of value
calculations when they
calculate the "replacement
value" of wetland
ecosystems.

Mangrove seedlings
will eventually grow to
trees that offer free
coastal protection.

Another way values may be assigned is by determining the "option value" or
"contingent value". These values are estimated through interviews with people who
indicate how much they would be willing to pay to know that wetlands and the free
goods and services that they provide are conserved for use by the present and
future generations. For example, how much would you be willing to pay to know
that your child could see the colourful life on Buccoo Reef, or continue to bathe
safely in your local beach water?
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Who pays the costs?

Wetlands in Tobago are being seriously threatened by development. This
development often only benefits a small sector of the society, which then leaves,
without paying the bill for wetland destruction. Who then pays the cost of losing a
wetland when it is destroyed? When our natural systems are destroyed society
suffers the costs directly and also indirectly when government spending must be
allocated towards environmental clean-ups and installing expensive technological
solutions to replace previously existing free ecological services. We must question
what free ecological services become unavailable to us when we develop without
due regard to natural processes. Tobagonians need to take a much more active role
in lobbying for conservation and wise use of Tobago wetlands for the benefit of all
people.

Tobago wetlands disappearing!
Tobago has remaining only about 105 hectares of wetlands (1.05 km2), or 0.33% of
the total land area. Certainly Tobago was blessed with much more extensive
wetlands three hundred and fifty years ago. This was before the widespread
conversions for agriculture that took place in the colonial era and the more recent
conversions for residential, industrial and commercial development. It is becoming
more and more critical that Tobago save what little is left of these precious
wetlands, which offer important various free ecological services that we derive
invaluable benefits from. At a time when our coastal fisheries are declining, ocean
levels are rising, coastal waters are becoming more polluted, and the tourism
industry is expanding, Tobago's wetlands desperately need protection in order to
continue their important functions. Unfortunately however, our wetlands are facing
several very serious threats.

What is threatening Tobago's Wetlands?
There are now four major wetlands remaining in Tobago at Petit Trou, Kilgwyn, Bon
Accord and Buccoo, and ten smaller ones on the windward and leeward coasts.
These wetlands are facing rapid degradation and destruction by a variety of
factors:

1. Drainage or Conversion for Development

Since wetlands are generally found in flat coastal areas, they are viewed as prime
sites for development. This is certainly the most serious threat facing wetlands in
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Tobago, both in terms of the large scale of development, as well as the permanence
of the destruction that ensues.

In colonial times extensive areas of wetlands in the southern portion of Tobago
were cleared or drained for development. In fact, most of Lower Scarborough was
once wetlands and the remnants of huge coconut and cocoa estates can be seen in
Lowlands, Bon Accord, and Roxborough, where wetlands once dominated. Deliberate
changes to the hydrology of wetlands have been made with the construction of
sluice gates, leaving the delicate ecology of these areas permanently changed.
These errors in our past are being repeated today with demands for residential
and commercial land, and recent proposals for massive hotel developments.

Petit Trou is the largest of the wetlands along the windward coast of Tobago,
being approximately 15 hectares. This wetland is threatened by the development
of Tobago Plantations Limited (Tobago Hilton). Environment TOBAGO has
repeatedly appealed for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which was
conducted and submitted to the Town and Country Planning Division. This was to be
released to the public for review, but to date this critical document affecting the
lives and future of Tobagonians has been kept secret. Construction of the resort
is almost completed, and the impact on the Petit Trou wetlands is unknown. Plans
have also been submitted for the construction of a marina, which will certainly also
impact wetland hydrology and ecology, but it is unknown what mitigation measures
and monitoring procedures are planned to minimize impacts on the wetlands in the
area.

Bon Accord Lagoon / Buccoo Bay
Wetland suffered from "beach
improvement" activities at Sheerbird's
Point that involved clearing some
mangrove. Some wetlands along the
southern boundary were also cleared for
residential development. Agricultural
plantations had long ago shrunken the
once extensive area of this important
wetland complex, the largest and
perhaps most important wetland area in
Tobago.
Red mangrove surrounding the Bon Accord lagoon
is threatened by proposed tourism developments.
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More recently, an international hotel chain has proposed a resort development in
the Golden Grove Estate. The EIA was prepared and subjected to review, with
serious concerns aired regarding the impact on the ecology and hydrology of the
wetland complex. Outline planning permission was granted by the Town and Country
Planning Division in April 1997. This resort proposes to comprise a two hundred-
room hotel, sixty three-bedroom townhouses, sixty three-bedroom villas, and an
18-hole golf course. The next step will involve submission for final planning
permission. The outline permission specifies that no construction is to take place
in areas occupied by mangrove, which covers much of the area. Adequate
mitigation and monitoring of any development here will again be needed.

The Kilgwyn Wetland is
today only a fraction of
what it used to be after
being filled in for the
extension of the Crown
Point Airport and for the
construction of an access
road to the fishing depot
on the coast. Extensive
sand mining in one section
has destroyed the
freshwater wetlands and
also increased the threat
of salt-water intrusion to
the area.

This stress on the area is added to the damage that was brought on in the past by
the widespread conversions of land to coconut plantations. Proposed expansion of
the Crown Point airport will further fragment and shrink this fairly degraded
wetland. Environment TOBAGO has proposed that the development be planned so
as to preserve the last intact fragment of mangrove forest and lagoon. The THA is
currently considering expansion options.

Other smaller wetlands are also under threat by development. This includes the
Lucy Vale wetlands in Speyside as the proposed site for a new school, and King's
River wetland where a resort has been proposed but no details are known at
present. An EIA was prepared for the stadium at Bacolet, which is currently under
development, and is likely to impact on the wetland area downstream at Minister
Bay. The EIA proposes that the sewage effluent be treated by an on site
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treatment plant until arrangements can be made to send the effluent to the
Scarborough treatment plant. It also suggests measures to control soil erosion and
consequent silting up of the wetland, which may occur as a result of the altered
landscape.

2. Illegal dumping of solid waste

Dumping of solid waste from domestic and commercial sources is rampant in both
wetland and non-wetland areas in Tobago. A visit to any of the wetlands around
Tobago makes this only too apparent. This is especially severe in Kilgwyn, Minister
Bay, and Lucy Vale wetlands (dumping of earth fill). It is the responsibility of each
individual and community to take responsibility for maintaining a clean and healthy
local environment.

Illegal dumping in wetlands is widespread.

3. Pollution from domestic sewage, industrial waste, pesticides and
fertilizers

Malfunctioning commercial sewage treatment plants are destroying wetland
ecosystems, for example at Buccoo Bay and Bon Accord, which empty into the Bon
Accord Lagoon / Buccoo Bay wetland. Smaller commercial and residential soak-a-
ways and outdoor latrines also leak untreated sewage into the environment, for
example at the Kilgwyn wetland. Pesticides and fertilizers also run off from nearby
agricultural land into wetlands.
When this occurs, the influx of nutrients from fertilizers and sewage causes an
increased growth of algae in the water, and the increased algal population uses all
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available oxygen, so that other plants and animals are starved of oxygen and die.
This phenomenon is called eutrophication. While one important value of wetlands is
their ability to filter and break down these harmful pollutants, our wetland
systems are becoming over-burdened by the quantity of effluents they are
receiving and are themselves being destroyed. Maintenance-intensive golf courses
tend to be prime sources of such excess runoff. This problem is therefore
threatening Petit Trou as well as other smaller wetlands.

4. Siltation due to runoff from cleared areas

Irresponsible developments such as agriculture without adequate soil conservation
measures, wholesale clearing of land for construction, burning and bush fires, all
result in soil erosion. Eroded soil is gradually washed into wetlands, where it is
filtered and settles, protecting marine ecosystems. However, massive quantities
of incoming soil eventually result in destruction of the wetland and loss of all its
valuable functions.

5. Over-hunting of wildlife, over-fishing, and illegal harvest of
mangrove

Inhabitants of the mangroves such as crabs, oysters, fish, and birds, are all over
hunted while mangrove wood is harvested for construction and the bark stripped to
extract tannins. The tannins are used in leather dying and the damaged or stripped
tree then becomes vulnerable to attack from pests and eventually dies. Wise use
and harvesting of the wetland environment is central to sustainable management
and conservation of this resource.

6. Natural threats

In 1963 Hurricane Flora destroyed most of the western part of the Bon Accord
Lagoon / Buccoo Bay wetland, however, wetlands are generally extremely resilient
to storms, which is reflected in part by their ability to stabilize coastlines and
protect against flood damage.

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Managing Tobago Wetlands
What is the Government Doing?

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Environment Division, is
responsible for the management of wetlands in Tobago. They are engaged in
several actions for wetland conservation and wise use in Tobago. These include:

1. Establishment and management of wetland protected areas:
The Buccoo Reef Marine Park has been legally declared a restricted area since
1973, but is protected only as far as the high water mark. The Institute of Marine
Affairs (IMA) has recommended further extension of the boundaries of the Park
to include more of the wetland ecosystem area. A Management Plan for the area
has been developed and responsibility for implementation lies with the Fisheries
Division of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
Rockley Bay Wetland (2.3 hectares of predominantly riverine mangrove forest)
was recently being considered by the Department of Natural Resources and the
Environment, as the site for development of a wetland reserve for research,
education, and eco-tourism. This plan has been made available to the Department
and a draft management proposal, which includes principles of conservation and
wise use of the resource is being developed. These will extend to include
restoration of the habitat and controlling all projects taking place in the area to
ensure their sustainability. The Department hopes that this pilot project can
become a model for management of other wetland sites in Tobago.

2. Reviewing Environmental Impact assessments (EIAs) for proposed
developments affecting wetlands:
EIAs for proposed developments are submitted to the Town and Country Planning
Division and subsequently sent to the THA for review.

3. Education:
The Environment Department undertakes various education and awareness
projects, including public workshops and lectures, production and distribution of
educational materials (posters, brochures, and booklets) to schools and the general
public, collecting resource materials for its information centre, and conducting
field trips. Presently a pilot programme to encourage community involvement in
environmental conservation is being run at Plymouth with a group of Environmental
Cadets comprising young people from 15-25 years old.
65

4. Collaboration:
The Environment Department collaborates closely with other departments in the
THA for example, Fisheries, Tourism, and Public Health, and externally with the
Environmental Management Authority (EMA), Ministries in Trinidad, and
Environment TOBAGO.

5. Representation on the National Wetlands Committee:
Through this committee, Tobago is represented in wetland policy formulation and
implementation of the Ramsar Convention in T&T (see International Management of
Wetlands). One significant activity in this regard is the current initiative to get
the Bon Accord Lagoon / Buccoo Bay wetland declared as a Ramsar site on the List
of Wetlands of International Importance. This would enable the wetland to
receive special management attention and funding support, similar to what has
already been done for the Nariva Swamp in Trinidad. A proposal is to be prepared
and submitted to the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) for approval and then to
the Ramsar Bureau for consideration.

What is the Way Ahead for Wetland Conservation?

1. EIAs:
The importance of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) to evaluate the
potential impacts of proposed developments, identify least impact options, and plan
mitigation measures, cannot be under-emphasized. However, the broad guidelines
under which EIAs presently operate are in desperate need of review. Some of the
most critical problems that continue to arise from this are that:
(1) There are no clear standards for environmental protection measures
(2) There are no strict guidelines for monitoring implementation of EIA
proposals
(3) EIAs do not allow for public consultation on proposed developments
As new laws come into force with the establishment of the national Environmental
Commission, these problems should be somewhat alleviated. The new rules of
environmental clearance will make EIAs public documents and stipulate more
stringent environmental standards that will require accountability and monitoring
systems. Look forward to becoming more involved in assessing local developments!

66

2. Assessing wetland loss:
You may have asked exactly how much of our wetlands have been lost already after
so many years of degradation? There is a very simple answer to this question:
There has been no research in the past or to date that seeks to quantify the size
and area of wetland sites in Tobago. Figures that are available are largely
estimations that cannot be used to accurately assess factors such as wetland loss
or recession. This therefore inhibits many attempts to identify that recent
developments have modified wetland areas, as there is no original data to compare
present figures to. There is crucial need then for the development of baseline data
of all wetlands in Tobago so that future assessments can be more thorough and
precise.

3. Role of THA:
The Town and Country Planning Division and the THA have critical roles to play in
taking the steps to ensure the conservation and wise use of Tobago's wetlands.
Also, as legislation enables the citizen to become more involved in local planning, we
must utilize these opportunities, to become more aware, and voice our opinions on
how development in Tobago should take place.

What Action Can YOU Take to Help Conserve Wetlands?

∗Use proper soil conservation measures when clearing land and avoid burning.
∗Minimize your use of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides and take
measures to minimize runoff.
∗Limit your harvest of wildlife, fisheries, or vegetation from wetlands.
∗Take responsibility as individuals and communities to properly dispose of solid
waste and maintain a healthy environment.
∗Educate yourself and talk to others about wetland conservation and wise use.
∗Seek out and support local environmental education incentives.
∗Become aware of local developments and their environmental repercussions.
∗Get involved in assessing proposed developments through the public
participation process.
∗Let your voice be heard and lobby for wetland policy, legislation, regulations,
and strict enforcement.
∗Encourage research into developing documented wetland data.
∗Work with the THA for wetland conservation and wise use on both public and
private land.
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International Cooperation for Wetlands
Conservation:
The Ramsar Convention in T&T

What is the Ramsar Convention?

Increasingly governments from around the world are recognizing the urgent need
to respond to the current environmental crisis. One way they are responding is
through international cooperation by signing intergovernmental treaties committing
their countries to the conservation and wise use of natural resources. The
Convention on Wetlands, commonly known as the Ramsar Convention, is the first of
these modern global intergovernmental treaties.

The mission of the Ramsar Convention is "the conservation and wise use of
wetlands by national action and international cooperation as a means to achieving
sustainable development throughout the world" (Brisbane, 1996). It covers all
aspects of wetland conservation and wise use for human benefit.

This Convention provides the framework for national action and international
cooperation for the 118 contracting parties to the convention, which comprise 1014
wetland sites. These sites total an area of 72.7 million hectares, designated for
inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

Environment
TOBAGO leads a
youth group,
Generation YES, on a
Bon Accord wetlands
field trip to
commemorate
Ramsar's World
Wetlands Day 2000.

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Why do countries join the Ramsar Convention?

Countries join the Ramsar Convention or become ‘Contracting Parties’ in order to:
• Endorse the principles of conservation and wise use of wetlands, with the
development of country policies, legislation, and actions for this.
• Bring publicity to and increase support for conservation and wise use of local
wetlands designated on the List of Wetlands of International Importance.
• Make their voice heard internationally about wetland conservation and wise use
and encourage international cooperation for wetland conservation and wise use.
• Get access to the latest information and technical expertise on wetland
conservation and wise use.
• Get support for wetland projects, with through the Convention's Small Grants
Fund or external funding agencies.

What do countries commit to when they join the Ramsar
Convention?

Countries make four main commitments when they join the Ramsar Convention:
1. To designate at least one site for the List of Wetlands of International
Importance, and to promote its conservation and wise use.
2. To include wetland conservation and wise use principles in national land-use
planning.
3. To establish protected wetland areas, and to promote training in the fields of
wetland research, management and protection.
4. To cooperate with other countries for wetland conservation and wise use,
especially with any wetland systems or species that are shared.

Trinidad & Tobago and the Ramsar Convention

Since joining the Ramsar Convention with effect in April 1993, T&T has taken
advantage of several of the special Ramsar programmes designed to help countries
achieve wetland conservation and wise use:
◊Nariva Swamp was designated for the List of Wetlands of International
Importance, and remains the only Ramsar site in the country.
◊ The government requested formal listing of the Nariva Swamp on the Ramsar
Montreux Record of sites under serious threat and deserving special attention.
This request was met with a visit by an international expert mission in April 1995,
and a comprehensive report was produced in February 1996. In October 1996 T &
T was awarded a grant from the Ramsar Small Grants Fund for applying the
recommendations made to a management plan for Nariva Swamp.
69

◊T&T attended several Conferences of the Contracting Parties to share ideas and
experiences, including speaking about regional issues since it was the only
representative of the Caribbean to join the Convention for some time.
◊ T&T represents the Caribbean sub-region as a second 'alternate' member of the
Ramsar Standing Committee.
◊ Professor Peter Bacon of the University of the West Indies (UWI) serves as an
alternate member on the Scientific & Technical Review Panel for the Neotropical
region.
◊A Wetland Research Group was set up UWI in 1994 under Professor Peter Bacon
and continues to conduct research on the ecology and management issues of
wetlands in T&T.
◊A National Wetlands Committee was established in January 1995, with
representatives of relevant Government Ministries and non-government
organisations. This Committee is currently engaged in planning management plans
and projects for Nariva and Caroni Swamps and responding to other issues
impacting on wetlands in T&T.
◊A draft National Wetlands Policy was developed by the National Wetlands
Committee to guide the integration of wetland conservation and wise use into T&T
national planning. This has been submitted for eventual approval and enactment by
Parliament.

Upcoming Plans Under Ramsar That Will Affect T&T

The Summary Work Plan for the Americas Region for 2000 identifies several tasks
that will assist T&T in implementing its policy of wise use and conservation of
wetlands.
◊ Initiatives will be taken to encourage Caribbean states to join Ramsar and
increase its acceptance in the region. T&T will continue to play a key leadership
role to play in promoting Ramsar regionally.
◊ The Caribbean islands wetlands workshop will be held in Trinidad in September
2000 and Ramsar will assist with organization and attend.
◊ The Ramsar Wise Use Toolkit and the National Planning Tool/COP8 National
Report format may be used for national priority setting and planning.
◊ T&T may submit project proposals to be considered for funding wetlands wise
use and conservation in 2000.
◊ Ramsar is developing a catalogue of training centres and courses in the Americas
and this information can be used to strengthen local capacity in wetlands wise use
and conservation. Ramsar may also be able to support participation in training
courses. A model proposal for the development of wetland training centres is also
being developed.
70

◊ Ramsar is developing a module on wetland conservation, sustainable use and
implementation of the Ramsar Convention for the Americas, which can be used in
public awareness and education programmes in T&T. Other materials (publications
and videos) are also available. Information on Ramsar's website is being expanded
and the Ramsar Handbook for the Americas will also be published.
{PRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=ramsar250.jpg (6030 bytes)"}

References
1. Alleng, G. P. (1997). Coastal Wetlands in Trinidad and Tobago: Status and Trends. Institute
of Marine Affairs, Chaguaramas.
2. { HYPERLINK http://www.ramsar.org }
3. James, C., N. Nathai-Gyan & G. Hislop (1984). Neotropical Wetlands Project: National
Report Trinidad and Tobago{PRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=dotblink.gif (995
bytes)"}{INCLUDEPICTURE d "pictures/dotblink.gif"}. Forestry Division.
4. National Wetlands Committee (1996). National Policy on Wetland Conservation: Trinidad
and Tobago (draft).

71

Useful Sources of Information and Resources

Environmental Organizations in Tobago

Environment TOBAGO Education Centre
2nd Floor, Rollocks Building, Robinson Street, Upper Scarborough, Tobago
Tel: 660 7462 Fax: 660 7467 E–mail: { HYPERLINK
"mailto:envirtob@tstt.net.tt" }
Website: www.scsoft.de/et
Environment TOBAGO has built an environmental information center with hundreds of
resource materials. You can find information here on environmental issues and eco-
systems around the island. ET also has an extensive collection of teaching resources, such
as teacher resource books with lesson ideas, posters, videos, books, and games. Schools
and members can borrow resources and books free of charge. ET volunteers can also
come to schools to deliver lectures and conduct demonstration lessons.

Save Our Sea Turtles
C/O Wendy Heron, Courland Bush Trace, Black Rock, Tobago
Tel: 639 9669/0026
SOS has developed educational materials about turtle conservation. SOS can
come to schools to conduct slide shows and interactive lectures.

The Buccoo Reef Trust
TLH Office Building, Milford Road, Scarborough, Tobago
Tel: 635 2000 Fax: 639 7333 E-mail: Office@BuccooReef.org
Website: { HYPERLINK "http://www.BuccooReefTrust.org" }
Buccoo Reef Trust have developed educational materials focusing on the
conservation of the Caribbean’s marine environment. Buccoo Reef Trust
employees and volunteers can come to schools to conduct lectures and
accompany school trips onto Buccoo Reef.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Unit 678, Highmorr Centre, 78 Wilson Road
Tel: 639 7636 Fax: 639 5232 E-mail: { HYPERLINK
"mailto:dnre_tha@tstt.net.tt" }
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources have an environmental
education resource center that can be accessed for resource and lesson ideas.
They have also developed a number of educational games and videos. Employees
of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources can come to schools to
conduct lectures and lessons. They are also available as guides for field trips.

Institute of Marine Affairs
Hilltop Lane, Chaguaramas, Trinidad
Tel: 634 4291 Fax: 634 4433 E-mail: { HYPERLINK
"mailto:director@ima.gov.tt" }
Website: { HYPERLINK "http://www.ima.gov.tt" }
The Institute of Marine Affairs have developed an education pack about Tobago’s
coral reefs.

72

Other environmental organizations

These organizations can provide further information on the environment. Some will provide
information free of charge, whilst others have a full catalogue of educational packs and
publications for sale.

Pointe-A-Pierre Wild Fowl Trust
42 Sandown Road, Goodwood Park, Pt Cumana, Trinidad
Tel: (809) 637 5145 Fax: (809) 658 2513

Caribbean Conservation Association
Chelford, Bush Hill, The Garrison, St. Michael, Barbados
Tel: (246) 426 5373 E –mail: caribsurf.com
Website: { HYPERLINK "http://www.caribbeanconservation.org" }

West Indian Whistling Duck Working Group of the Society of Caribbean Ornithology
C/o Lisa G. Sorenson, Ph.D., Dept. of Biology, Boston University, 5 Cummington Street,
Boston, MA 02215, USA
Website: { HYPERLINK "http://www.whistlingduck.org" }

Mangrove Action Project
General Delivery, Watering Place, Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands
Tel: (345) 948 0319 Fax: (345) 948 0640 E-mail: { HYPERLINK
"mailto:mangrove@candw.ky" }

National Wildlife Federation
8925 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA 22184, USA
Tel: (703) 790 4100 Website: { HYPERLINK "http://www.nwf.org" }

Project WET
The Watercourse, 201 Culberston Hall, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 59717-0570,
USA
Tel: (406) 994 5392 Fax: 994 1919 E-mail: { HYPERLINK
"mailto:rwwet@msu.oscs.montana.edu|par" }

Coral Forest
Suite 1040, 400 Montgomery Street. San Francisco, CA 94104, USA
Tel: (415) 788 REEF Fax: (415) 398 0385 E-mail: { HYPERLINK
"mailto:coral@igc.apc.org" }

Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, Natural Resources Management Unit
P.O.Box 1383, Castries, St Lucia
Tel: (758) 453 6208 Fax: (758) 452 2194

73

Teacher Resource Guidebooks

Listed below is a range of teacher resource guides with ideas for lessons, projects and activities
in and out of the classroom. All are available at the Environment TOBAGO education Centre.

Wondrous West Indian Wetlands – Society of Caribbean Ornithology

People and Corals – Caribbean Conservation Association

Coral Reefs – An English Compilation of Activities for Middle School Students –
National Centre for Environmental Publications and Information

EnACT- An environmental education programme for primary schools in Trinidad and
Tobago. – Nicole Leotaud in collaboration with the Ministry of Education

Keep a Clean School Competition Teachers Information Packet – Environment
TOBAGO

Schools Recycling Programme Pilot Project Teachers Handbook – The Trinidad and
Tobago Solid Waste Management Company LTD

Envirokids Infant Environmental Activity Booklet – Environmental Management
Authority

Sea Turtle and Coastal Habitat Education Programme – An Educator’s Guide – Sea
Turtle Survival League

Turning the Tide on Trash – A learning Guide On marine Debris – United States
Environmental Protection Agency

Future Forests Teacher’s Guide – Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United
Nations

E Patrol Environmental Action Programme – E- Patrol Foundation

Give Water A Hand Action Guide – The Blue Thumb Programme

The GLOBE Programme Teacher’s Guide – The GLOBE Programme

74

Internet Resources
The Internet is a wonderful source of information, pictures and ideas for activities connected with the
environment. There are thousands of relevant websites. Most contain pages of links to other suitable websites so
each of these sites is just a starting point. Web addresses change very quickly. If these addresses are out of date,
use a search engine to search for the full name of the organization.

ARK
{ HYPERLINK "http://www.arkive.org" }
Organization trying to record the earth’s biodiversity in pictures and words.

Discovery
discovery.com
General science site with good articles.

Earth Island
{ HYPERLINK "http://www.earthisland.org" }
Children’s environmental education site

Eco Net
{ HYPERLINK "http://www.igc.org/igc/econet" }
International network of environmental organizations and campaigners

Friends of the Earth
{ HYPERLINK "http://www.foe.co.uk" }
Excellent site with green living tips and educational materials

GLOBE
{ HYPERLINK "http://www.globe.gov" }
Worldwide environmental monitoring programme with resources and projects for school

The Green Brick Road
gbr.org
American environmental education site

Greenpeace
www.greenpeace.org
Site of campaigning organization

Naturenet
{ HYPERLINK "http://www.naturenet.net" }
Good starting point for environmental information

Peacecorps
{ HYPERLINK "http://www.peacecorps.gov" }

Information and environmental educational resources

Project Learning Tree
{ HYPERLINK "http://www.plt.org" }
American environmental education project
75

Field Trips
The value of field trips

Nothing brings alive the value of the natural environment more than a field trip. Yes - you can
show students a picture or a video of a coral reef, even get them to pretend to be the sea creatures
that live there, but until they have actually experienced it first hand, they will never be able to
fully appreciate it’s beauty and wonder. Once a student has seen these beautiful and diverse
ecosystems for themselves, they will be far more in a position to realise the need to conserve and
protect them. Despite the abundance of accessible natural ecosystems in Tobago, surprisingly
few Tobagonians have visited them. Many teachers who participated in the programme had
never been to the rainforest. It is our duty as educators to ensure that children in Tobago are
given access to all that the island has to offer. If properly organized and planned, a field trip can
also be great stimulus for a project and work in all subject areas. A trained guide can give
information that might otherwise be unavailable or difficult to find. In addition, a school field
trip is a memorable and enjoyable day out for the students, and one they will not forget in a
hurry.

Practicalities of organizing a field trip

You must obtain permission from the Division of Education for any field trip. Your school may
have application forms or they can be obtained for the Division of Education. When you have
received a letter of approval, the next step is to seek the consent of the parents. A small fee will
probably need to be charged for transport, which you will need to arrange yourself. Buses are
available from state agencies and organizations such as the Education, Youth and Culture
Departments, Community Development, and YTEPP. There should be no more than 20 students
to 1 adult, though it is advisable to have more adults if possible. Parents are a good resource
here. No sea bathing is allowed on school field trips.

State agencies and organizations that can provide guides and assistance

Environment TOBAGO
Buccoo Reef Trust
Department of the Environment and Natural Resources
Institute of Marine Affairs

Possible locations for field trips

Buccoo Reef and Bon Accord Lagoon
Speyside Reef and Little Tobago

Main Ridge Forest Reserve
Kilgwyn Wetlands in Canaan, Lowlands

76

Planning a Unit of Lessons
Planning a unit of lessons should follow the process outlined below

DECIDE CONTENT OF UNIT (GOALS AND AIMS)
⇓
DETERMININE KEY OBJECTIVES
⇓
PLAN LESSONS
⇓
CONSTRUCT PRE-TEST
⇓
ADMINISTER PRE-TEST
⇓
ANALYSE PRE-TEST RESULTS
⇓
REVIEW UNIT AND LESSON PLANS
⇓
TEACH UNIT
EVALUATE EACH LESSON
⇓
ADMINISTER POST TEST
⇓
EVALUATE
COMPARE PRE- AND POST- TEST RESULTS
⇓
CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

77

1. DECIDE CONTENT OF UNIT
Example for Standard 3
Goal: To prevent further loss of Tobago’s coral reefs
Aim: To promote a greater understanding and appreciation of a coral reef eco-system, the life it
supports and threats to coral reefs.

2. DETERMININE KEY OBJECTIVES
Subjects: Science, Art and Craft, Drama. Social Studies
Objectives: Students will be able to explain the food/energy relationship within, and construct a
food web in a coral reef habitat, 2) make masks to represent inhabitants of a coral reef, 3)
dramatise the movements of coral reef inhabitants. Students will be able to 1) identify pollutants,
which adversely affect marine life, 2) suggest ways of reducing pollution.

3. PLAN LESSONS
Example

Weave a Food Web

Subjects: Science, Art and Craft, Drama
Aims: A greater understanding and appreciation of a coral reef ecosystem and the life it
supports.
dramatise the movements of coral reef inhabitants.
Previous knowledge: What a food chain is.
Wildlife and plants found in a marine habitat.
Key vocabulary: food chain, food web, energy
Suggested Time: Session 1 – 30 mins Session 2 - 30 mins Session 3 – 40 mins
Materials: card, colouring pencils, string, picture of a coral reef habitat, pictures of all the sea
creatures in the food web

Conceptual Knowledge component and Curriculum link:
Science: Food chains are interconnected in an eco-system. (p30)
The sea is a natural habitat for marine life. (p 31)
Art and Craft: Decorative craft (p33)

Activity:

SESSION 1
1. Ask students what type of animals and plants live in the sea. Explain that in Tobago a lot
of the sea life lives in and around coral reef habitats, feeding off each other.

2. Re-cap with students on what a food chain is and ask them to give some examples of a
food chain that might occur in a coral reef habitat.

78

1. Direct students to lay the string down on the ground so that the web stays intact. So that
they can notice the pattern created by the interaction on the organisms.
2. Explain that coral reefs in Tobago are threatened by pollution and many fish and sea
creatures, such as turtles are threatened by over-fishing
3. Ask all the corals to step back. Which animals will be affected if the coral disappears?
4. Explain that if one part of the coral reef habitat disappears, all the other parts will be
affected.

Sources, effects and reduction of marine pollution

Subjects: Science, Social Studies
Aims: Increase awareness of water pollution issues and ways in which it can be reduced
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) identify pollutants, which adversely affect marine life, 2)
suggest ways of reducing pollution.
Previous knowledge: Students should know about marine eco-systems.
Key vocabulary: pollution, pesticides, fertilizers, detergents, organic waste, petroleum products,
sediments
Suggested Time: Session 1 – 30 mins Session 2 – 40 mins Session 3 – 20 mins
Materials: Wondrous West Indian Wetlands Teacher Resource Book, plank of wood, small
brick, watering can, powdered food colouring, soil, coloured card

Science: Various forms of pollutants affect marine life (p31)
Social Science: Environmental concerns which are the result of the exploitation of some natural
resources. (p157)
Suggest ways of alleviating some of the environmental concerns. (p157)

Background information for teachers:
Ideas for these lessons were taken from the “Wondrous West Indian Wetlands Teacher’
Resource Book” and “People and Corals – An education pack for Caribbean Primary Schools.”
All schools in Tobago have received a copy of both of these resource books.

Activity:

SESSION 1
1. Ask students some of the ways in which they use water and what they think happens to
the waste water when they finish with it.
2. Explain that when water washes down the plughole, drain or street it will end up
polluting rivers that will eventually run into the sea.
3. Read poem Away on the Bay. Ask students to listen out for different types of pollution
and effects.

80

4. After you have finished reading the poem, ask children whether the waste from Away
really did go away.
5. List on the board different types of pollution in Away and the effects of that pollution on
marine life and people.
6. Discuss other forms of pollution that effect marine life and people. Eg. fertilizers,
pesticides, sewage, oil, sediments.

SESSION 2
1. Tell students that they are going to take a closer look at some of the activities that citizens
of Away do and decide whether they are water polluting criminals.
2. They will be judge and jury and will use the information provided, to identify what water
pollution crimes they are guilty of.
3. Give out copies of the Water Criminals? The Accused worksheet. Read out the
information about each of the accused and decide whether each one is guilty.
4. If they decide that a citizen is guilty, they must pass sentence. The sentence will require
the criminals to clean up their pollution and take steps to reduce pollution in the future.
5. Lead a discussion about the crimes committed by the water polluting criminals, and what
each criminal could do in the future to minimize pollution

SESSION 3
Preparation
1. Lay piece of wood with one end slightly elevated by a small brick and resting a couple of
inches above the ground. The other end will lie directly on the ground, forming a triangle.
2. Spread soil on the elevated half of the wood to represent a farming area typical of
Tobagonian landscape, with mounds for hills and valleys for streams and rivers.
3. On the bottom half of the slope, place green card to represent mangrove and blue card to
represent sea. Pieces of dead coral may be placed onto blue card to represent coral reef.

1. Explain model to the students and how it represents a typical Tobago landscape.
2. Select a student to pour food colouring onto the upland areas. Explain how this represents
various pollutants. Ask students what types of pollution there is in Tobago
3. What do you think will happen to the various pollutants when it rains?
4. Using watering can, select another student to sprinkle soil evenly with a good amount of
water, representing heavy rainfall. Ideally, the river will begin to show signs of different
coloured waters, evidence that pollutants can run-off from the land into the river, and
eventually out to the sea.
5. Discuss the effects of this pollutant run off on people, animals and plants and the sea.

81

4. CONSTRUCT PRE-TEST
This test should be given to the students prior to starting the topic in order to determine what
students already know. The following is a guide to types of questions that can be asked. Try to
vary the types of questions in your test.

TESTING

There are basically two types of test items:

A. Objective Items

i. Completion items
ii. True/false items
iii. Two choice items
iv. Multiple choice items
v. Matching items

B. Essay Items

i. Short-answer items
ii. Structured essays
a. restricted
b. extended
iii. Unstructured essay items

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QUESTION EXAMPLES

Recall
In what year was the Main Ridge Forest Reserve declared protected?

Define
What is a mammal?

Identify/Observe
What birds do you have visiting your school grounds?

Name
What creatures do you finding on a coral reef?

Yes/No
Coral is a plant. Yes/No

Designate
Circle the animals that are reptiles?
frog caiman turtle snake crab

Explain
What important functions do the wetland areas serve?

State relationships
Draw a diagram of a food chain that might occur on a coral reef. Identify the producer and the
primary, secondary and tertiary consumers.

Compare/Contrast
Compare a range of insects found on the school grounds. What similarities and differences can
you find?

Predict
What do you think would happen if the Main Ridge Forest Reserve was cut down?

84

Hypothesize
Does polluted water always look different to clean water?

Infer
Read this passage

“Did also in pursuance of your said instructions remove to Your Majesty a tract of wood land
lying in the interior and most hilly parts of this island for the purpose of attracting frequent
showers of rain upon which the fertility of lands in these climates doth entirely depend.”

William Young – Main Ridge Forest Reserve Act 1776

Do you think that the Main Ridge Forest Reserve was created for the benefit of humans or the
environment? Give reasons for your answer.

Reconstruct
Heavy rains in Tobago caused flooding in the Lowlands. Rivers were found to be full of tree
trunks and soil. What do you think is the reason for this?

Judge
Does tourism help to preserve Tobago’s environment?

Value
Humans have the right to modify the natural environment to suit their needs. Discuss

Defend
Wetlands smell and are ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Why should we preserve them?

Justify choice
Would you like to see more or less tourist development in Tobago? Give reasons for your
answer.

85

5. ADMINISTER PRE-TEST
Try to keep testing as informal as possible, so as not to overburden the students with testing.

6. ANALYSE PRE-TEST RESULTS
Analysis of pre- test results will allow you to find out the student’s current level of knowledge as
well as any misconceptions they may have about the topic. This will enable you to focus your
lessons more on gaps in knowledge that the students have.

7. REVIEW UNIT AND LESSON PLANS
At this point you may want to review and change some of the content of your lesson plans, based
on your analysis of pre- test results

8. TEACH UNIT AND EVALUATE EACH LESSON
The lesson plans given in the examples above may be done over a period of 1-2 weeks, covering
Science, Art and Craft, Drama and Social Studies. Thus the environmental concepts that you
want to teach are infused across the curricular. Evaluate what the children have achieved at the
end of each lesson, in order to determine if the lessons were successful and whether the children
achieved the learning objectives. Lesson plans can be adjusted accordingly.

9. ADMINISTER POST TEST
This should be exactly the same as the pre test.

10. EVALUATE – COMPARE PRE- AND POST- TEST RESULTS
This will allow you to find out how children’s knowledge and understanding of the topic has
improved as a result of your lessons and whether the children achieved the learning objectives.

11. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on your evaluation, what conclusions can you draw about the success of the unit of lesson
plans and what recommendations can you make if the topic was to be taught again?

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Using the Lesson Plans

These lessons have been designed with Primary school children in mind, but can easily be
modified for use with other ages. Furthermore, the duration of each activity can be adapted to
suit individual resources, abilities and needs.

The lesson plans have been divided into seven sections, from Infant 1 – Standard 5. The
environmental themes have been infused across the Primary curricular. Each lesson plan has
been linked to the current curriculums for either Science, (September 2000) Social Sciences,
(September 2001) Language Arts, (September 1999) Mathematics (September 1999) or Art and
Craft (September 1997) and page references have been given. Some lessons also include
Physical Education and Drama, but no curriculum links have been given for these.

The lessons are designed to require only rudimentary resources, as we know that lack of
resources is a big issue in Tobago’s schools. However, many of the activities do require space, so
please use outdoor areas if you can. Try to arrange a field trip to go with these lessons, even if it
is just a walk around the local area to observe wildlife. Tips for arranging field trips can be found
in the chapter, Sources of Information and Resources.

Background information has been given on some of the lesson plans where necessary and further
information can be found in the chapter, Information on Tobago’s Environment. If you require
further assistance please contact one of the environmental organizations or government agencies
listed in the chapter, Sources of Information and Resources.

Above all, these lesson plans should just be a starting point for infusing environmental education
across the Primary school curricular. Try them out and then have a go at planning your own
lessons, using these lesson plans as a model. There may be a pressing environmental issue in
your community that you want to deal with.

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Lessons - Infant 1

What is an eco system?
Subjects: Science, Language Arts, Art and Craft
Conceptual knowledge component and Curriculum link:
Science: The homes of animals and plants need care and protection (p4)
Language Arts: Make a picture dictionary. (p66)

Ecosystem story
Subjects: Language Arts, Science, Drama, Art and Craft
Language Arts: Statement of ideas (p11)
Using standard English structures (p13)
Science: Different organisms live in different habitats. (p4)
Art and Craft: Producing a drawing (p10)

The natural environment of T&T
Subjects: Science, Art and Craft
Science: Different organisms live in different habitats (p4)
The homes of animals and plants need care and protection (p4)
Art and Craft: Collage (p11)

Litter
Subjects: Science
Science: A clean scene is a healthy scene (p4)

Basic shapes in nature
Subjects: Social Science, Mathematics, Art and Craft
Social Science: Observe and identify features of the world in which they live (p44)
Mathematics: Plane shapes and solids (p28)
Art and Craft: Drawing objects from shapes (p11)

The Weather
Subjects: Social Studies
Social Studies: The weather affects us. (p48)

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What is an eco system?

Subjects: Science, Language Arts, Art and Craft
Aims: Demonstrate knowledge, care and concern for animals and plants in the local
environment.
Objectives: Students will be able to produce a picture dictionary of animals and plants in the
local environment.
Previous knowledge: Students should know the alphabet
Key vocabulary: animal, eco-system, environment, living, non-living, plant
Suggested Time: 2 periods and ongoing
Materials: Pictures of animals and plants in T&T, drawing materials, paper

Science: The homes of animals and plants need care and protection (p4)
Language Arts: Make a picture dictionary. (p66)

Background information for the teacher:
This activity begins a project that should last the entire year as a display on the classroom
wall. It aims to get students familiar with some of the ecosystem components, focusing on
animals and plants from T&T only. It is important that students from an early age identify
with and appreciate the rich biodiversity found in their country. Pictures of animals and plants
may be difficult to obtain, and the teacher should start collecting these from newspapers and
copies from other sources as early as possible, and it should be continued as a year-long
activity.

Activity:
1. Prepare large cards, one with each letter of the alphabet.
2. Paste the cards in a row along the sides of the classroom wall.
3. For each letter, identify some of the animals, plants, and non-living components of the
environment that begin with that letter.
4. Under each letter of the alphabet, paste pictures of these.
5. During the year, have students draw pictures of other examples that they learn about, and
add these. Some ideas are listed below, use others.
Agouti, Alligator, Air, Ant
Bat, Beetle, Beach, Butterfly, Bird, Blue Heron, Blackbird
Caterpillar, Clouds, Caiman, Coconut tree, Capuchin monkey, Chip chip, Crab,
Caracara
Deer, Duck
Egg, Eel, Egret
Fish, Frog, Flower, Fruit, Fly, Fire
Grass, Grasshopper
Hive, Hawksbill turtle, Hummingbird, Hawk, Hill

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Insect, Iguana
Jacana
Kiskidee, Kingfisher
Lizard, Lappe, Land, Leatherback turtle, Lobster
Matte, Mongoose, Monkey, Manatee, Mud, Mushroom, Moth
Nut, Nature
Orchid, Ocelot, Otter, Oyster, Oil bird, Owl
Porcupine, Plant, Parrot, Pigeon, Pawi, Purple Gallinule, Pelican
Quenk
Rain, Red Howler Monkey
Sun, Sand, Snake, Shark, Sting-ray, Soil, Shell, Spider, Scarlet Ibis, Starfish, Sand dollar
Tattoo, Tree, Turtle
Urchin
Vampire bat, Vulture (corbeau), Vine
Wahoo, Water, Worm, spider Web, Woodpecker
Yam
liZard, Zandoli

Evaluation:
Prepare picture cards of different animals, plants and non-living parts of the environment and
have students identify the letter sound and letter.
Choose a letter of the alphabet and have students list some of the items from the display that
begin with that letter.

Follow-up Activities:
Read stories about items from the display.
Bring in specimens of items from the display (for example leaves, insects, etc.).
Set up a nature corner with items from the display or even an aquarium or terrarium. Dried
leaves, seeds, small plants, bones, shells, aquaria and live animals (for example insects in jars)
may be used. Teachers should emphasize to students that wild animals and plants belong in
nature, and should be left there.
Do a backyard assessment of animal and plant life as a school activity, or as a homework
assignment.
Visit the zoo to see some of the animals there (focus especially on animals native to T&T).

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Ecosystem story

Subjects: Language Arts, Science, Drama, Art and Craft
Aims: Understand that ecosystems provide homes for animals.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) describe a chosen ecosystem and its animals and plants,
2) compose and dictate to teacher simple stories, 3) identify places in which animals live as
aquatic or terrestrial, 4) dramatise the animals that live in the eco-system, 5) draw a picture of an
ecosystem.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with some of the animals and plants found in
T&T and elsewhere
Key vocabulary: animal, plant, ecosystem, environment
Suggested Time: 1 period
Materials: pictures of chosen ecosystem

Language Arts: Statement of ideas (p11)
Using standard English structures (p13)
Science: Different organisms live in different habitats. (p4)
Art and Craft: Producing a drawing (p10)

The teacher should choose the ecosystem type that would be most familiar to the students.
Three stories are given here, but any others that are suitable may be read in addition to or
instead of these.

Activity:
Read one of the following short stories about different animals and plants found in nature.
Show students pictures of the ecosystem.
Ask students to describe the different objects in the ecosystem.
Discuss what life in the ecosystem must be like.
Ask students to pick an animal and relate or dramatize what its life is like in that ecosystem.

A morning in the swamp
Watch out little fish, you're in my way. It's morning and I want to swim up the river to
see what delicious plants I can eat for my breakfast. I am a manatee, and I am the biggest wild
animal in Trinidad. I live in the rivers and swamps. Some people call me a sea cow because I
like to eat plants just like a cow. I eat lots and lots of plants every day, because I'm very big and
I need lots of food. I eat plants that are in the water, floating on top of it, or are on the banks at
the edge of my pond. I can just stick my head out enough to nibble on the leaves that are
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hanging over the cool water. I'm too fat to climb out of the water, and besides, I don't have any
feet! I do have a big tail and two flippers that I use for swimming. Even though I'm big and fat,
I am a very good swimmer. I love to roll around in the cool water. I can hold my breath for a
long as 30 minutes, but I usually stick my little nose out of the water every few minutes to
breathe. How long can you hold your breath for?

Busy at the beach
It's another sunny day at the beach. The waves are crashing on to the shore and a warm
breeze is blowing the sand across my path. I move carefully sideways towards my hole. I am a
crab and I can only walk sideways. I have eight legs, four on each side of my flat body. My eyes
stick out above my shell so that I have a very good view all around me and can see where I am
walking. My hard shell is good protection against any animals that want to eat me. I can see the
corbeaus (vultures) at the edge of the water feeding on a big dead fish that washed up last night.
There are many fish of different sizes and shapes that live in the cool salty sea. I think that I am
going to hide in my hole for a while those big birds are around. My cozy hole is just next to a
big coconut tree. There are hardly any plants growing near to the beach because of the wind
that blows salty water onto them. Most plants don't like this, but coconut trees can grow just
fine.

The cool forest
I am an ant. I live together with other ants in a big underground nest. I am a worker ant
and my job every day is to go and collect leaves and bring them back to the nest. We use the
leaves to make a garden where we grow a special type of fungus that we eat. We don't eat the
leaves. Workers like me are very busy all day, marching to and from our nest with juicy green
leaves. We make a long line as we walk. Have you ever seen our line of ants? We are small, but
our friends the soldier ants protect us and protect the nest. They are big and have sharp pincers
to bite with. Our nest has one queen. Her job is to lay eggs so that new ants will be born. The
nurse ants take care of the young ants and give them food to eat. In the ant nest, we all work
together but we each have our own jobs. We are like one very big family. What are the different
jobs that the people in your family do in the house?

Evaluation:
Students should draw a picture of an ecosystem, and relate the story of what they see in their
picture.
Students should make up a story from a picture of the ecosystem.

Field trip to the ecosystem. See Appendix 2 for a list of possible sites.
Collect pictures and drawings of the ecosystem for display in the classroom.
Start a nature corner using items from the ecosystem or even an aquarium or terrarium. Dried
leaves, seeds, small plants, bones, shells, and live animals (for example insects in jars) may be
used. Teachers should emphasize to students that wild animals and plants belong in nature, and
should be left there.

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The natural environment of T&T

Aims: Demonstrate care and concern for the natural homes of organisms.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) name specific organisms and their habitats, 2)
organise materials to make a collage.
Previous knowledge: Students should know some basic information about one of the
ecosystems of T&T, for example swamp, forest or beach
Key vocabulary: wildlife, animal, ecosystem, environment, habitat, plant
Suggested Time: 4 periods
Materials: drawing materials, paper, scissors, glue, pictures of the chosen ecosystem and
animals and plants found in it

Science: Different organisms live in different habitats (p4)
The homes of animals and plants need care and protection (p4)
Art and Craft: Collage (p11)

The teacher should choose the ecosystem type that would be most familiar to the students.
The teacher could read stories from previous lesson students.

Activity:

SESSION I
1. Draw the outline of a house on the blackboard or a sheet of Bristol board.
2. Ask the students to name some of the things you would find in a house, for example: a
person, beds, plants, food, and pets.
3. Let each student draw and cut out one of these items.
4. Paste up the different items to make a collage of the things in a home.
5. Discuss how this is the "home environment" for people because it provides shelter, food,
space and water. Also discuss how other animals and plants share people's home (pets,
plants).
6. Discuss how habitat means "home environment" of animals and plants.

SESSION II
1. Choose one of the ecosystems in T&T, and review what are some of the animals and
plants found there. The teacher can use pictures of the ecosystem and discuss what is
shown in the pictures. Three suggestions for ecosystems are given: swamp, forest and
beach, and a brief list of some of the plants and animals found in each is given below.
Others may be used.

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ecosystem swamp forest beach
Some manatees, fish, plants, ants, insects, crabs, corbeaux, birds,
common mangrove trees, parrots, monkeys, deer, trees, fish, turtles, dogs,
animals & monkeys, caiman, spiders, vines, small plants, coconut trees.
plants insects, ospreys. birds, snakes.

2. Ask the students to select one animal or plant found in the ecosystem and draw and
colour it, and cut it out.
3. Discuss what is the home or habitat of these animals and plants: water, land, air etc..

SESSION III
4. Discuss how people also use the habitat of animals and plants, and what are some of the
activities that they carry out.
5. Discuss how these affect the animals and plants that live there. Some examples for
stimulating the discussion are given below.
6. Discuss how humans can also use an ecosystem if they are careful not to impact
negatively on the habitat of animals and plants.

ecosystem swamp forest beach
activities fishing, boating hunting, recreation, fishing, recreation
hiking

Evaluation:
The teacher can bring in pictures of other animals and plants found in the ecosystem and ask
students to identify its habitat.
On a large sheet (reused paper like newspaper sheets or brown paper bags cut into a sheet) may
be used) draw in these features of the environment: water, land, and air. For example, for a
beach draw in the sea and sand. Have students make a collage picture or mural showing the
habitat and a few of the animals and plants found there by asking each student where its animal
or plant is found and pasting it in the appropriate place.
Have students list examples of human activities taking place in some ecosystems of T&T.

Field trips to visit examples of these ecosystems. See Appendix 2 for a list of possible sites.
These ecosystem murals can be left up on the wall of the classroom and an ongoing project
should be for students to collect pictures and stories about these that can be added to the murals
over the year.

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Litter

Subjects: Science
Aims: Encourage students not to litter.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) identify and classify different types of solid waste, 2)
identify one item that can be recycled, 3) show concern for the environment.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with some of he animals and plants found in
T&T and elsewhere.
Key vocabulary: waste, pollution, litter, reduce, recycle, trash
Materials: litter

Science: A clean scene is a healthy scene (p4)

This lesson serves as an introduction to the pollution problem, beginning with the problem of
domestic waste. The principles of reduce, reuse and recycle will be taught. Unfortunately,
T&T has very limited recycling programmes, but every use should be made of those that exist.
The teacher can call up such programmes (for example Carib Glass) to find out how the school
can participate in their programme. Despite this limitation, the principles of reducing waste
and reusing materials can be readily applied to everyday life, in the school, in the home, and in
the workplace. This lesson should be used to stimulate consciousness of the students, and to
initiate a program for pollution management in the school. Even very young students can
begin to participate. Care should be taken not to expose the students to any harmful litter
(such as broken glass etc.). Students must carefully wash their hands after handling all litter.

Activity:

SESSION I
1. Discuss what is litter by giving examples from everyday life. Discuss how litter is
produced as waste from human activities. For example: wrappings and food containers
become waste; old copybooks and other paper become waste; old cars and appliances that
are no longer working become waste.
2. List and explain alternate words for litter: trash, waste, pollution, etc..
3. Explain how waste is made up of many different types of items and materials, including
plastic, paper, glass and cans.

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4. Bring in a collection of litter and have students sort and classify the items into different
materials: paper, plastic, glass, metal, or other.

SESSION II
1. Discuss how some litter can be reused, for example plastic containers and some paper.
2. Discuss why it is important to reuse where possible in order to reduce the amount of litter.
3. Discuss which items in the containers could have been reused and not thrown away.
4. Make a display of items that can be reused on the display corner or table. Have students
make labels for the different items, to practice their writing. Have students colour or trace the
letters. Make a big label "REUSE" for the display.
5. Discuss how some materials can be recycled, for example glass. Find out how the glass litter
from the school can be recycled, and do it.
6. Discuss how some waste can be reduced. For example, were things thrown away that could
still be used? Were things thrown away that were unnecessary packaging? Discuss some ideas
of how students can reduce the amount of waste that they produce.

Evaluation:
From a small collection of items, ask students to identify those that fall into different categories:
paper, glass, metal, plastic.
From a small collection of items, ask students to identify one item that can be recycled.

Develop a “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” program in the school.
reduce Encourage the students not to waste. This includes taking care of objects so that they
last. Some ideas on how to reduce waste are: use towels instead of paper napkins
and handkerchiefs instead of tissues; put sandwiches in washable containers instead
of foil or plastic bags; use washable plates, glasses and cups instead of disposable
ones; take your own cloth bags to the market, store, and grocery; and make a
compost pile in a corner of your backyard at home to use food scraps (especially
vegetables) as manure.
reuse Reusing paper is easy. Often we only use one side of the paper, we can sometimes
use both sides. Send a note to parents or local businesses and ask them to donate any
waste computer paper from their work. Make full use of old newspapers, magazines,
and paper bags. Reuse old containers and tins. Have boxes in the classroom for: old
paper bags, old plastic bags, newspapers and magazines, scrap paper, plastic
containers, tins and jars.
recycle Set up a program to recycle glass and any other materials for which there is a
program in T&T. Have a bin for each item to be recycled, and label it.

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Basic shapes in nature

Subjects: Social Science, Mathematics, Art and craft
Aims: Use the senses to appreciate the environment.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) describe 2 and 3 dimensional shapes found in the
environment using informal language, 2) develop drawing of objects beginning with basic
shapes.
Previous knowledge: Students should know basic 2 and 3 dimensional shapes
Key vocabulary: animal, eco-system, environment, living, non-living, plant
Materials: drawings or pictures of animals and plants, paper for cutting shapes (old newspapers,
magazines, reused paper), paper for drawing (reused paper for example from old bags), drawing
materials, scissors, glue, plasticine, stencils of 2 dimensional shapes (can be cut out of old
cardboard).

Social Science: Observe and identify features of the world in which they live (p44)
Mathematics: Plane shapes and solids (p28)
Art and Craft: Drawing objects from shapes (p11)

This lesson encourages students to closely observe nature. It is only through familiarity with
nature that students can understand and appreciate their environment and their role in it.

Activity:

SESSION I
1. Review the basic two and three dimensional shapes:
2. Discuss how many of these shapes can be seen in nature, using drawings or pictures of plants and
animals. Some ideas are given below, but many others may be found. Use those that are most
familiar to the students, and commonly seen in their environment.
object in nature shape
sun circle and sphere
hills triangles and pyramids
rocks and stones circles and spheres
beach shells ovals, circles, triangles
flower petals ovals, circles
leaves ovals, circles

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eyes circles
fish fins triangles
tree trunk cylinder
worm cylinder
ant or bacchak body made up of three oval
spheres

SESSION II
1. Have the students make a colourful animal or plant as a collage. This activity can be
done in groups or individually.
2. Draw several colourful shapes in different sizes on pieces of paper, and have the students
cut these out. Or provide students with shapes already cut out from old magazines,
newspapers, labels, or other recycled paper.
3. Let students create their animal or plant by pasting these shapes together on a piece of
paper. It is a good idea to use sheets of newspaper, cut out sheets from brown paper
bags, or other recycled paper. Discuss with the students why it is important to reuse.
Crayons can also be used to add details to the picture.
4. Ask students to give their animal or plant a name, say where it is found and something
about it (for example what an animal eats, what eats a plant, etc.).
5. Exhibit these in the classroom.
6. Review that two and three-dimensional shapes are seen in nature.

Evaluation:
Conduct a mini-field trip in the schoolyard and ask students to identify shapes in nature that they
see.
Draw a large plant on the board, or in a poster. Use green triangles for leaves, a long brown thin
rectangle for the stem, ovals for the petals of the flowers, and circles for the fruit. It may be
helpful to use different colours for each shape. Ask the students to identify the different shapes
that they see.
Let students use stencils of the different shapes to create a drawing of animals and plants in
nature. Ask students to identify the shapes that they see in the coral reef picture.
Bring in samples or pictures of animals and plants or other items in nature and ask students to
identify the shapes that they see.
Have students draw and colour shapes in the food we eat that come from nature. Discuss how an
orange is a sphere, cut in half, and see the circle shape. Examine how each peg in the cross
section looks like a triangle. Look at the cross section of a coconut to see the circle, the star
shape in the star apple, the oval in the mango. What shape is an ear of corn, a carrot, an onion, a
cabbage, a grain of rice? Use other examples.

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The Weather

Aims: To understand that weather affects ecosystems and the animal life they support.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) identify different types of weather, 2) identify ecosystems
associated with different kinds of weather.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with some of the animals and plants found in
T&T and elsewhere.
Key vocabulary: ecosystem, environment, weather, sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, hot, cool, wet,
dry
Materials: drawing materials, paper, scissors, pictures showing ecosystems experiencing
different weather conditions.

Social Studies: The weather affects us. (p48)

It is important the students understand that an ecosystem does not only consist of the animals
and plants that live there, but also the abiotic environment, of which weather is an important
component.

Activity:

Pre-Activity:
1. The teacher should draw and cut out symbols for the following weather conditions: sunny,
cloudy, rainy, windy, hot, cool, wet, or dry.
Hands-on:
1. Discuss what each of the given weather symbols means.
2. Read the following descriptions of the conditions in an ecosystem and ask students to
identify the matching weather condition(s).

All the birds in the forest had to take shelter under the leaves of the big trees. They
did not want to get their feathers wet because then it would be difficult for them to fly. Even
the ants on the forest floor had stopped their busy work. They were sheltering in their
underground nest. There were puddles of water everywhere. As we walked through the
forest we could see the footprints left by our boots. Our clothes were wet.
There was a group of fishermen at the edge of the sea. They were getting ready to go in their
boat to catch some fish. They were wearing hats to shade their eyes. They were sweating, and
some of them had taken off their shirts to cool down. Some kids were

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swimming. The crabs were hiding in their shady holes. They did not like to get too hot. The
branches of the coconut trees at the edge of the beach were bent from the wind blowing in from
the sea. In the river nearby a caiman was floating peacefully on top of the water. It wanted to
warm up its body after the cool night.

Evaluation:
Show students pictures of different ecosystems experiencing different weather conditions and
ask them to match the conditions with the weather symbols.

Create a weather chart on the wall or board to show the weather each day by using tacks on the
weather symbols. Assign a student each day to identify the weather conditions and tack on the
appropriate symbol(s).
Read stories about the weather in different ecosystems, and how it affects the animals and plants
that live there.

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Lessons – Infant 2

Plant growth
Subjects: Science
Science: Seeds undergo changes as they germinate (p9)

Seed Germination
Subjects: Science, Language Arts, Drama
Science: Seeds undergo changes as they germinate. (p9)
Language Arts: Speaking – Sharing information and feelings (p12)
Writing – Extended writing task (p71)

Classifying animals
Subjects: Science
Science: Animals can be grouped according to different traits. (p9)

Litter in schools
Subjects: Science
Science: It is important to properly dispose of litter (p11)

An aquarium ecosystem
Subjects: Science, Art & Craft
Science: The aquarium is an artificial aquatic habitat. ( p11 )
Art & Craft: develop skills in drawing and colouring. ( p16 )

Mystery Objects
Science: Common structures have form and function (p12)
Art and Craft: Explore and identify shapes and patterns (p15)

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Plant growth

Subjects: Science
Aims: Develop an understanding that seeds need certain conditions to germinate and grow.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) identify a seedling growing in a jar as an ecosystem
consisting of living and non-living components, 2) measure the growth of a seedling, 3) describe
the effect of particulate air pollution on growth of a seedling, 4) describe the effect of lack of
water on a seedling, 5) construct a bar graph with strips of paper, which match the height of
seedlings on particular day.

Previous knowledge: Students should know that an ecosystem is comprised of living and non-
living components and be familiar with examples of ecosystems.
Key vocabulary: plant, growth, seedling, light, water, air experiment, pollution
Suggested Time: 2 periods (and daily periods of seedling care for approximately 4 weeks
Materials: bean seeds, 8 glass jars, cotton wool, water, newspaper, strips of paper (reused
paper), 8 sheets of paper for bar graphs, glue, scissors

Science: Seeds undergo changes as they germinate (p9)

This popular experiment to show growth of a bean seedling has been expanded to test for the
importance of light and water for plant growth. This is then linked with how particulate air
pollution (dust, soot, etc.) may smother leaves and block light from reaching the plant, thus
hampering plant growth. These discussions are important to start students thinking about the
effect of human activities on the natural environment. Also emphasize that these impact
negatively on humans themselves.

Activity:

SESSION I
1. Review examples of ecosystems that have been discussed previously. Discuss how an
ecosystem is made up of plants and animals, as well as non-living things like soil, water,
air, and light.
2. Discuss how plants are living things that need food, water, and air to live and grow.
3. Explain that plants produce seeds, and new plants grow from these seeds. Use the
analogy of animals that hatch from eggs laid by their mother, or are born live from their
mother.
4. Discuss how a bean seed will germinate and grow into a new bean plant if it is given air,
food, water, and light.

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5. Have students plant 2-3 bean seeds in a glass jar, using cotton wool as a substrate.
Prepare 4 pairs of jars in this way. Place jars next to each other in an airy well-lit
environment.
6. Leave the beans to germinate, watering daily for 2 weeks or until the seedlings are about
15 centimeters long.
7. Use strips of paper to measure the height of each seedling every other day. Tear off the
strip at the length of the seedling.
8. Paste these strips of paper onto a background to construct a bar graph. Do two bar graphs
next to each other for each pair of jars.

SESSION II
1. Review how plants need air, water, food and light to live and grow.
2. Set up experiments to demonstrate this, using the 4 pairs of jars under the conditions
given in the table below.
Pair 1 Control: Leave as was, watering as usual.
Pair 2 Test for the importance of light: Use newspapers to construct a loose shade to be
placed over each jar, allowing air to pass in at the bottom and watering as usual.
Pair 3 Test for the effect of particulate air pollution (dust or soot): Gently dust powder or
flour over the surface of the seedlings' leaves until it covers most of the leaf
surface. Water as usual.
Pair 4 Test for the importance of water: Leave as was, but do not water.
3. Leave these seedlings for 2 more weeks, measuring every other day as before, and
recording measurements on the bar graphs.
4. At the end of this time, compare the growth of the pairs of seedlings grown under the
different conditions. Discuss the importance of light and water for growth.
5. Discuss how particulate air pollution produces from soot from burning, exhaust from
vehicles and factories, and dust from quarries and other sources can smother the surfaces
of leaves and hamper plant growth. Discuss why it is important to minimize this type of
pollution to protect plants, animals, and humans.

Evaluation:
Have students answer under which experimental conditions the seedling grew fastest.
Have students describe the effect of lack of water on plant growth.
Have students describe the effect of particulate pollution on plant growth.

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Seed Germination

Subjects: Science, Language Arts, Drama
Aims: Develop an understanding that seeds undergo changes as they germinate.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) draw the changes that take place in a seed as it grows
over a 7-day period, 2) learn and recite a poem about seed growth with actions, 3) write a diary
of a bean seed as it germinates and grows.
Previous knowledge: Seeds germinate and grow into plants
Key vocabulary: germination, seedling, growth, roots, stem
Suggested Time: Session 1 – 20 mins Session 2 – 20 mins Session 3 - 30 mins initially, and
to continue over a week.
Materials: planted bean seeds, which have begun to germinate, Growing poem, Diary of a bean
seed sheets

Science: Seeds undergo changes as they germinate. (p9)
Language Arts: Speaking – Sharing information and feelings (p12)
Writing – Extended writing task (p71)

Preparation
1. Students should have already planted bean seeds and they should have begun to
germinate
2. Students should have already learnt about the seed growing process.

Activity:

SESSION 1
1. Ask students to describe what happens to a bean seed when it starts to germinate, then
grow.
2. Read out the Growing Poem. (This should be written out on Bristol Board for the
students to read also).

Growing Poem
This is a seed, so small, so small.
I hope someday it will grow tall.
First the roots grow way down deep
They grow so low, they creep and creep.
Next the seed sprouts up and out!
“Hey where’s the sun?” it starts to shout.
Up it grows! The leaves grow too!
And maybe some beans, just for you.

3. Ask students to say poem with you. Repeat a few times until they have learnt it.
4. Teach students movements that go with the poem
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Movements
Make fists with your hands. Place them on top of each other, one palm facing down to the
ground and the other facing up to the ceiling.
Open bottom fist and dangle the fingers below.
On the word out, point thumb on top fist straight up.
Wiggle thumb.
Move arm up along side of bottom fist like a plant growing. Open two fingers for leaves.
Open a fingers dangling down for beans.

SESSION 2
1. Ask students to imagine that they are a bean seed that has been planted. Get them to curl
themselves up in to a ball with their eyes closed, so that it is dark. Imagine they are
planted and water is poured onto them.
2. Ask students to shout out words to describe how they feel.
3. Ask students to imagine that they are swelling. They can show this with there bodies by
spreading their bodies out slightly. How do they feel?
4. Imagine that the roots are trying to break out at the bottom of the seed. Students can show
this by one arm down to the ground and shaking out their fingers. What does it feel like?
5. Now the stem is trying to burst out of your head. Students can raise other arm up into the
air. How does it feel?
6. Ask students to begin to slowly stretch up into the air and reach towards the sun. What
does this feel like?

SESSION 3
1. Show students enlarged copy of Diary of a Bean Seed. Tell them that they are going to
write their own 7-day diary about germinating putting themselves in the position of the
bean.
2. Discuss with students what a diary is – a record of feelings and events.
3. Model how to write the first page of the diary, using some of the vocabulary students
used during the drama exercise. Focus on what is happening to you and how you feel
about it.
4. Model how to draw a picture to go with the diary entry to record the changes.
5. Students can write their own diary entry about their first day as a planted bean seed.
6. Continue to write diary entries throughout the week, drawing pictures of how the bean
changes as it germinates and grows.

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Classifying animals

Subjects: Science
Aims: Increase knowledge of animals
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) identify major physical observable characteristics of
different groups of animals, 2) classify pictures of animals using a decision tree.
Previous knowledge:
Key vocabulary: wildlife, animal, ecosystem, habitat
Materials: Items from the classroom, drawings, or pictures of animals.

Classifying animals

Subjects: Science
Aims: Increase knowledge of animals
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) identify major physical observable characteristics of
different groups of animals, 2) classify pictures of animals using a decision tree.
Previous knowledge:
Key vocabulary: wildlife, animal, ecosystem, habitat
Materials: Items from the classroom, drawings, or pictures of animals.

Science: Animals can be grouped according to different traits. (p9)

Every effort is made here to follow the accepted scientific classification system used for
animals. Students can begin at a very early age to learn the important characteristics that
separate the various groups. It is not important that they learn every term, but many of them
will be familiar (bird, fish, insect) and others may be emphasized at the discretion of the
teacher. Other appropriate terms may be used, for example “Animals with Bones” to describe
vertebrates. Teachers should select animals that the students will be relatively familiar with,
or spend preparatory time reviewing this.

Activity:

SESSION I
1. Conduct a simple classification of different items commonly found in the classroom to
illustrate the principles of classification using observational skills.
2. Use items from groups of items used in the classroom, and classify them into: things used
to write with (chalk, crayons, pencils, pens); things made of paper (books, paper,
newspapers); and things to eat (food).
3. Then take a group and classify it further. For example, separate all the writing
instruments into different colours, or separate the food into different types (fruit, drinks,
sandwiches, etc.). Discuss how things can be grouped depending on how they look.

SESSION II

1. Prepare drawings or collect pictures of the following animals: ant, cockroach, dog, agouti,
deer, lizard, alligator, parrot, pigeon, spider, crab, guppy, redfish, jellyfish, turtle, frog,
centipede and millipede.
2. Review and discuss some of the main observable characteristics of these different animals.
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3. Classify these into groups based on observable characteristics using the classification tree
given below. Draw the tree on the blackboard or a large chart and as a class activity ask
the questions given to place each animal in turn into its appropriate category. The teacher
may have to tell the students whether the animals have bones or not, since this cannot be
directly observed.
4. Paste pictures of the animals under their categories.

Does the animal have bones inside of its body?
| |
| |
Yes = VERTEBRATE No = INVERTEBRATE
How many legs does the animal have? How many legs does the animal have?
| | | | |
| | | | |
none = FISH 2 = BIRD 4 = MAMMAL 6 = INSECT |
AMPHIBIAN |
REPTILE 8, many or none =
Does the animal have fur? OTHER INVERTEBRATE
| |
| |
Yes = MAMMAL No = AMPHIBIAN or
REPTILE
Does the animal spend part of its life in the water?
Does it have flippers or webbed feet to help it swim in the water?
| |
| |
Yes = AMPHIBIAN No = REPTILE
Evaluation:
Paste up the pictures on a large board into their groups according to the classification
tree. Review the questions asked to separate out these groups. Ask students what
common features place the animals in each group. Ask what features distinguish
different groups.
Ask students to place these or other animals into these groups, using the same series of
questions in the decision tree: dinosaur (reptile), monkeys (mammals), carite (fish), beetle
(insect), corbeau (bird), etc..
Ask students what group they think people fit into (humans). Discuss how humans have
changed so that some features of their group are different (now walk on two feet, other
two adapted for holding, etc.).

Divide students into groups representing the different groups of animals. Let each group
collect pictures or do drawings of animals in their group. Display these groups on the
classroom wall.

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Litter in schools

Subjects: Science
Aims: Encourage students not to litter
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) demonstrate an appreciation of the waste disposal
problem, 2) show a concern for maintaining a clean and healthy environment 3) identify and
classify different types of solid domestic waste.
Previous knowledge: Students should know that litter is waste from human activities, and know
the three R’s reduce, reuse and recycle.
Key vocabulary: waste, pollution, litter, environment
Suggested Time: 2 periods and ongoing
Materials: several large litter containers, coloured paper, litter

Science: It is important to properly dispose of litter (11)

This lesson is a further development of the Litter lesson in Infant 1 Care should again be
taken not to expose the students to any harmful litter (such as broken glass etc.). Students
must carefully wash their hands after handling all litter. After this activity, the teacher should
continue to help students implement the principles learnt into daily life, for example by
encouraging the reuse of materials where possible, both in the school and at home.

Activity:

Pre-Activity:
Bring in (or ask the students to bring in) several large containers for the classroom that can be
used for collecting trash.

Hands-on:
SESSION I
1. Review how litter is produced from human activities, giving examples from everyday
life. Recall how litter is made up of many different types of items and materials,
including plastic, paper, glass, and cans.
2. Instruct students how to separate their trash into the marked containers for one day.
Separate paper, litter from food (lunch wrappers, containers, etc.), plastic, glass, cans,
other

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3. After the day is over, examine the contents of the different containers.
4. Discuss how some litter can be reused, for example plastic containers and some paper.
Discuss why it is important to reuse where possible in order to reduce the amount of litter.
Discuss which items in the containers could have been reused and not thrown away.
5. Discuss how some materials can be recycled, for example glass. Find out how the glass
litter from the school can be recycled, and do it.
6. Discuss how some waste can be reduced. For example, were things thrown away that
could still be used? Were things thrown away that were unnecessary packaging? Discuss
some ideas how students can reduce the amount of waste that they produce.
7. Now separate the litter into piles of what can be reduced, reused, recycled, and a pile for
what must be thrown away. Count how many bags of trash of each of these categories
produced. Use any size bag, grocery bags will work well. Label each group of bags with a
colour. Let green represent the litter that can be reduced, that is never dumped in the garbage
in the first place. Let yellow represent litter that can be recycled. Let blue represent litter
that can be reused. Let red be the litter that cannot be reduced, reused, or recycled, and
therefore must go to the garbage dump.
8. Write on the board how many of each colour container were produced by the class.
9. Review how human activities produce large quantities of waste.

SESSION II
1. Do a demonstration to look at the effect of reducing the litter that is being produced.
2. Sit the students in a circle.
3. Divide the students into teams so that there is a team assigned for each class in the school.
4. Give each team four different colour squares or blocks: red, yellow, blue and green. These
represent the different types of litter that have already been sorted. Give each team an accurate
proportion of the different blocks according to the number of bags of trash produced by the class
from Session I.
5. Draw a circle with chalk on the floor as the place where the garbage from the school is
dumped.
6. Let all the teams of garbage collectors put all of their blocks of garbage in a pile in the circle.
7. Discuss how the circle is full of garbage. Discuss what would happen tomorrow when more
litter is added. Discuss what happens when people keep producing more and more litter.
8. Discuss how dumping of litter in the environment pollutes the environment, and how this can
be harmful for humans, animals, and plants.
9. Now let each team remove their green, yellow and red blocks in turn. After each removal
discuss how this reduces the amount of litter that needs to be dumped. Discuss how people can
act to reduce the amount of litter produced by reducing, reusing and recycling.

Evaluation:

Give students the homework assignment to ask their parents: (1) how many bags of trash
they throw away every week, (2) what items in the house do they reuse, and (3) what
items do they recycle. Add up the number of bags for the whole class. Discuss how long
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it would take to fill up the whole classroom with bags of trash if they were all dumped
there. Discuss what items were reused and recycled. Ask students what they were going
to do to help reuse, recycle, and reduce how much litter each of them produced.
Make a collection of items that can be reused for the display corner or table. Have
students make labels for the different items. Have students colour or trace the letters.
Make a big label "REUSE" for the display.

Make a picture to label the containers for the glass (and other material) to be recycled.
Print "RECYCLE" and draw a picture of a glass bottle, etc.. Have the students trace the
letters and colour the picture. Let students take this poster home to label the container for
recycled items in the house. Let students encourage parents to reuse and recycle at home.
Develop a reduce, reuse and recycle program in the school. Let the students develop
posters that highlight the importance of this program, and labels to place above each
container to illustrate what the contents of the container are, and how they should be
sorted. Display these in the classroom, in the school, and at home.
Have students interview their parents to ask them, which of their childhood things they
have saved, for the students to reuse. It may be clothes, books, toys, furniture, a house,
land, etc.. In class, discuss the importance of one generation taking care of the
environment so that it can also be used by future generations.

reduce Encourage the students not to waste. This includes taking care of objects so that
they last. Some ideas on how to reduce waste are: use towels instead of paper
napkins and handkerchiefs instead of tissues; put sandwiches in washable
containers instead of foil or plastic bags; use washable plates, glasses and cups
instead of disposable ones; take your own cloth bags to the market, store, and
grocery; and make a compost pile in a corner of your backyard at home to use food
scraps (especially vegetables) as manure.
reuse Reusing paper is easy. Often we only use one side of the paper, we can sometimes
use both sides. Send a note to parents or local businesses and ask them to donate
any waste computer paper from their work. Make full use of old newspapers,
magazines, and paper bags. Reuse old containers and tins. Have boxes in the
classroom for: old paper bags, old plastic bags, newspapers and magazines, scrap
paper, plastic containers, tins and jars.
recycle Set up a program to recycle glass and any other materials for which there is a
program in T&T. Have a bin for each item to be recycled, and label it.

110

An aquarium ecosystem

Aims: To create and maintain an artificial ecosystem.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) describe how an aquarium is an artificial eco-system that
consists of living and non-living components, 2) classify the species in an ecosystem according
to their trophic level, that is into plants and herbivores, 3) describe how the species in an
ecosystem are linked by their feeding relationship, 4) draw pictures of living components of the
ecosystem.
Previous knowledge: Students should know what an ecosystem and a food chain are.
Key vocabulary: ecosystem, plant, animal, herbivore, carnivore, food chain
Materials: glass or plastic container, water, aquatic plants, fish, stones, or other substrate, fish
food, paper cards, drawing material, string

Science: The aquarium is an artificial aquatic habitat. ( p11 )
Art & Craft: develop skills in drawing and colouring. ( p16 )

This activity looks at an aquarium ecosystem. A small aquarium can be very cheaply set up
using a large glass bowl or jaw and guppies or even tadpoles. Larger systems would require
an aerator. Consider borrowing an aquarium for the lesson, or setting up a small temporary
one. Maintenance of a healthy aquarium ecosystem over a period of time requires time and
care. Make sure to provide food and keep the water clean and well aerated. Consult a local
pet store for advice. Remember to discuss that wildlife belongs in nature, and should not be
removed unless for scientific observation.

Activity:

Pre-Activity:
1. Prepare the aquarium.
2. Prepare or have the students cut pieces of paper into 15cm x 10cm cards or any other
convenient size.

Hands-on:

SESSION I
1. Have the students observe the ecosystem.
2. Have the students list and discuss the animals, plants and the non-living features (water,
stones, air) that they have observed in the aquarium.
3. Divide the students into groups, depending on how many items you have identified, so that in
each group one person is assigned to one item in the aquarium.
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4. Have each student observe their item in the ecosystem, and make drawing of the item on one
side of the card. Let students colour the item.
5. One another card, instruct students to clearly write the name of their item. Let them copy this
from a list on the blackboard.
6. Have students present their cards to the class.
7. Let each group use the cards to play a game of "Memory". In this version, a pair consists of
the picture of the item matched with its name on the second card. This is played by turning all of
the cards face down, and each player in turn turning over a pair. If the pair is the same the
player can remove and keep the pair. The player with the most pairs wins.
8. Or let the students play "Go Fish" with the cards. Again the object is to make pairs.

SESSION II
1. Group the picture cards to classify the items in the ecosystem into living and non-living.
Discuss how an ecosystem is made up of both of these.
2. Group the picture cards to classify the living items into animals and plants.
3. Explain how all living things need energy to live and grow. For example, humans need to eat
food to get energy. Explain how plants get their energy from the sun, and how some animals get
their energy from eating plants. Discuss how the fish or tadpoles feed on the plants (or that the
fish food is made from plants).
4. Make a food chain to show this flow of energy from the sun > plants > animals. Punch holes
in the cards and attach them together with string to make the chain.
5. Display these food chains as mobiles in the classroom.
6. Discuss how animals and plants are interconnected through feeding relationships.

Ideas for Evaluation:
Ask students to identify four items found in the aquarium and say whether they are living or
non-living.
Give each group an additional card of an animal that would be a carnivore in the ecosystem.
This could be a bigger fish, a bird, or a person. Ask the students how this animal fits into the
ecosystem. Have students extend the food chain to this additional level.

Do a similar activity for a coral reef ecosystem after looking at pictures and reading stories
about that ecosystem.
Have students identify one living component in the aquarium ecosystem and classify it as
plant, herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore.

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Mystery Objects

Aims: To encourage a greater appreciation of nature.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) describe the shape and functions of a variety of natural
structures and objects that occur in nature, 2) discuss, identify and draw lines and shapes in
nature.
Previous knowledge: Common man-made structures have form and function.
Key vocabulary: natural, man-made, structure, shape, function
Suggested Time: Session 1 – 40 mins Session 2 – 30 mins
Materials: variety of natural objects (preferably unfamiliar to the children), pictures of the
materials in their natural state, cards with questions, pencils and paper

Science: Common structures have form and function (p12)
Art and Craft: Explore and identify shapes and patterns (p15)

Activity:

Session 1
1. Ask students to describe a house and draw picture following their instructions.
2. Introduce and explain the term man-made structure
3. Discuss the shape of the structure and why they are shaped that way (the function that
they perform) eg. A roof is sloping so that the rain washes off.
4. Explain that structures in nature are also a particular shape for a reason, in order to
perform particular functions.
5. Ask students to describe a tree and draw picture following their instructions.
6. Discuss the shape of the structure and why they are shaped that way (the function that
they perform) eg. The long thin roots spread out into the soil to collect water to grow.
7. Hold up a mystery object found in nature (eg. a palm tree leaf). Question children:
• What shape is it?
• What colour is it?
• What does it feel like?
• What does it look like?
• Where do you think it comes from?
• What do you think it is?
• What function do you think it performs?

8. Explain what the object is to the students and why it is shaped in that particular way (the
function it performs) Show a picture of the structure in its natural state.
9. Divide students into groups of 4/5 and give them each mystery object and a card with
questions on to answer (eg. flamboyant tree pod, star coral, bamboo root)
10. Circulate around the groups and ask them to discuss the answers within the group

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11. Ask students from each group to feedback their findings to the rest of the class.
12. Students to take information card out of envelope and read about their mystery object.
Explain what each object is to the students and why it is shaped in that particular way
(the function it performs).

Session 2
1. Students to observe and draw their natural object.

Suggested Follow-up Activities
1. Make a 3-dimensional model of the natural objects.
2. Students to collect a range of natural mystery objects and bring them in to school for
display.

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Mystery Objects
What shape is it?

What colour is it?

What does it feel like?

What does it look like?

Where do you think it comes
from?

What do you think it is?

What function do you think it
performs?

Lessons – Standard 1

Wildlife in ecosystems
Subjects: Science, Drama, Language Arts, Art & Craft
Science: Organisms survive in various habitats. (p17)
Language Arts: Sharing information and feelings (p85)
Imaginative writing: narratives and descriptions (p113)
Art & Craft: Create drawings from specific topics/themes (p21)

Habitat Game

Land conservation
Subjects: Science

Camouflage as adaptation
Subjects: Science, Physical Education, Art &Craft
Science: Animals protect themselves through camouflage. (p17)

Picture maps of the environment
Subjects: Social Studies, Science
Social Science: Describing features of the local environment. (p88)

115

Wildlife in ecosystems

Subjects: Science, Drama, Language Arts, Art & Craft
Aims: To understand that we need to conserve animal habitats
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) differentiate between the diversity of wildlife in a
selected ecosystem, 2) act out behaviors of different animals, 3) tell and write a story about an
animal’s life 4) Make a poster depicting an animal in its habitat.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with the selected ecosystem.
Key vocabulary: ecosystem, animal, wildlife
Materials: paper, drawing materials

Language Arts: Sharing information and feelings (p85)
Imaginative writing: narratives and descriptions (p113)

This lesson continues to help students explore and learn about the components of natural
ecosystems.

Activity:
1. Divide the class into groups and assign each group a selected ecosystem (forest, beach, coral
reef, grassland, swamp, etc.).
2. Ask each student to choose an animal to present.
3. Let each student research his or her animal as a homework assignment. They should find
out: what the animal looks like, what it sounds like, possibly what it eats, possibly what eats
it, other information on how it lives.

Evaluation:
Play a charades game where each student in turn acts out the behaviour of their chosen
character, and tells the story of what life is like for that character (what it does every day,
where it goes in the forest, who are its enemies, what does it eat). Have students identify the
animal and its ecosystem.
Have each group make a poster showing the animals they have presented in their ecosystem,
with the ecosystem and each animal clearly labeled.
Have students write a story entitled "My life as a -----" or "A day in the life of a ----".

116

Habitat Game

Aims: To understand that we need to conserve animal habitats
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) identify the different components of habitat for animals
in a chosen ecosystem, 2) draw their chosen animal and components of its habitat.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with the chosen ecosystem, and with the
components of habitat being food, water, space and shelter.
Key vocabulary: ecosystem, habitat, animal
Materials: paper for cards, drawing materials, scissors


An ecosystem should be chosen that the students are already familiar with. This lesson is
adapted from an activity in Project WILD 1994.

Activity:
1. Divide the class into groups of 2-3 students.
2. Select an ecosystem, and have each group choose an animal from the ecosystem.
3. Review the basic components of an animal’s habitat as food, water, shelter, and space.
4. Have each group research what are the components of their animal’s habitat, and prepare a
card that illustrates (a) their animal (b) a component. Each group should therefore produce
four cards (food, water, space, and shelter). Each card should be illustrated and labeled.

Evaluation:
Have groups of students play a game of rummy with the habitat cards.
1. Each group of players will need a complete set of cards for all the animals. Do this by
making extra copies of the cards that each group originally designed.
2. The object of the game is for a player to get all four cards for an animal's habitat.
3. Start play by dealing four cards to each player.
4. Place the cards that were not dealt in a pile face down in the middle.
5. Each player may discard 1-3 cards during their play, and pick up the same number of new
cards, all from either the new pile or the discard pile.
6. Play progresses around the circle until one player gets a complete set of habitat cards for an
animal.
7. Each group can continue playing until all the players in a group have a complete habitat set.
This group then wins.

117

Make a large poster as a "Habitat Information Chart" to display by pasting on all the cards in
a table with the headings as demonstrated below.

animal animal 1 animal 2 animal 3 animal 4
food
water
shelter
space

118

Land conservation

Subjects: Science
Aims: To investigate the need for humans to demonstrate care and concern for animals and their
homes.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) list some of the values of a forest ecosystem, 2) list some
of the human activities that are responsible for deforestation
Previous knowledge: Students should know the basic components of a forest ecosystem.
Key vocabulary: forest, deforestation, population, pollution, value
Materials: newspaper, tape, paper, scissors, colouring materials


This lesson develops further ideas of how human activities can negatively impact the land,
with particular reference to forests and deforestation. The teacher should take care not to
imply that humans should not use the land, but rather should emphasize that people need to be
careful about how their activities can have negative effects on the land, the plants, the animals
and also on the people themselves. Session I examines the different values that people place
on forests. Session II uses four different accounts of how people see forests to examine
different perspectives that people have. It is important that students recognize that different
people have different perspectives, and that no one is necessarily superior to another. The
important lessons from Session III are that planning human activities is important to minimize
negative impacts on the environment and that increasing human population size and the
resulting increasing activities are having extremely severe negative impacts on the
environment.

Activity:

SESSION I
1. Review the basic living and non-living components of a forest ecosystem.
2. Ask the students to brainstorm why a forest is important. Discuss these together. Try to
include consideration of the values listed in the table below.

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Value Examples
Goods A forest produces many important goods that people use, for example wood
from trees, plants to make baskets from, fruit to eat, animals to eat,
medicines from plants (bush tea as well as other medicines that are bought
in the pharmacy), etc.. Forests are also important areas for recreation.
Services Forests also perform several important ecological services. Very
importantly they serve as habitat for a great diversity of animals and plants.
These animals and plants may be used by people, for example animals are
hunted and fruits are gathered for food. Forests are also important as they
help the rain to soak up into the soils so that it does not run off and flood
other areas. Forests help to keep an area cool, even having trees near to
your house will keep it shady and cool.
Spiritual value People also value forests for their aesthetic beauty and spiritual or religious
value. In T&T, we have many folklores about the forest, for example about
Papa Bois, the guardian of the forest. Thus forests have cultural value also.
Intrinsic value People also think that forests are important in their own right, independent
of the values that they hold for humans. This is harder to explain, but use
the analogy of asking a student why he or she is important. It is not only
because they are important to their family or their friends (though they are).
It is also because they are important in their own right, even if other people
did not think that they were important. In the same way, forests and
everything in them are important in their own right.

SESSION II
3. Read the following stories from different people’s perspectives.
4. Discuss the ways in which the forest is important to them.
5. Explain that different people have different perspectives, which all are important and
need to be considered.
6. Discuss whether some of these activities can be potentially harmful to the forest and how.

"My name is Ana. I live in a small house with my family near the forest. My father is a
farmer and we kids have to help him in his fields. He plants beans, lettuce, and other
vegetables that we sell in the market every Sunday. But we cannot grow enough to sell,
so we need more fields to plant. We are going to clear a small piece of forest near our
house. We will plant corn, beans, bodi, pawpaw, and bananas there. My father and
older brother have been working hard to cut down some of the plants. Next week we are
going to light a fire to burn the plants there to make room to grow food. My father also
hunts wild animals from the forest for us to eat. My mother collects plants to make
medicines for us when we are sick. My brothers and I like to play games in the forest,
and pretend that we are explorers. The forest is very important to my family, but we need
to clear some of it to plant food."
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"My name is Ravi. My mother loves to watch birds. Nearly every weekend, she goes on
long walks with her friends into the forest to look for birds. Sometimes I go along too. I
like to look for the tiny insects crawling about on the forest floor. My favourite is when
we go to a river or a waterfall to bathe. It's such fun to splash about in the cool water on
a hot day. Sometimes I just like to sit quietly by myself on a log. Once I saw a group of
people saying prayers by the river. I like to be in the forest because it's such a quiet and
peaceful place."

"My name is Ken. My grandfather is always telling me fun stories. One of the stories is
about Papa Bois. Papa Bois is a man who protects all the animals and plants in the
forest. If some bad people come into the forest, Papa Bois will tell them to go away. He
is the forest's friend. Sometimes I wonder how Papa Bois can protect the forest when
there are so many people who want to cut it down. I saw a big truck driving past my
house yesterday, loaded with big logs. When I went into the forest I saw from where the
men had taken the logs. They had cut them down with their big saws, then dragged them
out with a tractor. I could see where the tractor had passed, because all of the plants
were crushed and there were two deep lines in the mud where the wheels had passed. I
was sorry that all those small plants had to die just to get that one big tree. I guess that
the wood from that tree will be used to build someone a home. That's very important too,
but I wish that the birds who lived in that tree did not have to lose their home."

"My name is Jane. I love driving in a car or taxi. Even the bus is fun. I like to sit near
the window so that I can watch at the things outside as we drive by. I like to look at the
people walking at the side of the road and the houses with the pretty flowers in the
gardens. I also like it when we drive past the forest. Last week when we drove past the
forest I was very sad. I saw where a big fire had burnt the forest at the edge of the road.
I asked my big brother what had happened and he told me that someone had probably let
a fire burn by mistake. What a terrible mistake! All of the trees were black and their
leaves had been burnt off. All of the small plants were gone. I couldn't see any animals,
not even a little lizard, or a bird. They had all run away when the fire came. Where will
they live now I wonder? Will the forest ever grow back? I don't know."

Evaluation:
Divide the class into small groups, and have each group draw two pictures, one
that shows a way that forests are important to them, and the other a way that
human activities are responsible for forests being destroyed. Place these pictures
as the leaves of a large tree outlined on the wall. Use pieces of newspaper pasted
on the wall to form the trunk and branches of the tree.
Have students answer why forests are important to them or ways that human
activities are destroying forests by telling a story, drawing a picture, acting a role,
or singing a song.

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Put on a play telling the story of why forests are important and how some human
activities are destroying forests. Students may be people, animals, plants, or the land
(soil, air, and water) when they are telling this story.

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Camouflage as adaptation

Subjects: Science, Physical Education, Art &Craft
Aims: To understand that animals have evolved to protect themselves through camouflage.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) match an animals camouflage to its environment, 2)
identify reasons why camouflage is important to animals that are prey or predators, 3) play a
game of catch as predator and prey, 4) draw coral reef environments and their inhabitants.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with the animal chosen as examples in this
lesson.
Key vocabulary: camouflage, predator, prey, habitat
Materials: brown paper, newspaper, white or coloured paper, colouring materials, pictures if
possible, cloth

Science: Animals protect themselves through camouflage. (p17)

These activities look at camouflage in animals as an adaptation. The teacher should use
animals that the students are familiar with. Games are a fun way to facilitate student learning,
but the teacher must always conduct a strong and focused wrap-up session to highlight the
lessons learnt at the end.
Camouflage is the natural colouring of an animal that enables it to blend in with its
surroundings. Typically, animals want to blend in with their surroundings to avoid being
detected and eaten by their predators. Lizards and iguanas are coloured a dull brown to blend
in with the bark of the plants that they live on in order to avoid detection by birds. Others are
coloured green to blend in with the leaves. Beetles and many other insects that live in the
earth are coloured dark brown to blend in with the soil. Camouflage is not limited to
colouration. Grasshoppers are green and have long thin bodies to resemble blades of grass.
The stick insect has a brown or green stick-like body to avoid detection. Conversely,
predators may also want to avoid being detected by their prey to minimize the chances of the
prey escaping. The raptors (birds of prey) like hawks often have a light underbelly. This is so
that they blend in with the light sky when viewed from the ground by their prey. Similarly
may fish have light underbellies and dark upper surfaces. The shark is a predator that has a
light underbelly to avoid being seen by its prey below it as it swims along the surface of the
water. Lions and other large cats of the savannas are coloured to blend in with the dry grass as
they stalk their prey. Camouflage is an adaptation of an animal to the particular characteristics
of its environment. If human activities change the features of the environment the animal may
not longer be camouflaged in it.

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Activity:

SESSION I
1. Discuss how all living things need food to survive and grow.
2. Discuss what food different animals eat. Discuss how some animals eat plants
(herbivores) and other animals eat other animals (carnivores). Some animals are prey in
that they are eaten by other animals, which are their predators.
3. Discuss how prey uses camouflage as a means of protection from their enemies, using the
example of a lizard on a tree trying to hide from birds.
4. Play a short game of "hide and seek" where the students who are the prey (lizards) can
hide from their predators (birds). The "birds" must flap their wings while moving.
Discuss how the "lizards" that are hidden the best escape from being caught and "eaten"
for the longest time. Discuss how camouflage helps prey to avoid being eaten by their
predators.
5. Discuss how predators use camouflage to try to sneak up on their prey. Use the example
of a shark whose light underbelly is camouflaged against the light sky and whose dark
upper surface is camouflaged against the dark sea bottom so it, so that it can sneak up on
its prey from above or below without being detected.
6. Play a short game of "catch" where some students are the shark predators and others are
the fish prey. Blindfold some of the fish to simulate them not detecting the presence of
the prey as well as the other fish. Discuss how the predators can catch more prey if they
can sneak up on them. Discuss why camouflage helps predators to do this.

SESSION II
1. Examine how blending in colouration with the environment is a useful camouflage
strategy.
2. Prepare a large mosaic of 30 cm x 30 cm squares of: newspaper, brown paper from used
bags, and white or any other solid colour paper. These are the different environments.
Place then side by side on the ground.
3. Prepare five 2 cm x 2 cm squares of each colour environment: newspaper, brown paper,
and white or coloured paper.
4. Without being observed by the students (ask them to close their eyes for example), place
the 15 squares randomly over the three environments.
5. Ask the students to stand at least 2 metres away and find the squares. Let the students
line up and file past, each student finding one square.
6. Discuss with the class which of the squares were easiest and which were hardest to find,
and why.

SESSION III
7. Talk about the coral reef environment, and look at pictures.
8. Divide the class into teams to construct a mural of the different environments found in a
coral reef: rocks, bare sand, sea grass, and coral. This could be done on Bristol board or
smaller sheets of paper pasted on the wall of the classroom. Remember to encourage the
use of reused paper. Let students draw and colour each of these backgrounds.
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9. Ask a team that did NOT prepare the background to design fish that would be
camouflaged in one of the environments. Do this for each environment. Students should
draw their fish on separate paper, colour them, and cut and paste them into the
background environment. Let students name their fish.
10. Discuss as a class what features of the fish (colouration, patterning, shape, etc.) were
useful in camouflage in each environment.
11. Discuss how features that camouflaged the fish in one environment did not camouflage it
in another. Discuss how animals are adapted to their particular habitats.

SESSION IV
12. Discuss how human activity sometimes causes changes in an animal's habitat. For
example, pollution may cause death of corals and seaweeds in a marine ecosystem, and
fire or cutting can remove green vegetation used by animals for camouflage.
13. Demonstrate this by changing the characteristics of one of the environments used by
pasting white paper over the previous background to simulate clearing of coral reefs or
aquatic vegetation.
14. Ask students if the fish that were previously camouflaged in the environment now are
camouflaged. Discuss how changes in an animals habitat may mean that it is no longer
well camouflaged.
15. Discuss how absence of protective camouflage may cause some animals’ populations to
decline as either predators are not successful in catching enough food, or prey are not
successful in evading predators.
16. Have students identify and discuss some of the ways that human activities are changing
habitat and resulting in loss of an animal’s ability to use protective camouflage. Include
examples on the impact of fire and cutting in a forest or savanna ecosystem.

Evaluation:
Prepare cut outs of several fish, of different colours, patterns and shapes. Ask students to
correctly place them in the background environments in the mural where they would be
camouflaged. Ask students to explain their selection.
Ask students which coloured clothing should they use to camouflage themselves in the
different areas in the classroom (for example, what colours are the walls, the door, the
floor, the blackboard, etc.? After the discussion, have students bring in and wear
different coloured clothing as costumes, and ask them to try to camouflage themselves in
the environment in the classroom that best matches their clothing.
Play games with the squares of paper on the three different background environments.
For this, there should be several small and large areas of each environment in a mosaic to
make locating the squares more challenging. More squares should be used. One
variation could divide the class into three teams and time how long each team takes to
find all of their randomly placed squares. The fastest time wins. The teacher or the
opposing team may place the squares. Another variation could time how long it takes to
find the randomly placed squares versus those that are camouflaged.

125

Let students cut out or draw and colour pictures of other prey and their predators.
Discuss the habitat of these animals, and show pictures if possible? Are these animals
camouflaged in their habitats?
Make a "surprise terrarium" containing an animal that is camouflaged in the environment
in the terrarium (for example a grasshopper, a stick insect, a moth, a lizard, etc.). Ask the
students to find the animal, and discuss how it is camouflaged.

126

Picture maps of the environment

Subjects: Social Studies, Science
Aims: To investigate the need for humans to demonstrate care and concern for animals, plants
and their homes.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) describe and draw features of the local environment, 2)
identify and name examples of ecosystems 3) describe how human development results in
fragmentation of natural habitat.
Previous knowledge: Students should know what an ecosystem is and some of the animals that
live in a forest.
Key vocabulary: ecosystem
Materials: paper, drawing, materials, scissors, glue

Social Science: Describing features of the local environment. (p88)

This activity has students create picture maps to identify ecosystems at different scales and
also to look at how human development in an area causes habitat fragmentation. Young
children can only interpret area on a very limited scale, so the area chosen to draw the map in
Session I should be appropriate to this.

Activity:

SESSION I
1. Choose a local area, whether it is the school, the neighbourhood around the school, the area
near the local park or playground, the village, etc..
2. Discuss the features of the area, including buildings, roads, trees, grassy areas, etc..
3. Have students draw and colour these features, and cut them out.
4. Paste the features of the site onto a large piece of paper (reused paper may be suitable) to
make a pictorial map.
5. Discuss the map with the students. Ask the to identify different features, and paths to walk
from one feature to another.
6. Review what is an ecosystem, that is a system with living plants and animals together with
the non-living parts of the environment.
7. Have students identify ecosystems on the map. These may be individual plants, trees,
fragments of forest, ponds, gardens, drains, streams, rivers, fields, etc..
8. Discuss how ecosystems occur at different scales.
9. Discuss what animals could be living in these ecosystems.

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10. Discuss how these ecosystems occur as isolated ecosystems, separated from others of the
same type by intervening environments that are different.
11. Discuss how the intervening ecosystems may not be suitable for the animals and plants in the
ecosystem. For example, the road surrounding a field is not a good environment for the
grasshoppers that live in the field.

SESSION II
1.Develop a pictorial map from the story of how an imaginary village developed where once was
forest. Read each item and have students represent it on the map. Call the area Treeland.

"Long ago, before people came to live in Treeland, there were only forests." Lay down a
large piece of reused paper or green Bristol board to represent Treeland.
"Then one day, people built a road through Treeland." Colour in black using a pen or
marker a long strip through the board to represent the road. This should divide Treeland into
two pieces.
"Soon many other people came to live in Treeland and built their houses there. They built
their houses along the road." Have students draw, colour and cut out houses and paste them
along the road.
"These people planted fields and gardens to grow food." Have students draw, colour and cut
out pictures representing fields and gardens. Have them paste them on the board and away
from the road.
"More people cam to live in Treeland and it became a very busy place." Have students add
in more houses. When all the space along the main road is taken up, place the remaining
houses away from the road.
“Soon the people in Treeland needed more roads. They built more roads to go to other
places and to the houses, fields and gardens that were far from the main road." Draw in
roads connecting these to the main road using a pen or marker. Have the roads extend to the
edge of the board. Treeland should now be divided into several pieces.
2.Discuss how the forest was divided into several smaller pieces. Have students identify the
areas with remaining forest.
3.Have the students draw, colour and cut out trees.
4.Paste these trees in the areas representing the remaining forest fragments.
5.Discuss what animals might live in these forest fragments.
6.Discuss how human development results in breaking up or fragmenting the habitat of animals
and plants. Discuss how this means that animals and plants will have less space to live in, and
how they may become separated from other animals and plants as crossing the roads may be
dangerous for them. Use the analogy of a neighbourhood as the habitat. Have students imagine
that bulldozers cleared tracks through the neighbourhood, crashing through some people’s
homes. These people would have to try and live with their friends in their house. It would be
very crowded. Also, the people would not be able to easily cross the tracks without being in
danger of being run over by a bulldozer.
7.Review how human development can cause problems for animal and plant populations because
of habitat fragmentation.

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Evaluation:
Have students give two examples of ecosystems.
Ask students to identify where in the picture map from Session II some animals and plants
are found. For example use deer, snakes, trees, lizards, ants, dogs, cats, ants, iguana, frogs,
birds, others. Some will be found in houses with humans, in fields and gardens, in forests, or
in several of these. Students could draw, colour and cut these out and then paste them on the
map. This will show how the habitat of the animals has been fragmented by the human
development.
Have the students create a pictorial map of their home. Have them mark the location of any
plants. Discuss what could be living in these miniature ecosystems.

129


Animals and their young
Subjects: Science, Language Arts,
Science: Adults have young, which grow into adults, which in turn produce young. (p22)
Language Arts: Reading comprehension (p105)

Food Chains
Subjects: Science
Science: Animals feed on organisms (p23)

Predator –prey game
Subjects: Science, Physical Education,

Pour – a – pond
Science: Ponds are habitats for aquatic life (p24)
Art and Craft: Organise and illustrate clear ideas and information (p27)

Needs of plants
Subjects: Science
Science: Certain conditions are necessary for proper plant growth. (p22)

Stories about wildlife
Subjects: Social Science, Language Arts
Social Science: The natural environment (p114)
Language Arts: Reading comprehension: understand narrative and informational text (p105)

Senses in ecosystems
Subjects: Drama, Social Science

130

Animals and their young

Subjects: Science , Language Arts,
Aims: To introduce students to the concept of sustainable hunting
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) identify the reproductive strategies of different animals,
2) read a text and describe some of the implications that different reproductive strategies have for
conservation.
Previous knowledge: Students should be able to distinguish between different animals.
Key vocabulary: animal, young , reproduction
Materials: pictures of animals, large sheet of paper, drawing materials, string , sticks

Science: Adults have young, which grow into adults, which in turn produce young. (p22)
Language Arts: Reading comprehension (p105)

This activity looks at the different reproductive strategies in animals and highlights how these
may have important implications for their conservation. For example, if deer only produce
very few young each year, it is important that these young be allowed to survive. Hunting
regulations for animals such as these therefore must prohibit the killing of young and the
females that care for them during the weaning period. For animals that produce many young,
few of which survive to adulthood, the more sensitive life stage in need of protection is the
adult. Since very many young are produced, if many young die it is not a disaster. For
example, the leatherback turtle lays hundreds of eggs on a nesting beach every few years.
Most of the hatchlings from these eggs never make it to adulthood. The adult females have in
the past been severely poached on the nesting beaches, or on leaving the nesting beaches are
sometimes trapped in fishermen’s lines and nets and die. Poaching has been effectively
reduced due to collaborative efforts between the government (Wildlife Section, Forestry
Division) and grassroots organizations in the villages near the nesting beaches (in Matura,
Fishing Pond and Grande Riviere). The death of the adult females could seriously reduce the
growth of the turtle population, as sea turtles nest repeatedly over their lifetime. It is
important here to use animals which students are familiar with. Some examples are given in
this lesson, but the same activity can work for any animals selected.

Activity:

SESSION I
1. Discuss how animals reproduce either by live birth or by producing eggs from which
young later hatch. Discuss how young from live birth resemble their parents, while eggs
do not resemble the parents.

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2. Create a large class chart on Bristol board or on the blackboard. Use the examples in the
chart, and any others which students will be familiar with, to illustrate these principles.
Pictures or key words can be used to fill in the chart. For example, with the word eggs or a
drawing of eggs can be used.
animal produces young from eggs or young resemble parents
live birth or not
leatherback turtles eggs no
ocelots live birth yes
humans live birth yes
birds eggs no
deer live birth yes
frogs or alligators eggs no
fish eggs no
bees, ants, termites eggs No

SESSION II
1.Discuss how animals produce different numbers of young. Some animals produce very few
young and invest a lot of time and energy in their care. Other animals produce very many young
and invest very little in caring for them.
2.Use the examples in the chart, and any others which students will be familiar with, to illustrate
these principles.

animal produce many young or few parents take care of
at one time young or not
leatherback turtles Many parents do not take care
of young
ocelots usually 2 young parents take care of
young, they are blind at
birth
humans usually only one, rarely few parents spend a lot of
time for many years
taking care of young
birds few parents take care of
young until they can fly
deer one or few parents take care of
young

frogs or alligators many parents do not take care
of young

fish many parents do not take care
of young
bees, ants, termites many colony takes care of
young

SESSION III
1.Read the following stories as an introduction to a discussion about how different reproductive
strategies of animals may have important implications for their conservation, as it determines
which is the more sensitive life stage in need of protection and management. In the case of the
frog, the adult stage is the more sensitive stage as it uses a fast-reproducing strategy. In the case
of the deer, the juvenile stage is the more sensitive stage as it uses a slow-reproducing strategy.
Use questions like those suggested at the end of the passage and any others needed to guide the
discussion.

Imagine a small pond deep in the middle of the forest. In this pond, there lived six frogs.
Every year, the mother frogs would lay many eggs into the water and the father frogs would
fertilize the eggs to make sure they would grow into tadpoles. After some time, tadpoles
would hatch from the eggs and swim around in the pond, slowly growing larger, losing their
tail and growing legs as they changed into adult frogs. The mother and father frogs did not
take care of the tadpoles, but they were left on their own to swim around, find food, and hide
from the fish that loved to eat them. Some of the tadpoles will never survive to be mother and
father frogs themselves. One day, a little girl who loved to collect frogs came to the pond.
She wanted to collect some of the frogs to take to the pond in her garden. The girl wanted to
make sure that there would be frogs in the pond in the future, and enough mother and father
frogs to make new tadpoles. She could not decide if she should collect adult frogs or collect
tadpoles. Can you help the little girl make her decision?

Guiding questions
What are baby frogs called?
Do baby frogs come from eggs that are laid or are they born alive?
What do tadpoles look like?
What do adult frogs look like?
Pretend that you are a tadpole, show how they swim in the water.
Pretend that you are an adult frog, show how they jump on the land.
Does the mother frog lay many eggs or just a few?
Does the mother and father frog take care of their tadpoles and protect them from harm?
Will all the tadpoles survive to become adult frogs?
What will happen if the little girl collects all six adult frogs from the pond?
Will any adult frogs be left?
What will happen the next season when frogs should be laying eggs?
What will happen if the little girl collects six tadpoles from the pond?
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Will tadpoles still be left?
Will adults be left to make sure that eggs are laid and a new batch of tadpoles will be born?
Do you think that the little girl should collect six adults or six tadpoles? Why?

One of the favourite animals for hunters is the shy red brocket deer found in the forests.
Deer meat is delicious to eat. Deer are like humans, they usually only give birth to one baby
in a year. The young deer are called fawns. They look just like their parents when they are
born, but are very weak and cannot take care of themselves. The mother deer takes good
care of the fawn until it is old enough to survive on its own. The next year the mother may
have another baby fawn. A group of hunters is out hunting one day in the forest. They come
across a mother deer with her fawn. Should kill the mother or the fawn? Should they keep
looking for an adult deer with no young?

Guiding questions
What are baby deer called?
Do fawns come from eggs or are they born alive?
Do fawns look like their parents when they are born?
Can fawns take care of themselves when they are young?
What will happen to the fawn if it's mother is not around to take care of it?
What will happen if the fawn dies or is killed? Will the mother deer have any more young
that year?
What will happen to a fawn if hunters kill its mother?
Should hunters look for mother deer, fawns, or single adult deer when they are hunting?
Why?

Evaluation:
Have students identify two animals that produce young from eggs and two that give live
birth.
Have students describe one example of an animal that cares for its young and one that
does not.
Have students explain why hunters do not hunt fawns, but prefer to hunt adult males.

Have a field trip to the zoo to look at the different animals. Ask the curators for a
presentation focused specifically on animals and their young.
Have the students work in teams to make mobiles of some of the animals discussed.

134

1. Use 2 sticks tied in a cross with string. Let this be the base.
2. Have a student draw or trace and colour a picture of the adult animal. Or use a picture from an
old newspaper or magazine. Cut out the animal.
3. If the animal lays eggs, have some students make some eggs in the same way as above.
4. Have other students make the young. If the animal produces few young, the make few and if
it produces many, then make many.
5. If the animal takes care of its young have a student make a picture of the parent(s) and the
young together.
6. Punch a small hole at the top of each piece and tie it to the base with string.
7. Display the mobiles in the classroom.
8. Have each group present its mobile to the rest of the class, explaining what the different pieces
signify.

135

Food Chains

Subjects: Science
Aims: To understand that animals and plants are linked in an ecosystem through feeding
relationships.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) identify plants, herbivores and carnivores, 2) construct
simple food chains showing feeding relationships in an ecosystem
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with different animals and plants in chosen
ecosystem
Key vocabulary: animal, plant, energy, food chain, carnivore, herbivore, omnivore,
Materials: drawing materials or pictures of animals and plants, (for example from the
newspaper), paper for cards, string


Students already have been exposed to the idea that animals and plants are linked in an
ecosystem through their feeding relationships. This lesson asks students to construct food
chains for selected ecosystems. Examples of ecosystems are given below, but any ecosystems
that the students are already familiar with may be used. The terms herbivore, carnivore and
omnivore may be used if suitable, or alternately students can use plant-eater, animal-eater and
plant/animal- eater.

Activity:
1. Choose several examples of ecosystems: an aquarium, a beach, a forest, a savanna, and a
city.
2. Divide the class into groups, one for each ecosystem.
3. For each ecosystem, review the animals and plants that are typically found in the
ecosystem. Make lists on the board for each ecosystem.
4. Let each group draw the plants and animals in the ecosystems each on separate cards, and
write the name of the animal or plant below the drawing.
5. Let the students write “plant” on the other side of the cards of all the plants.
6. Give the students operational definitions for plant-eaters (herbivores) and animal-eaters
(carnivores).
7. Classify the animals into two groups representing plant-eaters and animal-eaters.
8. Let the students write “plant-eater” or “animal-eater” on the other side of the cards of all
the plants.
9. Choose a plant from an ecosystem.
10. Ask the students to identify a plant-eater that feeds on it.
11. Ask the students to identify an animal-eater that feeds on the plant-eater.

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12. Punch holes in these cards and have students tie them together with string. Explain that
this represents a food chain.
13. Construct other simple food chains for each ecosystem. Remember that each food chain
should have no more that 4-5 links in it (because of the reduction in the amount of energy
available to each level in the food chain).
14. Use these food chains in the classroom as mobiles.

Evaluation:
Shuffle cards for an ecosystem and ask students to reconstruct 3 food chains.
Give students pictures of plants and animals from an ecosystem that was not discussed and
ask them to try and identify 3 food chains.

Construct food chains where humans are the top carnivores.
1.List on the board several common items that students have for lunch in a row.
2.Above each of these, write the name of the student who suggested it.
3.Draw an arrow from the food to the student.
4.For each food item, trace the animal or plant from which it came.
5.Write the name of this below the food, and draw an arrow from the animal or plant to the
food. Trace the pathways back all the way to the plants at the base of the food chain.

137

Living organisms depend on each other for life.
This dependence is referred to as
The Food Chain

A Rainforest Food Chain

tertiary consumer eats small animals
carnivore

secondary consumer eats insects
carnivore

primary consumer eats plants
herbivore

primary producer absorbs sunlight to grow
plant

sunlight

Living organisms depend on each other for
life. This dependence is referred to as
The Food Chain

A Marine Food Chain

tertiary consumer eats fish
carnivore

secondary consumer eats coral
carnivore

primary consumer eats plankton
omnivore

primary producer uses light to make food
plankton

sunlight

Living organisms depend on each other for
life. This dependence is referred to as
The Food Chain

A Mangrove Food Chain

tertiary consumer eats fish
carnivore

secondary consumer eats shrimp
carnivore

primary consumer eats plankton
carnivore

primary producer uses light to make food
plankton

sunlight

Predator –prey game

Subjects: Science, Physical Education,
Aims: To understand that animals and plants are linked in an ecosystem through feeding
relationships.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) describe the predator-prey relationship, 2) play a game in
which some students are predators and some students are prey
Previous knowledge: Students should know that some animals feed on other animals and what
are the basic components of a habitat.
Key vocabulary: ecosystem, animal, herbivore, carnivore, food chain, predator, prey
Materials: chalk, stones, red shirts for 1/5 of the class, small cards cur out of newspaper for 4/5
of the class


At the end of the activity, the teacher should review the principles demonstrated by the game.
It is adapted from “Quick Frozen Critters” in Project WILD 1994.

Activity:
1. Review food chains, and define a predator and a prey.
2. Select a pair of animals, one a predator of the other its prey. For example, select an
ocelot and an agouti, a shark and a fish, a hawk and a mouse.
3. Assign about one-fifth of the class to be the predators and the rest to be the prey. Clearly
identify the predators with markings (for example a red shirt).
4. Review the basic components of habitat: food, water, shelter, and space.
5. In a large playing area, draw a large circle at one end that represents the shelter of the
prey.
6. At the other end, draw a large circle that represents the food source for the prey.
7. Draw 5 chalk circles in the middle open area to represent additional shelter for the prey.
8. Collect three times the number of stones as there are prey. Let these represent the food.
9. Place the food in the food source circle.
Object of the game:
The aim of the prey is to collect food stones. They need three food stones to survive.
The aim of the predators is to catch prey. Only a prey that is moving can be caught. They
need two prey to survive.

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Rules of the game:
Prey can only collect one food stone at a time, then must return to the shelter circle to deposit it.
The predators try and catch the prey when they are on their journey through the open area.
If a prey is caught, it must give the predator its newspaper card.
A prey cannot be caught when at least one foot is in a shelter circle.
A prey cannot be caught if it "freezes" (remains motionless without talking).
A prey can remain frozen for any length of time, but remember prey need to get food in order to
survive.
Players may run, or have them mimic the movement of the animal they are playing.
10. At the start of the round the prey should be in the shelter circle, and the predators should be in
the open area.
11. Play each round for 5-7 minutes. At the end of each round the prey and predators who have not
gotten enough food die, and must leave the game.

Evaluation:
Play five rounds, allowing each student to be both prey and predator.
Discuss how prey actually avoid being caught by predators by taking shelter and by freezing
so that the predators do not see them.
Discuss what would happen if all the shelters of the prey were removed.
Discuss how habitat destruction due to human activities may cause prey to loose their shelter,
and thus become more vulnerable to predators.

Have students research the predator and prey chosen for this activity, and make posters to
display what they learnt. Include researching any ways that human activities may be
threatening the habitat.

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Pour – a – pond

Subjects: Science, Art and craft
Aims: A greater understanding and appreciation of a pond ecosystem and the life it supports.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) identify and observe aquatic life found in ponds, 2)
describe how they are adapted to their habitat, 3) create their own pond monster.
Previous knowledge: Concept of an eco-system
Key vocabulary: habitat, insect, fish, amphibian, plant, crustacean
Suggested Time: Session 1 – 15 mins Session 2 – 30 mins Session 3 –
30 mins
Materials: Large covered box to collect pond water, small buckets for dipping, magnifying
glasses, small containers for observing, pond monster, identification books or sheets, animal
classification posters, interview sheet, create a pond monster sheet

Science: Ponds are habitats for aquatic life (p24)
Art and Craft: Organise and illustrate clear ideas and information (p27)

Background Information for teachers:
Environment Tobago has a range of animal classification posters that can be borrowed.
The Standard III lesson entitled “Sources, effects and reduction of marine pollution” can be
adapted to address pollution issues in ponds.
A useful teacher resource for this topic is “Wondrous West Indian Wetlands Teachers’ Resource
Book.” Every school in Tobago has received a copy.

Activity:

SESSION 1
1. On the morning of the class, collect specimens from a pond and place in a large
container. If you scoop up some aquatic vegetation, you should get a good variety of
small aquatic animals.
2. Ask students where they live? Draw a picture of a house. What do you find in houses?
Draw these items in the house.
3. Discuss how this is the “ home environment” for people because it provides shelter, food,
space and water.
4. Discuss how habitat means “home environment” and that different animals live in
different habitats. Give example.
5. Ask students to name some habitats found in Tobago

SESSION 2
1. Introduce a pond as a natural habitat found in Tobago and ask students what kind of
animals they think they would find in a pond. Look at posters to classify insects,
amphibians and fish

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2. Split class into groups of about 6-8 students. Give each group a large flat bottom tray,
magnifying glasses, small bucket, and a selection in small containers.
3. One student from each group is selected to dip the small bucket into the large container
and pour it into their tray.
4. Children to examine tray to see what creatures it holds and try to identify using poster,
books and sheets
5. Individual creatures can be placed in small containers and closely examined through
magnifying glasses
6. Children choose an animal and conduct pond water interview

SESSION 3
1. Students to create their own pond monster. Decide whether they are going to create a
fish, insect or amphibian.
2. Students will need to think about what features their pond monster will have in order to
adapt to it’s habitat
3. Draw a labeled diagram of their pond monster

Follow-up activities
1. Collect animals from a man-made pond and compare to those found in a natural habitat.
2. Create a collage of a pond habitat
3. Explore the relationships between the animals and plants that form an eco-system (food
chains and food webs)

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Interview with a Pond Monster

What are you?

What family do you belong to?

Where do you live?

What do you eat?

What colour are you?

How do you move about?

Do you have legs, wings or fins?

May I draw you?

Some words which may help you

crab crayfish beetle dragonfly nymph snail fish crustacean insect
pond swim crawl

Needs of plants

Subjects: Science
Aims: Develop an understanding that seeds need certain conditions to grow properly and that
human action can impact on this.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) conduct an experiment to demonstrate the importance of
light and water for plant growth, 2) make deductions from observations of an experiment, 3)
describe how some human activities are depriving plants of light and water.
Previous knowledge: Students should be able to make observations and take measurements of
plants.
Key vocabulary: plant, pollution
Materials: eight small plants, water, newspaper, chalk dust or soot

Science: Certain conditions are necessary for proper plant growth. (p22)

In the Plant Growth lesson students conducted simple experiments to examine the importance
of light and water for plant growth, and to look at the effect of pollution. This experiment
builds on that one. It is important to emphasize the linkage between human activities and the
health of natural ecosystems.

Activity:

Pre-Activity:
Obtain eight small plants, of approximately the same size.

Hands-on:
1. Place the plants next to each other in an airy well-lit environment.
2. Divide the class into groups.
3. Have each group make observations of their plant, and record the number of leaves and the
height of the main stem.
4. Have each group draw a picture of their plant.
5. Review how plants need air, water, food, and light to live and grow.
6. Set up experiments to demonstrate this, using the 4 pairs of plants under the conditions given
in the table below. Label each plant with the name of the group and the conditions.

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Pair 1 Control: Leave as was, watering as usual.
Pair 2 Test for the importance of light: Use newspapers to construct a loose shade to be
placed over each plant, allowing air to pass in at the bottom and watering as usual.
Pair 3 Test for the effect of particulate air pollution (dust or soot): Gently dust powder or
flour over the surface of the leaves until it covers most of the leaf surface. Water
as usual.
Pair 4 Test for the importance of water: Leave as was, but do not water.

7. Leave these plants for 1-2 weeks.
8. At the end of this time, have the students make observations of their plant to compare the
growth of the pairs of seedlings grown under the different conditions. They should record
their observations, and again draw the plant.
9. Discuss the observations, and how they show the importance of light and water for growth of
the plant.
10. Discuss how particulate air pollution produces from dust, soot from burning, factories,
quarries and other sources can smother the surfaces of leaves and hamper plant growth.
Discuss why it is important to minimize this type of pollution.
11. Discuss how a lack of water hampers plant growth. Explain how clearing of forests means
that rain runs quickly off the land in a flood, instead of seeping into the soil. Demonstrate
this idea simply by pouring water onto a sponge on the floor and discussing how the sponge
holds in the water, just like a forest would. Then pour water onto the floor without the
sponge and discuss how the water quickly runs off. Explain how some human activities are
clearing large areas of forests, which means that there is less water for plants, animals, and
people. Diverting water from rivers and streams for agriculture and domestic water reduces
the amount of water available to the natural ecosystems.

Have the students fill in a table comparing the plant before and after the experiment. They
should list the changes that occurred in the plant.
Have students make a list of some human activities that reduce light and water available to
plants.

Visit a nearby quarry or a deforested area to observe the effects they are having on the
surrounding plants in the ecosystem.
Set up additional experiments to look at the effects of changes in environmental factors on
plants, that: (a) describe the changes which take place in seedlings placed in a closed box
with light entering through a hole on one side of the box; (b) demonstrate and describe the
effect of the presence or absence of water on seeds; and (c) state differences observed in
seedlings that were watered once per day and others that were watered twice per week.

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Stories about wildlife

Aims: To recognize the interdependence of animal life and the environment.
Objectives: Students will be able to answer questions on a comprehension passage about some
of the components of forest, beach and swamp ecosystems.
Previous knowledge: Students should know what an ecosystem is.
Key vocabulary: ecosystem
Materials:

Language Arts: Reading comprehension: understand narrative and informational text (p105)

These three stories about wildlife in different ecosystems in T&T can be used as a
comprehension exercise.

Activity:
1.Read the following stories to the students about wildlife in different ecosystems in T&T.
A morning in the swamp
Watch out little fish, you're in my way. It's morning and I want to swim up the river to
see what delicious plants I can eat for my breakfast. I am a manatee, and I am the biggest
wild animal in Trinidad. I live in the rivers and swamps. Some people call me a sea cow
because I like to eat plants just like a cow. I eat lots and lots of plants every day, because I'm
very big and I need lots of food. Here are my favourites, they are plants that float on the
water so that I can nibble at them while I float at the surface of the water. I can also use my
flippers to hold the plants that I'm eating close to my mouth so they don't float away. The sun
on my back feels so warm after the cool water.
Hey what's that I hear? It's those noisy parrots again. They make so much noise
squawking that I can even hear them if I duck my head under the water. Oh no, they woke up
the howler monkeys and now they are howling away. Monkeys are like people in that they
live in big families. These families are called troops. There may be as many as twelve
monkeys in a troop. We manatees don't live in big families, but I stayed close to my mother
until I was big enough to be on my own.
It sounds like all the animals want their breakfast. Parrots and monkeys both like to eat the
fruit on the trees. So do I if it is hanging over the edge of the river and I can reach it if I poke my
head out of the water. There's a branch with juicy leaves that I can just about reach. Hey look,
there's a spider on his web. I guess this spider is hoping to catch some insects that are flying
over the water and in between the plants. There are lots of insects everywhere... mosquitoes,
butterflies, dragonflies and ants crawling on the trees. I can hear them buzzing past my head as
I float quietly.

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What's that I hear? It's some fishermen at the side of the river. I don't want them to see me
so I'm going to hold my breath and go under the dark water so they can't see me. It is quiet
under the water, and I can see many fish swimming lazily by my head. They had better watch out
for the caimans. Do you know what caimans are? They are small alligators that are also found
in the rivers and swamps. Caimans also like to float on the surface of the water to warm up.
Sometimes they even climb out onto the banks of the river to warm up in the sun. I'm too fat to
climb out of the water, and besides, I don't have any feet! I do have a big tail and two flippers
that I use for swimming.
I can't hold my breath anymore so I'm going to quietly let just the tip of my nose peek out of
the water to breathe. Maybe the people won't see my tiny nose. I can see an osprey soaring high
in the sky above my head. People and caiman are not the only animals that like to eat fish, so do
ospreys. Ospreys are big birds that fly high in the shy, then swoop down and grab a fish out of
the water and carry it away in their sharp claws. Those fish sure do need to watch out today.
Well, it looks like those fishermen are going to stay for a while so I think I'm going to swim
away. Even though I'm big and fat, I am a very good swimmer. I love to roll around in the cool
water. I wonder what else is going on in the swamp today.

Busy at the beach
It's another sunny day at the beach. The waves are crashing on to the shore and a warm
breeze is blowing the sand across my path. I move carefully sideways towards my hole. I am a
crab and I can only walk sideways. I have eight legs, four on each side of my flat body.
Sometimes there is tar on the beach and I don't like that at all. I need to look and see where I am
walking. My eyes stick out above my shell so that I have a very good view all around me. I can
see the corbeaus at the edge of the water feeding on a big dead fish that washed up last night. I
think that I am going to hide in my hole while they are around. My cozy hole is just next to a big
coconut tree. There are hardly any plants growing near to the beach because of the wind that
blows salty water onto them. Most plants don't like this, but coconut trees can grow just fine.
Did you know that corbeaus also eat baby turtles? In fact, so do I sometimes. Many other
animals like to eat the baby turtles. Stray dogs on the beach are even good at digging up the
nests. Turtles are like birds, they hatch from eggs. But their eggs have soft shells and are in
nests under the sand. The mother turtles crawl out of the water at night onto the beach. They
dig a deep hole then lay lots of the eggs in the hole. They cover up the hole carefully. It's very
tiring work and finally they go back to the water and swim away. They don't take care of their
babies like birds and people do. Many days later, the baby turtles hatch out of their eggs and
dig their way to the top of the sand. They need to crawl to the sea quickly, because animals like
me like to eat them. There are so many that some escape to the sea and swim away. One day
some of them may come back to this same beach to lay their own eggs.

145

There are also lots of fish in the sea. Fishermen sometimes pass in their boats with nets or
lines trying to catch the fish. They are good to eat. Sometimes lots of people from the nearby
village come to the beach with a big net called a seine. They all pull the net together and catch
fish for everyone to share. I stay out of the way then, because I don't want to get stepped on by
mistake. The people used to catch many fish, but now they don't catch as many. I wonder why?

The cool forest
I am an ant. I live together with other ants in a big underground nest. I am a worker ant and
my job every day is to go and collect leaves and bring them back to the nest. We workers are
very busy all day, marching to and from our nest with leaves. We make a long line as we walk.
Have you ever seen our line of ants? We are small, but our friends the soldier ants protect us
and protect the nest. They are big and have sharp pincers to bite with. Our nest has a queen.
Her job is to lay eggs for new ants to be born. In the ant nest, we all work together but we each
have our own jobs. We are like one big family.
On my walks through the forest I often see wonderful things. The huge trees stand tall above
us. Their leaves shade the forest from the hot sun, so underneath the trees it is shady and very
cool. When it rains the leaves catch the heavy drops, and the water slowly trickles down the
branches and leaves. When it is raining the birds in the forest take shelter under the leaves and
are quiet. When the rain stops and the sun comes out they start to sing again. What a racket
they make. Can you hear them? I can, but I can't see them. They are in the trees somewhere I
know.
I can see that snake curled around that low branch. He is sleeping. There are vines
climbing up the trunk of the tree he is in, look at how they wind around the trunk. What a clever
way to grow isn't it? My favourites are the small plants that grow on the ground under the trees.
Their green leaves are best for us ants. The deer also like to nibble on these soft juicy leaves. I
sometimes see the deer quietly walking through the forest, but they are very shy and run away at
the smallest noise. We ants are not so shy, and go about our busy work no matter what else is
going on in the forest that day.

Evaluation:
Have students answer the following comprehension questions.
Where do manatees live?
What do manatees eat?
What are three animals that live in a swamp?
Where do coconut trees grow?
What animals eat baby turtles?
Where do the ants carry the leaves?
What is the job of soldier ants?

146

Senses in ecosystems

Subjects: Drama, Social Science
Aims: To recognize the interdependence of animal life and the environment.
Objectives: Students will be able to identify an ecosystem from a dramatized presentation of the
components of the ecosystem.
Previous knowledge: Students should know that ecosystems have abiotic (non-living) and biotic
(living) components and be familiar with components of a tropical forest eco-system.
Key vocabulary: eco system, abiotic, biotic
Materials:


This activity illustrates the use of senses to explore the components of an ecosystem.

Activity:
1. Read the following passage to get students to think creatively about the biotic and abiotic
components of an ecosystem using their different senses.
2. Discuss with the students the different clues that tell them that they went into a tropical
forest. Discuss both the abiotic environment, and the living things.

Trip in our imagination
We are going to take a trip together in our imagination. To take this trip in your
imagination, you need to close your eyes and sit very quietly. As you sit quietly, keep your
eyes closed and listen to the story that I read about our trip. Picture where we are and what
we are doing in your imagination. It is easy.
Let's start our trip. We are walking and it is very hot. I can feel the hot sun shining
down on my skin. Can you feel it? As we walk, I can hear our feet swishing through the
grass. We keep walking and suddenly, I feel cooler. Even though my eyes are closed, I can
tell that this place we are now is shady, I can't feel the hot sun on my skin anymore. I can
hear squishing as we walk. I think that we are walking through some mud. Whoops, I think
that you just stepped into a puddle. Stand quietly for a moment. I can hear water flowing.
There must be a stream nearby. This place smells fresh, like cut grass or ripe fruit.

147

I can hear a bird calling. Can you hear it? Cheep, cheep, cheep. It sounds like it is
somewhere above my head. Now that we are quiet I can hear all kinds of different sounds. I can
hear mosquitoes buzzing around my head. I can hear other birds, I think that was just a parrot
squawking. Far away I can hear a troop of howler monkeys. The howling noise that they make
sounds spooky doesn't it?
I think it's getting to be time for us to return from our trip. Let's go back to our classroom in
our imagination. We have to walk out of the cool wet place where there are so many animals.
Now we are back where the sun is shining and I can feel a breeze on my skin.
When you are ready, slowly open your eyes. Wasn't that a fun trip? Where do you think we
went?

3. Divide the class into teams.
4. Each team chooses an ecosystem and gives the rest of the class clues about which ecosystem it
is, using their different senses. The children can act out things that they see, hear, smell, or feel.
5. The rest of the class has to guess what ecosystem they are describing. Use the following steps to
help the students think of what their senses would tell them about the ecosystem.
6. Ask students to imagine they are an ecosystem, but are blind, cannot smell and cannot feel.
Let them describe what the forest sounds like.
7. Ask students to imagine they are in the ecosystem, but can only smell. Let them describe
what the forest smells like.
8. Ask students to imagine that they are in the ecosystem, but are blind and can only walk
around touching the things in the forest. Let them describe what it feels like.
9. Finally, ask students to imagine they are in the ecosystem and can see. Let them describe
what it looks like.

Evaluation:
Give the students a few descriptions that they used during the lesson and have them identify
the ecosystem being described.
Have students write a story, poem, or song about an ecosystem that they choose. They must
include information about the ecosystem gained by using all of their senses.

Take a field trip to an ecosystem, even if it is just a nearby field or under a tree in the garden,
and have students use each of their senses in turn to study the ecosystem.

148


Animal movements
Subjects: Science, Physical Education, Drama
Science: Certain structural features of animals enable movement on land, air and water. (p30)

Weave a Food Web

resources. (p157)

Natural resources
Social Studies: Sustainability (p154)

149

Animal movements

Subjects: Science, Physical Education, Drama
Aim: To have a greater understanding of animal life.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) demonstrate the movements of different animals, 2)
demonstrate co-ordination and co-operation skills.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with the different animals used in the lesson.
Key vocabulary: animal
Materials: elastic band

Science: Certain structural features of animals enable movement on land, air and water. (p30)

This game is important to teach coordination, cooperation and following oral instructions.

Activity:
1. Play a game of Simon Says to mimic the movements of animals. Use animals that have
been discussed and others that are familiar to the students. For example: a bird or
butterfly flaps its wings; a snake or worm wriggles its body; a frog or rabbit jumps on its
hind legs; a turtle or caiman crawls; a deer or agouti walks on four legs; a manatee uses
its powerful tail to swim and its front flippers to hold its food to its mouth.
2. First demonstrate the movement then have students mimic it.
3. Also look at those animals that have more than four legs. Join students into groups to
make up the correct number of legs, and join together their legs with elastic. Have races
between teams.

Animal Number of Number of Movement
legs students
crab or 8 4 Stand the students in a line hugging the person
spider in front. Use the front person's arms as the
sensory antennae (feelers). Remember to walk
sideways.
ant or 6 3 As above but walk forward.
cockroach
millipede or hundreds all Let all the students in the class join together in
centipede a long train for this. Remember that a
millipede does not walk in a straight line, so let
the train flow a winding path.
150

Evaluation:
Play a game of charades. The leader should act out the movements of an animal, and the
students should try to guess the name of the animal.
Play a Simon Says game to test the students on associating different movements with
specific animals. The leader should give the name of an animal and the students should
then do the action of that animal.

151

Weave a Food Web

Aims: A greater understanding and appreciation of a coral reef ecosystem and the life it
supports.
dramatise the movements of coral reef inhabitants.
Previous knowledge: What a food chain is.
Wildlife and plants found in a marine habitat
Key vocabulary: food chain, food web, energy
Suggested Time: Session 1 – 30 mins Session 2 - 30 mins Session 3 – 40 mins
Materials: card, colouring pencils, string, picture of a coral reef habitat, pictures of all the sea
creatures in the food web


Activity:

SESSION 1
3. Ask students what type of animals and plants live in the sea. Explain that in Tobago a lot
of the sea life lives in and around coral reef habitats, feeding off each other.
4. Re-cap with students on what a food chain is and ask them to give some examples of a
food chain that might occur in a coral reef habitat.
Eg. jellyfish ⇒ sea turtle ⇒ shark
5. Explain that animals, like humans, need to eat to get energy and in a food chain energy
moves from animal to animal.
6. Food chains tell us about one feeding relationship, but in a coral reef habitat, there are
many feeding relationships that are connected together to form a food web.
7. Draw a food web on the board. Show children pictures of each plant/animal and explain
unfamiliar life forms to them.
8. Explain that all food webs start with the sun. The phytoplankton gets its energy from the
sun; the jellyfish gets its energy by eating the phytoplankton etc. Most animals eat more
than one thing. The transfer of energy through food between plants and animals is called
a food web.

152


Aims: Increase awareness of water pollution issues and ways in which it can be reduced
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) identify pollutants, which adversely affect marine life, 2)
suggest ways of reducing pollution.
Previous knowledge: Students should know about marine eco-systems.
Key vocabulary: pollution, pesticides, fertilizers, detergents, organic waste, petroleum products,
sediments
Materials: Wondrous West Indian Wetlands Teacher Resource Book, plank of wood, small
brick, watering can, powdered food colouring, soil, coloured card

resources. (p157)

Background information for teachers:
Ideas for these lessons were taken from the “Wondrous West Indian Wetlands Teacher’
Resource Book” and “People and Corals – An education pack for Caribbean Primary Schools.”
All schools in Tobago have received a copy of both of these resource books.

Activity:

SESSION 1
7. Ask students some of the ways in which they use water and what they think happens to
the waste water when they finish with it.
8. Explain that when water washes down the plughole, drain or street it will end up
polluting rivers that will eventually run into the sea.
9. Read poem Away on the Bay. Ask students to listen out for different types of pollution
and effects.
10. After you have finished reading the poem, ask children whether the waste from Away
really did go away.
11. List on the board different types of pollution in Away and the effects of that pollution on
marine life and people.
12. Discuss other forms of pollution that effect marine life and people. Eg. fertilizers,
pesticides, sewage, oil, sediments.

SESSION 2
6. Tell students that they are going to take a closer look at some of the activities that citizens
of Away do and decide whether they are water polluting criminals.

154

7. They will be judge and jury and will use the information provided, to identify what water
pollution crimes they are guilty of.
8. Give out copies of the Water Criminals? The Accused worksheet. Read out the
information about each of the accused and decide whether each one is guilty.
9. If they decide that a citizen is guilty, they must pass sentence. The sentence will require
the criminals to clean up their pollution and take steps to reduce pollution in the future.
10. Lead a discussion about the crimes committed by the water polluting criminals, and what
each criminal could do in the future to minimize pollution

SESSION 3
Preparation
4. Lay piece of wood with one end slightly elevated by a small brick and resting a couple of
inches above the ground. The other end will lie directly on the ground, forming a triangle.
5. Spread soil on the elevated half of the wood to represent a farming area typical of
Tobagonian landscape, with mounds for hills and valleys for streams and rivers.
6. On the bottom half of the slope, place green card to represent mangrove and blue card to
represent sea. Pieces of dead coral may be placed onto blue card to represent coral reef.

6. Explain model to the students and how it represents a typical Tobago landscape.
7. Select a student to pour food colouring onto the upland areas. Explain how this represents
various pollutants. Ask students what types of pollution there is in Tobago
8. What do you think will happen to the various pollutants when it rains?
9. Using watering can, select another student to sprinkle soil evenly with a good amount of
water, representing heavy rainfall. Ideally, the river will begin to show signs of different
coloured waters, evidence that pollutants can run-off from the land into the river, and
eventually out to the sea.
10. Discuss the effects of this pollutant run off on people, animals and plants and the sea.

155

Natural resources

Aims: To understand the need for the sustainable development of natural resources.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) classify natural resources as renewable or non-renewable
resources, 2) list examples of natural resources in T&T, 3) identify ways of conserving each
natural resource.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with some ways humans use the natural
environment for goods and services.
Key vocabulary: resources, natural resources, renewable / non-renewable resources.
Environment, ecosystem
Materials: dictionary, stones

Social Studies: Sustainability (p154)

This activity first discusses definitions and examples of natural resources and then students
play games to illustrate the importance of managing use of renewable and non-renewable
resources.
Non-renewable resource: Resources that are present in the environment in finite or limited
quantities, while the demand for them is infinite or unlimited. The rate at which they are
formed is too slow to compensate for the amount used. Their quantities decrease with time.
Examples: petroleum, natural gas, coal, and minerals.
Renewable resources: Resources that continue to replace themselves and are likely to be there
if we balance the rate at which we use them against their rate of growth or reproduction.
Examples: Plants, animals.

Activity:

SESSION I
1. Review ways that humans use the natural environment.
2. Have students look up the meaning of resources in their dictionary.
3. Discuss what is a resource.
4. Give examples of resources, and have students classify resources into natural resources and
other resources.
5. Provide a definition of natural resources.
6. Discuss non-renewable resources, giving examples.
7. Discuss renewable resources, giving examples.
8. Define renewable and non-renewable resources.
9. Have students research an example of a natural resource as a homework assignment.

156

SESSION II
1. Play a game to illustrate the importance of managing use of non-renewable resources.
2. Divide the class into groups, 5 persons in each group.
3. Distribute 30 stones to each group. Place these in the middle of the players.
4. For each player’s turn, let him or her remove 5 stones from the central pile.
5. Play several rounds until all the stones from the central pile have been taken.
6. Count how many rounds have been played.
7. Discuss how non-renewable resources are like stones.
8. Return all the stones to the center.
9. For each player’s turn, let him or her take 2 stones from the central pile.
10.Play several rounds until all the stones from the central pile have been taken.
11.Count how many rounds have been played.
12.Discuss how by wisely using non-renewable resources, we can make them last longer so that
they are available for future generations.

SESSION III
6. 1. Play a game to illustrate the importance of managing use of renewable resources.
7. 2. Divide the class into groups, 5 persons in each group.
8. 3. Distribute 30 stones to each group. Place these in the middle of the players.
9. 4. Explain that the stones represent deer, and the game will look at how hunting of deer (as a
renewable resource) must be managed.
10. 5. For the first game, let each player harvest 4 stones for their turn. Play 10 rounds.
11. 6. Discuss if the population is decreasing, increasing, or remaining the same.
12. 7. For the second game, let each player harvest 1 stone for their turn. Play 10 rounds.
13. 8. Discuss if the population is decreasing, increasing, or remaining the same.
14. 9. For the third game, let each player harvest 2 stones for their turn. Play 10 rounds.
10. Discuss if the population is decreasing, increasing, or remaining the same.
11. For the fourth game, let each player harvest however many stones they like for their turn.
Play 10 rounds.
12. Discuss if the population is decreasing, increasing, or remaining the same.
13.Discuss which strategy would allow continued harvesting of deer into the future.
14.Discuss the concept of sustainable harvest of a renewable resource, giving examples.

Evaluation:
Give students a list of natural resources to classify as renewable or non-renewable resources.
Have students conduct research to make a poster display of renewable and non-renewable
resources in T&T and how they are being used.

Field trips to visit industries using natural resources.

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Development of wetland areas
Science: Wetlands are one of the most important habitats of the world (p39)
Social Studies: Causes and consequences (p176)

Wetland Metaphor Game
Subjects: Science
Science: Wetlands are on of the most important habitats in the world (p39)

The Water Cycle
Social Studies: Sustainability – The sequence of the water cycle and its importance to humans
and their activities. (p170)

Leatherback turtles
Social Science: Impact and sustainability – Investigating environmental issues in and around the
island. (p172)
Language Arts: Reading comprehension – Summarising (p44)

Threats to leatherback turtles
Subjects: Social Science, Physical Education, Mathematics
island. (p172)
Mathematics: Statistics – gather data and tabulate data. (p87)

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Development of wetland areas

Aims: Increase awareness of the values of wetlands and the need to preserve them.
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) identify wetland areas in Tobago according to a set of
characteristics and know their values, functions and threats, 2) identify how development affects
wetlands, 3) recognize the need for preserving and conserving the environment for sustainable
development.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with place names in Tobago and reading
simple maps
Key vocabulary: wetland, mangrove, sustainable development
Suggested time: Session 1 - 40 mins Session 2 – 30 mins Session 3 –
30 mins
Materials: “Wetland World- A World To Discover” video, Key Mangrove maps, coloured pens,
paper

Science: Wetlands are one of the most important habitats of the world (p39)
Social Studies: Causes and consequences (p176)

The few remaining wetlands in Tobago are generally seen as waste areas that can either be
developed upon or used as illegal garbage dumps. It is therefore, very important that students
from an early age learn the values and functions of wetland areas and why they are so important
to not only the animals, fish and plants that live there, but humans as well. The “ Wetland
World – A World To Discover” video can be borrowed from the Environment Tobago Office.
The West Indian Whistling Duck Working Group of the Society of Caribbean Ornithology has
also produced a wonderful teacher’s resource book, entitled Wondrous West Indian Wetlands. It
is full of information and has some great lesson plan ideas. Every school in Tobago was given a
copy.

Activity:
SESSION 1
1. Review with the students what an eco-system is and that wetlands are an important eco-
system.
2. Watch first part of “Wetland World – A World To Discover” video. Ask students to try
and find the answers to these questions, while watching the video.
• What is a wetland?
• What types of wetland do you find in Tobago?
• Where are the wetlands in Tobago?
Stop video and discuss answers.
3. Watch second part of video. Ask students to try and find the answers to these questions,
while watching the video.
• Why are wetlands important?
159

• What are the three types of mangrove?
• What animals, birds and fish do you find in Tobago’s wetlands?
4. Watch third part of video. Ask students to try and find the answers to these questions,
while watching the video.
• What are the main threats to Tobago’s wetlands?
• What areas of Tobago used to be wetland?
• What can we do to help protect wetlands?

SESSION 2
1. Focus on the question of development.
2. Give out maps of Key Mangrove that depict changes that have occurred over a period of
thirty years in a hypothetical wetland area.
3. Ask students to look at Map 1 and use key to identify land usage on the island.
4. Ask students to look at Map 2, 3 and 4 and use key to identify how the island has
developed over the 30 year period?
• How has transportation increased?
• What industries have been added or expanded?
• How has housing increased?
• What leisure facilities have been added?
• What public services have been added?
• How much swamp has disappeared?
• Why do you think so much development took place in wetland areas?
• What effect would this development have on a) animals, birds and fish, b) the sea,
c) water supply?
• Where do you think development could have taken place, without destroying the
wetland areas?
• What types of recreational facilities could take place in the wetland without
destroying it?

SESSION 3
1. Give students copies of the undeveloped Key Mangrove maps.
2. Students should think about what facilities a developing area would need and try to
manage development without harming too much of the mangrove area.
3. Students draw development onto their maps and create a key
4. Finish the lesson by drawing some of the student’s ideas for development on and
enlarged map of Key Mangrove

Suggested follow up activities
1. Debate and write up an argument about the pros and cons of developing on wetland areas.
2. Create a collage of mangrove swamp, showing flora and fauna.
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Wetland Metaphor Game

Subjects: Science
Aims: Increase awareness of the values of wetlands and the need to preserve them.
Objectives: Students will be able to state the values and functions of wetlands.
Previous knowledge: What a wetland is and where they are located in Tobago. It would help if
students had already watched “Wetland World – A World To Discover” video.
Key vocabulary: function, pollution, erosion
Materials: cards with pictures of everyday objects, cards with explanations of functions of
wetlands

Science: Wetlands are on of the most important habitats in the world (p39)

The few remaining wetlands in Tobago are generally seen as waste areas that can either be
developed upon or used as illegal garbage dumps. It is therefore, very important that students
from an early age learn the values and functions of wetland areas and why they are so important
to not only the animals, fish and plants that live there, but humans as well. The “Wetland
World – A World To Discover” video can be borrowed from the Environment Tobago Office.
The West Indian Whistling Duck Working Group of the Society of Caribbean Ornithology has
also produced a wonderful teacher’s resource book, entitled Wondrous West Indian Wetlands. It
is full of information and has some great lesson plan ideas. Every school in Tobago was given a
copy.

Activity:

SESSION 1
1. Recap definition of a wetland and where they are located in Tobago.
2. Introduce the idea that many people in Tobago regard wetlands as waste areas. Few
people realize that they perform very important functions for humans, animals, birds, fish
and plants and ALL FOR FREE.
3. Place the pictures of every day objects on the board. Explain that these pictures are
metaphors or clues for the different functions that wetlands perform.
4. Read out one of the explanation cards. ie.

Wetlands absorb and hold excess water and
pollution, stopping it from going out to the sea.

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5. Ask students which picture shows an object that matches this description. ie. sponge.
6. Place picture cards and explanation cards together on the board. Repeat with all the other
cards until they are all matched up.
7. Take the explanation cards away and hold up the picture cards one at a time. Ask children
to explain the function that each card represents.

SESSION 2
1. Divide students into groups of 6/7. Give each group a copy of the picture cards and the
explanation card.
2. Ask students to place the cards face down on their desks and mix them up.
3. The first student picks up one of each of the cards and reads it out to the group and shows
the picture. If they match, they keep the cards, if not they place them face down back on
the table.
4. The next student does the same and so on, until all the cards have been taken. The winner
is the student with the most cards.

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Wetland Metaphor Game Resources

These explanation and picture cards can be enlarged and
photocopied, then cut out and stuck onto card.

Wetlands absorb and hold excess water and pollution,
stopping it from going out to the sea.

Wetlands are a good resting place for migratory birds.

Wetlands are homes and provide shelter for many
animals and plants. Do you know what lives there?

Wetlands mix oxygen and nutrients into the water.

Wetlands provide a nursery for many young animals,
where they are safe from predators. Do you know
which animals breed there?

Wetlands help to filter out small particles and other
pollutants from water that runs into them.

Wetlands provide food for many animals and plants. Do
you know what animals feed there?

Wetlands help to clean the environment.

Wetlands provide fresh, unpolluted water for animals
and humans.

Wetlands on the coast protect shorelines from storms
and hurricanes, reducing coastal erosion.

The Water Cycle

Aims: To recognize the importance of clean water to support human, animal and plant life.
Objectives: Students will be able to identify and sequence the process of the water cycle.
Previous knowledge: The importance of water for the survival of plants, animals and humans.
Key vocabulary: water cycle, evaporation, precipitation, transpiration, condensation, ground
water, run-off
Materials: The incredible journey of a drop of water display and cards, Water cycle display and
cards, matching game cards

Social Studies: Sustainability – The sequence of the water cycle and its importance to humans
and their activities. (p170)

Activity:

SESSION 1
1. Discuss with students what we use water for and that 75% of our body is made of water.
2. Discuss how water is essential for all human, animal and plant life.
3. Discuss where the world’s water is;
• Oceans- 96%
• Ice masses- 2.2%
• Ground water 1.3%
• Lakes 0.2%
• Vegetation 0.1%
• Atmosphere 0.1 %
• Rivers 0.1%
4. Introduce the idea that the amount of water in the world stays the same. It just moves
around the world changing states.
5. Discuss solid, liquid and gas states of water.
6. Tell students that we are going to follow a journey made by one drop of water that comes
out of a tap to see where it goes.
7. Using picture cards trace the journey of the drop of water from a;
tap→ cup→ human→ toilet→ sewage system→ sea→ cloud→ rain→ reservoir→ pipe→
tap. Place cards in a circle
8. Tell students that this journey is called the water cycle. (It is estimated that in London,
the water that comes out of the taps has been through about 8 people before.)

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SESSION 2
1. Tell students that we are going to look at the scientific process that makes the water cycle
work
2. Look at diagram of the water cycle. Start with the sea. Where does the water go from the
sea? Explain the process of evaporation.
3. Explain that when the water reaches the cooler air in the sky it condenses.
4. The water returns to earth by the process of precipitation.
5. Some water will now run off the land into rivers, streams and lakes.
6. Some ground water will seep into underground rivers.
7. Plants will use some water. Any excess water will return to the clouds through a process
called transpiration.
8. The water that does not return by transpiration will eventually reach the see and the
whole cycle will begin again.
9. While explaining each step of the water cycle place cards with key words in the correct
place on the diagram.
10. When you have finished explaining the key words ask students to re-cap on the
meanings.

SESSION 3
1. Divide students into groups of 4/5 children and give each group a set of cards with key
words and definitions.
2. As a group, students should read the key words and the definitions and try and match
them together. They can use the diagram to help.
3. If the group is successful, they turn the cards upside down.
4. Each student will take a turn to turn over a keyword card and a definition card. If they
match and the group agrees, then they keep the card. If it does not, then they return the
card.
5. The winner is the student with the most cards.

Suggested follow up activities
1. Children to draw a diagram of their own incredible journey of a drop of water.
2. Children to imagine that they are a drop of water and write about the journey that they
take.
3. Drama based on the movement and different states that water takes.

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Water Cycle Resources

These can be photocopied and stuck onto card for water cycle display and to make
sets of cards for the matching game

Evaporation
Change of water from
liquid to gas

Condensation
Change of water from
gas to liquid

Precipitation
Water that falls to the
earth

Run off
Flow of water from land
into rivers, lakes and
wetlands

Ground water
Water that collects in
underground streams

Transpiration
Excess water from
leaves turns to gas

Leatherback turtles

Aims: To understand the need to conserve endangered species
Objectives: Students will be able to answer questions on a comprehension passage about some
features of the biology, ecology and conservation of the leatherback turtle.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with a beach ecosystem.
Key vocabulary: endangered
Materials:

island. (p172)
Language Arts: Reading comprehension – Summarising (p44)

The lessons on the leatherback would be most effective if done during the nesting season,
which is from May to August. These stories on the biology, ecology, and conservation of the
leatherback are preparation for later lessons. See also the Appendix for more information.

Activity:
Have students read the following two comprehension passages and answer the questions that
follow.

Nesting Leatherback Turtles
The leatherback is the largest living turtle. From its head to its tail, it is about
one and a half meters long. This is as tall as many ten year-old children. The
leatherback is unique among turtles, in that it does not have a hard bony shell. Instead,
its back is covered with leathery skin. This is how it got its name, the leatherback.
Leatherbacks live in the sea, and they feed on jellyfish. During the day, many
jellyfish sink deep under the surface. Then, the leatherback turtles must dive below the
water to catch the jellyfish. Leatherbacks can hold their breath for up to twenty minutes
long. They are good swimmers and use their big flippers like paddles when they swim.
Baby leatherbacks are called hatchlings. They are born from eggs that their mothers dig
in the sand on a beach. Every year, these mother leatherbacks swim to beaches in Trinidad and
Tobago, and crawl up to did the nests and lay their eggs. They dig the nest using their big back
flippers. They lay hundreds of eggs at one time. The eggs are white and have soft shells. Then
the mother turtle buries the nest under sand, and crawls slowly back to the sea. This is a very
tiring job and the mother turtle is usually very tired by the time she is through. The mother
leatherback will come back to

165

the same beach about ten days later to lay another nest. She will come back about six times
again, before she leaves the sea around Trinidad and Tobago. Scientists think that leatherbacks
spend the rest of the year swimming in different parts in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
After about two months, the baby hatchlings hatch out of their eggs. They dig their way
to the top of the sand, and crawl to the sea. They are about as big as your hand, and looks just
like their mothers but tiny. Sometimes, they get lost on their way to the sea. Sometimes crabs,
corbeaus, dogs, and other animals eat them. When they reach the sea, sometimes sharks eat
them. But some survive and swim away into the deep sea. One day, if they are mothers, they will
swim back to the same beach where they were born to dig their own nests.

Leatherbacks are Endangered
Leatherback turtles were swimming in the sea when dinosaurs were still alive and
walking on the land. Leatherback turtles are still swimming in the sea today. Leatherbacks are
found around the world. Hundreds of mother leatherbacks lay their nests on the beaches of
Trinidad and Tobago each year. Some of the beaches where leatherbacks nest in Trinidad are
Grande Riviere, Madamas, Manzanilla, Fishing Point, and Matura. Leatherbacks also nest on
beaches in Tobago, one beach where they nest is even called Turtle Beach because of the
leatherbacks that nest there.
Even though the leatherbacks have been around for thousands of years, they are
endangered now. That means that there is a danger that all the leatherbacks in the world will
die, and there will be no more leatherbacks ever. This is a very scary thought. Leatherbacks are
endangered because many are being killed by people and animals, and less hatchlings are being
born.
Sometimes leatherbacks think that a plastic bag that is floating in the ocean is a jellyfish,
and they try to eat it. It gets stuck in their throat and they die. Leatherbacks are also being
killed accidentally by fishermen. Sometimes leatherbacks get caught in fishing nets. Sometimes
their flipper gets caught in a fishing line. If they are caught underwater, they will soon drown
because leatherbacks need air to breathe just like you do. Some people even catch leatherbacks
to eat. We have to be careful that we don't catch too many though.
It is important that we make sure that many leatherbacks continue to be born. Some
people like to eat the meat of the turtle, and they kill the mother leatherbacks when they come up
on the beaches to lay their nests. This is especially bad because then the mother cannot lay her
eggs, and all those hatchlings will not be born. Killing one mother leatherbacks means that
thousands of hatchlings will not be born. Because of this, killing mother leatherbacks on or near
the beaches is against the law. The government and the people who live in the villages near the
beaches are working hard to make sure this does not happen. Sometimes people go and dig up
nests to eat the eggs. This means that all those baby hatchlings will not be born. This is also
against the law. Stray dogs also dig up nests to eat eggs, so it is important that we try to keep
dogs off beaches where the leatherbacks nest. Driving cars on beaches can also crush the eggs
in the nests. This is also against the law. One thing that we cannot control is nature. Sometimes
the river on the beach washes away sand so much that it washes away the eggs in nests. If there
is a big storm eggs also get washed away.

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One thing people can do is clean up the beaches. Leatherbacks cannot dig their nests if
there is too much garbage on the beaches. Leatherbacks also cannot crawl over big logs. Some
people go every year to clean up the beaches before the leatherbacks come. Many people like to
go to see the leatherbacks nest. They are amazing. It is fun to go in the night on the quiet beach
and hear the waves crashing while the mother leatherback works hard to lay all of her eggs.
Have you ever been to see the leatherbacks nest?

Evaluation:
Answer the following comprehension questions.
Nesting Leatherback Turtles
How did leatherback turtles get their name?
What do leatherbacks eat?
Where do mother leatherbacks dig their nests?
What do leatherback eggs look like?
What are baby leatherbacks called?
What are some of the animals that eat the hatchlings when they are crawling from their nests to
the sea?
Leatherbacks are Endangered
What does endangered mean?
Why are leatherbacks endangered?
Why do people kill leatherbacks?
How do plastic bags in the ocean kill leatherbacks?
Why is driving cars on the beaches against the law?
What are some of the ways that people are taking care of leatherbacks?

Have students write an essay entitled "If I was a leatherback".
Start a scrapbook on the leatherback, with clippings from newspapers and copies from
other sources, and graphs, essays and information from the lessons.
Borrow a video on the leatherback turtle from the Wildlife Section, Forestry Division.

167

Threats to leatherback turtles

Subjects: Social Science, Physical Education, Mathematics
Aims: To understand the need to conserve endangered species
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) dramatise some of the main threats that leatherback
turtles face on their nesting beaches and at sea, through games, 2) gather data to calculate the
amount of hatchlings that survive to reach deep sea.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with the biology, ecology and conservation of
leatherback turtles.
Key vocabulary: conservation, endangered
Suggested Time: 3periods
Materials: paper bags, stones, chalk, paper, pins, socks, boxes filled with shredded paper or
sawdust.

island. (p172)
Mathematics: Statistics – gather data and tabulate data. (p87)

The lessons on the leatherback would be most effective if done during the nesting season,
which is from May to August. The comprehension passages in the Leatherback Turtle lesson
review the biology, ecology, and conservation of leatherbacks in T&T. These activities have
the students simulate some of the threats faced by the adults, hatchlings, and eggs. The
leatherbacks face many threats, both in the sea and on the nesting beaches. Threats on the
nesting beaches include: (1) poaching of adult females on the nesting beaches for their meat
and excavation of the nests for the eggs; (2) erosion of the beaches by sand mining or when
the sand is washed away by rivers or high waves, and exposes or totally washes away the
buried nests; (3) oil pollution and debris on the beaches that hamper the movements of both
the adults and the hatchlings; (4) development of the coasts can disturb the turtles, lights and
noise especially can disorient them; (5) the hatchlings are preyed upon by vultures, mongoose,
crabs and dogs (who may also dig up the nests. In the sea the turtles are threatened by: (1)
hunting by fishermen; (2) accidental entrapment in nets and lines; (3) hatchlings are preyed
upon by sharks, fish and seabirds along the coast; (4) turtles may accidentally ingest plastic
bags and other human debris that are polluting the sea that they may mistake for the jellyfish
that they eat. See also the Appendix for more information.

Activity:

SESSION I
Pre-Activity:
1. Review the basic biology and ecology of leatherbacks from Lesson 6.06.
2. Review how adult leatherback turtles are threatened by pollution in the sea and
fishermen’s nets and lines.
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3. Choose half of the class to represent the adult turtles in the sea.
4. Choose one quarter of the students to represent fishermen and pollution.
5. Choose the last quarter of students to represent the conservationists who want to help the
turtles.
6. Demonstrate the motions to be used by each group and have the class practice these.

Hands-on:
1. Play a game of “stick-in-the-mud” catch, where the fishermen and the pollution try to
catch the turtles, which freeze until they are “rescued” by the conservationists.
2. Discuss how in real life, the turtles cannot be rescued and they die. However,
conservationists are working to help reduce these threats to turtles. One way is for
everyone to reduce the amount of pollution being dumped on land and into rivers and the
sea. Another way is for laws to make it illegal to catch turtles during the nesting season
when they are commonly in our waters. In fact, fisheries legislation is being redrafted to
address the latter concern.
3. Discuss how killing female leatherbacks reduces reproduction of the leatherback
population as killing one female means that hundreds of potential hatchlings will not be
born.

SESSION II
Pre-Activity:
4. Review the nesting biology and ecology of leatherbacks, and the threats faced by nesting
females and their nests on the beaches.
5. Divide the class into groups: scientists (2 students), adult female turtles (one-quarter of
the class), river (1 student), dogs (3 students), and poachers (the rest). Label each group
using paper pinned onto the student's shirt.
6. Demonstrate and let each group practice how they behave (turtles swim, poachers sneak
in and kill turtles or dig up eggs, dogs run and bark and dig up eggs, river flows and
erodes away sand and so washes away eggs).
7. Using chalk lines, demarcate a large area as the nesting beach.
8. Position the same number of filled nesting boxes as there are female turtles on the beach.
9. Give each female sea turtle a (doubled up so it does not burst) bag with about 100 small
stones in it to represent their eggs.
Hands-on:
Round 1: On the nesting beach - threats to the adult nesting females
10. Let the female turtles start from the sea, which is the area outside of the nesting beach.
11. Let the poachers wait in a corner of the nesting beach.
12. Give the female turtles a head start, and let them try to swim to the nesting beach. Once
they are on the beach, they must crawl on all fours and try to lay their eggs in a nesting
box. They must bury the eggs in the paper or sawdust.
13. Let the poachers try to stop the turtles from laying. A pair of poachers can kill a turtle by
tagging it, then turning it over onto its back. The poachers must then remain with the
turtle they killed, they cannot kill another.

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14. Give the turtles 3-4 minutes to try to lay their eggs. They must lay their eggs one at a
time and bury each in the box. They should try to smooth the sawdust or the paper to
camouflage where they buried the eggs, just as an actual turtle would try to cover signs of
where the nest is.
15. At the end of this time, let the two scientists count the number of turtles that were killed
by poachers, and the number of nests that were successfully laid. Only eggs that were
buried under the paper or sawdust count as having been successfully laid, the others
should be removed and not counted. Let the scientists record these numbers.
16. Discuss how hunting of female leatherbacks on the nesting beaches reduces reproduction
of the leatherback population as killing one female means that hundreds of potential
hatchlings will not be born.
17. Remove the unused nests, let all female turtles leave the beach, and the poachers regroup
in one corner of the beach.

Round 2: On the nesting beach - threats to the nests of eggs
18. Let the dogs and the river join the poachers in a corner of the beach.
19. Divide them into two teams.
20. In this area, place a box for each team for stolen and dead eggs.
21. Give them 2 minutes to remove eggs from the nests. They can only remove one egg from
each nest at a time.
22. After removing each egg, they must run and put it in a pile in the box for dead eggs.
23. At the end of this time, let the two scientists count the number of eggs that were removed,
and the number that were left in the nests by each team (the sum of these numbers gives
the total number of eggs that were successfully laid).
24. Discuss how removal of eggs from nests by poachers and dogs and nests washed away by
flooded rivers reduces reproduction of the leatherback population.

SESSION III

Pre-Activity:
25. Recall the lessons learnt in Session I and II.
26. Review the threats faced by hatchlings attempting to reach the sea after they emerge from
the nest.
27. Choose students to represent the hatchlings that want to escape to the sea. Choose the
same number of hatchlings as eggs that were left in the nest in Session II (If the number
of eggs that survived is very large, choose a number of students so that each students
represents a set number of hatchlings from eggs that survive, for example one student = 4
hatchlings. This is important for calculations in Lesson 6.08). Let each hatchling tuck a
sock into their waistband at their back.
28. Demonstrate and have students practice the behaviour of the hatchlings.
29. Draw a large circle to represent the nesting beach. Let the hatchlings stand in groups
within the circle.
30. Draw a line a short distance around the edge of the beach to indicate deep water that is
safe for hatchlings. 170

31. Choose one student to represent each of the predators on the beach that want to eat the
hatchlings: vultures, mongoose, crabs, and dogs. Let them start from a position in the
middle of the beach.
32. Choose one student to represent each of the predators in the sea that want to eat the
hatchlings: sea birds, sharks, and fish. Let them start from a position a little away from
the edge of the beach, in the sea.
33. Demonstrate and have the students practice the behaviours of the predators.

Hands-on:
34. The hatchlings must try to crawl to the safety of the deep water.
35. Each of the predators must try to "eat" the escaping hatchlings by pulling the sock out of
their waist. If the hatchlings are eaten, they must leave the playing area. Let each of the
predators mimic the movements of the animal they are representing.
36. Give the hatchlings a head start, then give the predators 5 minutes to try to "eat" the
hatchlings. At the end of the round, note how many hatchlings survived and how many
were eaten.
37. Discuss the high levels of mortality of hatchlings as typical of this species, which
produces hundreds of eggs to compensate for this heavy mortality.

Evaluation:
Have students demonstrate the behaviours of and discuss all the threats faced by adults,
hatchlings, and eggs of leatherbacks. Divide these into those caused by humans and those
that are natural events in the ecosystem.
Have students fill in the following table from the data collected in the four sessions.

Session II: Round 1 Number of nesting females
Number of nests successfully laid
Number of turtles killed on beach
Session II: Round 2 Number of eggs lost from nests
Number of eggs left in nests
Number of eggs successfully laid
Session III Number of hatchlings emerged
Number of hatchlings survive to reach deep sea

Invite a representative from the Wildlife Section, Forestry Division, or one of the village
groups (Nature Seekers Incorporated, Grande Riviere Environmental Awareness Trust, or
Fishing Pond) in to talk about the leatherback conservation project.

171

Write a list of the threats faced by the adults, hatchlings, and eggs of the leatherbacks in
the scrapbook. Divide the list into threats due to humans and threats from natural factors
in the ecosystem.
Hold a poster competition with the theme “Save the leatherback turtles”.

172


The structure of a forest
Science: Deforestation affects the environment. (p46)
Art & Craft: Painting – Discover and reproduce forms in landscape (p45)

Values of biodiversity
Subjects: Science, Language Arts
Language Arts: Persuasive writing (p65)

Habitat loss and fragmentation
Subjects: Science, Physical Education

Planning to minimize habitat fragmentation
Subjects: Science

173

The structure of a forest

Aim: To understand the importance of conserving forest ecosystems.
Objectives: Students will be able to draw a picture of a forest showing the different layers.
Previous knowledge: Students should know what a forest is and that it is composed of a
diversity of plant species.
Key vocabulary: forest, plant
Suggested Time: 1 period
Materials: drawing materials, paper

Art & Craft: Painting – Discover and reproduce forms in landscape (p45)

This activity has students make observations of the structure of a forest. There are many small
parks or other forested areas near the school that will be suitable for this exercise. If it is not
possible to take the students on a field trip to one of these sites, discuss different plants in a
garden, and how there are large trees as well as smaller plants (shrubs and herbs) that can
grow under the trees. Or bring in pictures of tropical forests for the students to look at.

This lesson aims at exposing students to the structure of a tropical forest, and the diversity of
plant species found there. Tropical forests are made up of four main layers, the canopy layer
is the layer made up of the crowns of tall trees. This is an almost continuous layer that looks
like a green carpet when viewed in a plane above. There are also very tall trees that emerge
above the canopy layer. This is called the emergent layer. Below the tall trees are smaller and
younger trees whose crowns have not yet reached the canopy. Palms are included in this layer
which is called the sub-canopy layer. Some of the young trees in this layer will eventually
form part of the canopy layer if a tree above them dies so that there is a space in the canopy.
The understory layer is made up of the shrubs, herbs, other small plants, and seedlings. Vines
and lianas (woody vines) may extend through all these layers. It is not important that students
know the names of these layers, but rather that they recognize that there is a vertical structure
of layers of plants in the forest.

Activity:
1. Have the students sit together in an area in the forest.
2. Lead a discussion to guide students to make observations about the structure and
diversity of plant species in the forest. Ask them questions to direct their observations.
Examples of the type of questions are: (1) Show me some plants of different sizes. (2)
Show me plants that look different. (3) Show me different types of leaves.

174

3. In this way, have students recognize that there is a vertical structure of different types of
plants in the forest.
4. Discuss how the tall plants that need to grow up to the canopy layer are supported by a
large thick trunk.
5. Discuss how vines and lianas are other plants can grow up to tall layers by climbing on
the trees.
6. Discuss how plants that grow short near to the ground do not need a thick trunk to
support them.
7. Have the students draw and colour a picture of the forest that illustrates their observations
about the vertical structure of different types of plants.

Evaluation:
Have students display their drawings and discuss them.

Have the class make a large mural for the wall to show the vertical structure of different
plants in the forest. This can be made as a collage of different paper plants pasted on the
wall.

175


Subjects: Science, Language Arts
Objectives: Students will be able to write a business letter and an essay on the values of forest
biodiversity.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with some of the biodiversity of T&T
Key vocabulary: biodiversity, value, utilitarian, anthropocentric, intrinsic, biocentric, goods,
services
Materials:

Language Arts: Persuasive writing (p65)

This lesson looks at both utilitarian values and intrinsic values of biodiversity. Biodiversity is
the diversity of genes, species, and ecosystems. The values of biodiversity can be classified
into two types, utilitarian and intrinsic. A utilitarian value is a value something has because it
helps another species (humans) achieve some goal. These values are attributed using an
anthropocentric viewpoint, that is, by looking at the values of biodiversity from the
perspective of humans. A biocentric perspective is used to attribute intrinsic values. An
intrinsic value is a value that something has in its own right, not because something else uses
it. To some extent these are conflicting views, but they are both valid. It is important that
students learn to appreciate different viewpoints and perspectives.

Several categories of utilitarian values can be defined. Biodiversity can have value as goods.
Many examples of biodiversity being used as resources such as food or materials can be given.
Even if an item of biodiversity does not have a current use as a good, it may be argued that it
is still a potential resource. Many believe that tropical forests hold tremendous potential value
as a source of potential medicinal products. Biodiversity can also provide important
ecological services to humans. An example is the functioning of ecosystems as watersheds.
The pollination of many agricultural crops by insects is another. A third utilitarian value is
described as the information value. The biological world is seen as a tremendous library of
information to science in its quest to understand the workings of things. The final utilitarian
value is the psycho-spiritual value of biodiversity. This value is based on human appreciation
of the aesthetics of nature, which philosophers have termed ‘biophilia’, as a deep-rooted
inherent love of humans for a beautiful natural world. This also includes the cultural, religious
and spiritual significance of biodiversity.
Intrinsic values are less definable. A simple analogy may be useful in understanding this
approach. It is widely agreed that each human being has intrinsic value, regardless of their
worth to other people or to society. In the same way, biodiversity also has intrinsic value
regardless of its worth to human society.
176

Activity:
1. Review what is biodiversity.
2. Discuss utilitarian and intrinsic values of biodiversity, and give examples from the
following table.

Value Examples
Goods A forest produces many important goods that people use, for example
wood from trees, plants to make baskets from, fruit to eat, animals to eat,
medicines from plants (bush tea as well as other medicines that are
bought in the pharmacy), etc.. Forests are also important areas for
recreation.
Services Forests also perform several important ecological services. Very
importantly they serve as habitat for a great diversity of animals and
plants. These animals and plants may be used by people, for example
animals are hunted, and fruits are gathered for food. Forests are also
important as they help the rain to soak up into the soils so that it does not
run off and flood other areas. Forests help to keep an area cool, even
having trees near to your house will keep it shady and cool.
Psycho- People also value forests for their aesthetic beauty, and spiritual or
spiritual religious value. In T&T, we have many folklore stories about the forest,
value for example about Papa Bois, the guardian of the forest. Thus forests
have cultural value also.
Intrinsic People also think that forests are important in their own right,
value independent of the values that they hold for humans. This is harder to
explain, but use the analogy of asking a student why he or she is
important. It is not only because they are important to their family or
their friends (though they are). It is also because they are important in
their own right, even if other people did not think that they were
important. In the same way, forests, and everything in them, are
important in their own right.

Ask students to fill in the blanks in the following passage.

Biodiversity has many values. Biodiversity is important because it is useful to humans.
Many important goods are produced from animals and plants. One good that is
produced from animals is --------- and one good that is produced from plants is ---------.
Bees and other insects provide an important service to humans by --------------
agricultural crops. Many forest ecosystems are important in producing water for human
use. They function as -------------.

177

Have students write an essay that starts “Nature is important to me because....”.
Give a scenario where an area is to be deforested for development. An actual site may be
given. Have students write a letter to the newspaper listing all the values of the forest,
and arguing for its conservation.
Ecotourism is an important source of revenue in T&T. This is based on humans’ love of
nature. Write a letter to your friend from abroad that is coming to visit about the natural
environment in T&T, and some of the beautiful places that they will visit.

178

Habitat loss and fragmentation

Subjects: Science, Physical Education
Objectives: Students will be able to play a game to show how habitat loss and fragmentation can
threaten forest biodiversity.
Previous knowledge: Students should be familiar with the terms population and habitat.
Key vocabulary: population, habitat, fragmentation
Materials: string, newspaper sheets


These two games demonstrate how habitat loss and fragmentation can threaten biodiversity.

Activity:

SESSION I
1. This activity demonstrates the effect of shrinking habitat on wildlife populations.
2. In a large cleared area, lay out a circle using string or rope on the floor. Explain that this
represents an ecosystem that is habitat to different animals.
3. Choose the ecosystem (for example forest, swamp, beach, grassland, field, garden, etc.).
4. Have each student choose an animal or plant from that ecosystem.
5. Let all the students go and sit inside the circle.
6. Explain how some of the ecosystem is then cleared by humans. For example, a forest is
cleared to build a village, or plant fields to grow food, etc..
7. Reduce the size of the circle by moving in the string.
8. As the circle gets smaller, then can move closer together but they cannot stand or sit on one
another.
9. Repeat the shrinking habitat, each time asking students to describe one human activity that
would cause some of the habitat to be destroyed.
10. As the circle gets smaller, eventually some of the students will not be able to fit and will have
to leave the circle.
11. Wrap up the activity by having students identify ways that human activities destroy habitat,
and thus lead to the reduction or extirpation of animal and plant populations.

179

SESSION II
1. This activity demonstrates the effect of habitat fragmentation on wildlife populations that are
sensitive to the edge effect.
2. Lay 4-5 old sheets or blankets together on the floor (newspaper sheets taped together may be
used instead). Explain that this represents an ecosystem that is habitat to different animals.
3. Choose the ecosystem (for example forest, swamp, beach, grassland, field, garden, etc.).
4. Have all of the students except 5 choose an animal or plant from that ecosystem.
5. Let all the students except the 5 go and sit on the blankets.
6. Discuss how there are things outside of the habitat that threaten the populations from the
edge. These may be predators, for example domestic cats or humans who are hunters.
7. Discuss how some species are especially sensitive to these threats. For example, some
species may be sensitive to extra light, wind and noise that comes from the edge of the
habitat. Some species may be prey of predators that are found outside of the habitat. A
variety of factors may be important.
8. Let the remaining 5 students be these threats. They must try and tag one of the animals or
plants on the blankets. They must do this with both feet standing outside of the blanket.
They can lean over but not place any part of their body on the blanket. The students inside
the blankets will crowd together to try to avoid being tagged.
9. Explain that people have built roads through the habitat. Fold up pieces of the blankets
where they touch to make spaces representing the roads that fragment the habitat. Discuss
how the habitat has become fragmented. The students must now sit closer together to remain
on the blankets.
10. Reduce the area of the blankets as necessary so that some students are tagged. These are now
dead and must leave the blanket.
11. Wrap up the activity by discussing how habitat fragmentation can lead to reduction in
wildlife populations.

Evaluation:
♦ Have the students identify ways that human activity is fragmenting habitat and possibly
threatening biodiversity.

180

Planning to minimize habitat fragmentation

Subjects: Science
Objectives: Students will be able to 1) demonstrate, the effect of habitat fragmentation on
wildlife populations, 2) list some of the human activities that are responsible for deforestation
and habitat fragmentation, 3) plan development to minimize habitat fragmentation.
Previous knowledge: Students should know what a population is and how populations are
affected by habitat fragmentation.
Key vocabulary: fragmentation, habitat
Materials: coloured paper, newspaper



This activity leads students through a simulation game of human development that causes
habitat fragmentation and threatens biodiversity. It also demonstrates the effect of the
increasing human population. Finally, it engages students in problem solving to minimise
habitat fragmentation through planning of development.

Habitat fragmentation is a serious problem for populations of many different animals and
plants for several reasons. One reason is that the division of a population creates problems
over generations as it hampers reproduction, for example as some animals may not be able to
find mates in their fragment. Large animals that are territorial or simply need a large habitat
area to provide them with the resources that they need are also negatively affected. Other
animals may experience high levels of threats from sources outside of the forest. When the
forest is fragmented into pieces, it increases their exposure to the edge and thus increases the
amount of threats to their population. This is called the edge effect. For example, domestic
cats may be able to exert heavy predation of forest birds that now live close to the edge of the
forest. All these factors result in reduction of extirpation of the populations within forest
fragments. In Lesson 3.05 students looked at how animal populations faced increased
predation when traversing between forest fragments. This lesson looks at the phenomenon of
habitat fragmentation, and at how this could result in predation of animals traversing
fragments, and extirpation of populations within fragments that are too small to support them.

181

Activity:

1. Play a game to simulate some of the human activities that can cause deforestation.
2. First create an area to be the forest by pasting together three large pieces of newspaper.
3. Draw green trees on the paper.
4. Select 5 students to be farmers.
5. Give each farming family a 5 cm x 5 cm piece of paper.
6. Let each farmer colour his/her square green. This represents their field.
7. Let each farmer place his/her field anywhere in the forested area.
8. Discuss how many areas of T&T that were once forested long ago had to be cleared to plant
fields to grow food for people.
9. Select 5 students to be loggers.
10. Give each logger a 5 cm x 5 cm piece of paper. Let them colour it brown. This represents
the area of forest from which they will take their logs.
11. Let each logger place his/her area anywhere they like in the forest.
12. Discuss how some areas are deforested to get wood for people to use to build houses,
furniture, etc..
13. Choose 3 students to be developers.
14. Give each of the developers a strip of paper. Let them colour it black. These represent the
roads through the forest.
15. Discuss how some areas are deforested to build roads for people to travel on.
16. Choose 5 students to be people who need houses.
17. Give each of these students a 5 cm x 5 cm piece of paper. Let them colour it red to represent
an area with houses.
18. Let each house person place his/her square anywhere in the forest they like.
19. Discuss how some areas are deforested to build houses for people to live in.
20. Choose a student to be an industry. This industry is dumping its pollution in the forest
surrounding it.
21. Give the industry person a 5 cm x 5 cm square to represent the area of the forest destroyed by
pollution from this industry. Let the student place the square anywhere in the forest they
choose.
22. Discuss how pollution from people can destroy forests.
23. Review the forest board. Discuss how different activities are causing deforestation.
24. Look at the pattern of deforestation. Is the forest fragmented into little intact pieces
separated by deforested areas?
25. Explain how populations cannot use many little pieces of forest, but need large intact pieces.
Use the case of fish in an aquarium to explain the concept that a population needs a minimum
area to survive. Ask students to think about fish in an aquarium that is big enough for them to
swim around in, get their food, interact with each other, and have hiding places. Ask them to
think about what would happen if instead of one big aquarium, we poured all of the same
water and plants and fish into many small bowls. The fish would still have the same amount
of habitat, just that it would be split up into many small pieces. Since fish have no way of
getting from one bowl to another, their population has been fragmented. Talk about how this
creates problems for the fish, and that they cannot survive for long like this. Explain that big
animals need large enough areas to find their food in. Other animals are very shy so they
need big areas that are away from humans. 182

26. Give the remaining students circles of 20 cm diameter. These represent animal and plant
populations.
27. Explain how populations need large continuous areas of forest to find food and take shelter
in.
28. Let the students try to place these animal populations within areas of intact forest.
29. If the circles overlap any squares representing deforested areas, the population cannot survive
and must be removed from the board.

Evaluation:
♦ Have the students cooperate to plan human development and investigate how planning can
reduce habitat fragmentation.
1. Let the groups work together to decide how they would now place their squares if they
cooperate and plan their development. Give them 10-15 minutes to discuss and place all the
squares.
2. Examine whether the populations can now fit in intact forest.
3. Discuss how planning and working together means that larger areas of the forest can be kept
intact.
4. Discuss how the placement of the squares affects how the forest is impacted by the human
activities. Can the squares be placed in such a way so as to group some of the deforested
areas closer together, so that larger areas of intact forest remain?
5. Discuss how in real situations, human activities are usually planned so that the areas
impacted are close together. For example, many agricultural fields are often situated close
together. Houses are often close together, and are close to roads. But, logging is an
exception. Logged areas should NOT be all close together, because then the area would not
be able to recover and regrow into forest. If too large an area is logged, it would become a
grassland and trees could not easily develop there.

183

Glossary
abiotic: Non-living, usually applied to the physical and chemical aspects of an environment.
acid precipitation: Any for of precipitation (rain, snow, fog, dew, etc.) that has been made
acidic by atmosphere pollution.
adaptation: (1) Changes in the form or behaviour of an organism during its life cycle in
response to changes in it environment. (2) Change in characteristics of an organism as a
consequence of natural selection by evolution in response to changes in the environment.
afforestation: The planting of trees in an area where previously there were none.
allele: Alternative forms of a gene.
attitude: A position, feeling or disposition with respect to somebody or something: a tendency to
act for or against something.
biotic: Living, usually applied to the biological aspects of an environment.
canopy: The uppermost level in a forest comprised of tree crowns.
carnivore: An organism that is predator and feeds on living animals. It is a secondary consumer.
carrying capacity: The number of individuals of a particular species that the resources of a
given environment can support.
consensus: A decision reached by mutual acceptance of persons involved.
conservation: The management of human use of the biosphere so that it may yield the greatest
sustainable benefit to present generations while maintaining its potential to meet the needs and
aspirations of future generations. The integrative management of something to preserve its basic
elements and functions. Conservation thus includes both preservation and wise-use of natural
resources.
data: The smallest units of information.
decomposer: An organism that feeds on (obtains its energy from) dead organic matter (from the
bodies and wastes of plants and animals) by breaking down the complex tissues and organic
molecules. Certain bacteria and fungi are the only true decomposers, as they possess the
necessary enzymes for this breakdown. Detritivores are sometimes inaccurately termed
decomposers
decomposition: The breakdown of complex, energy rich organic molecules in biotic matter to
simple inorganic molecules. This process is responsible for nutrient re-cycling.
deforestation: The destruction and loss of forests.
detritivore: An organism that is involved in the early stage of decomposition, it feeds on dead
organic matter (detritus). Full breakdown into inorganic molecules does not take place.
detritus: Dead organic matter (bodies of plants and animals).
diameter at breast height (dbh): A measurement of a tree’s diameter taken at breast height.
ecology: The scientific study of the interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of
organisms. Ecology is thus the study of ecosystems.
ecosystems: A biological community together with its associated abiotic environment.
ecotone: The transition ecosystem type between two distinct and adjoining ecosystems.
edge effect: (1) The negative influence of a habitat edge on the interior biotic and abiotic
environment. (2) The effect of adjoining habitats on the environment at the ecotone.

184

emergent layer: The layer in a forest that is comprised of the tallest trees that emerge above the
canopy layer.
endangered: The classification given to some biological entity ( most usually a species but also
an ecosystem) that reflects its imminent danger of extinction in all or parts of its range. This may
be due to human activity as well as natural causes.
endemic: Usually applied to a species, reflecting its highly localized or restrictive geographic
distribution. Many species are endemics on isolated islands, meaning that they are found only on
the island, nowhere else.
environment: The range of external conditions and surroundings affecting the existence of
living organisms.
eutrophication: Enrichment of a water body with nutrients, usually resulting in a large increase
in the phytoplankton community. This algal bloom depletes the oxygen in the water, resulting in
death of the other organisms in the water.
exotic species: A species that is not indigenous to an area, but has been artificially introduced.
extinction: The condition that arises from the death of the last surviving individual of a species
group or gene. (compare with extirpation).
extirpation: The condition the arises for the death of the last surviving individual of a species
population, group or gene in the local area.
evolution: The process by which a biological group (for example a species or family) changes in
response to changes in the environment.
fragmentation: The disruption of extensive habitat into isolated and small patches.
gene pool: The sum total of genes and alleles in a sexually reproducing population of plants or
animals.
genetic diversity: The diversity within and among genes.
habitat: The place where an animal or plant lives.
herbivore: An animal that feeds on plant matter. It is a primary consumer.
inexhaustible resources: Resources whose amount does not decrease with time. We cannot see
a time when they will not be there.
interconnected: To be connected with each other.
migration: The movement of individuals from one region to another.
neotropics: The tropical region of the Americas, comprising the Caribbean and parts of South
and Central America.
mutualism: An interaction between the individuals of two or more species in which all of the
individuals benefit from the interaction.
nature: The phenomenon of the material world, and including the plants, animals, landscape and
physical powers.
niche: The niche of a species describes the functional, adaptational and distributional role of a
species in an ecosystem. The functional role encompasses the trophic position and the
relationship of a species to another species, and is analogous to a profession. The adaptational
role describes the habitat of a species, that is the type and range of environmental conditions in
which it lives and is adapted to. The distributional role involves a statement of the geographical
area in which a species is found. Thus a niche of a species includes many different parameters
that together describe the role of a species in an ecosystem.

185

nutrient cycling: The process of describing the continuous cycling of nutrients between the
biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem. Nutrients are taken up by plants and incorporated
into their bodies via photosynthesis. As herbivores eat plants, these nutrients are passed into their
bodies. As carnivores and scavengers eat animal bodies, these nutrients are similarly passed
along the food chain. Eventually all of the nutrients in the bodies of plants and animals end up in
the dead organic matter, which is than decomposed by the detritivores and the decomposers. The
decomposers break up the complex molecules, and release the nutrients back into the abiotic
environment in their simplest inorganic form. These nutrients are once again available for uptake
by plants. The cycle is continuously repeated in ecosystems.
non renewable resource: Resources that are present in the environment in finite or limited
quantities, while the demand for them is infinite or unlimited. The rate at which they are formed
is too slow to compensate for the amount used. Their quantities decrease with time.
omnivore: An animal that feeds on both plants and animals.
pollution: A contaminant in the environment. This may be any substance that exists in amounts
greater than what is naturally found in a given environment, and thus may be either a natural
substance ( for example carbon monoxide may be a pollutant under certain circumstances) or
synthetic ( for example many pesticides).
population: A collection of several individuals of the same species occupying a common area in
a given time. The size of the area is often arbitrarily defined.
predator: An organism that consumes other organisms. It is most often thought of as a
carnivore, although herbivores, parasites and parasitoids may also be included.
preservation: The maintenance of something in its existing state. Environmental preservation
implies the setting aside of something and barring human activity and impacts. (compare with
conservation)
prey: An individual liable to be or actually consumed by a predator.
protected area: A natural area being managed for its conservation
reafforestation: The replanting of an area with trees
recyclable resources: Resources that are not destroyed by use and therefore can be recycled and
reused.
siltation: The deposition of sediment, especially in a water channel.
species-area relationship: The common pattern where as the size of an area increases, the
number of species that will be found in the area also increases.
succession: The non-seasonal, directional and continuous pattern of change in the biotic
community and its abiotic environment on a site. This is caused by the pattern of colonization
and extinction on the site by populations of different species. Primary succession refers to
community development on site that was totally lacking in organic (biotic) matter, for example
the development of grassland on the open sand of an abandoned quarry. Secondary succession
refers to the changes experienced by a community after disturbance, for example the regrowth of
a forest after fire or logging.
sustainable: To be able to be sustained or upheld.
sustainable development: Development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It describes the ability to
sustain development or the utilization of natural resources without causing damage or depletion.

186

sustainable use: The use of a natural resource in such a manner and at such a rate that the
resource is not depleted or degraded. Often termed wise-use.
Territory: An area defended by an animal or animals against others of the same species.
under story: The region of a forest found beneath the tree crowns in the canopy.
value: Worth that is attached to something.
values system: An individual’s or community’s total collection of cherished ideas.
watershed: An area delimiting the waters flowing to a specific river, waterway, or sea.
wildlife: Animals and plants found in wild nature.

187

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