1. Brainstorm with students their understanding of protected habitats.
Ask students: What protected places have you visited? Prompt students with answers that include nearby state parks and nature preserves, well-known national parks, or city parks. Ask: What are some of the rules for people who visit these areas? Answers may include not littering, not removing any natural items, staying on the path, etc.
2. Define Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs.
Explain to students that parks and their rules exist in order to preserve habitats, organisms, and resources. Tell students that the need to protect habitats, organisms, and resources is not limited to land. The ocean needs to be protected, too. Areas in the ocean are being set aside as sanctuaries for the same reasons that parks were created on land: to protect habitats, organisms, and resources. These ocean sanctuaries are often called Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs. MPAs can have different rules of use. This means that people can use them in different ways, depending on an MPA's assigned level of protection. The strictest type of MPA is called a "no-take" reserve, which means that fishing of all types is not allowed. In many ways, the rules on "no-take" reserves are very similar to the rules for terrestrial parks.
3. Students compare the percentages of protected land and ocean.
Write numbers for the total land area of Earth, 148,647,000 km2 (57,392,928 square miles), and the total ocean area of Earth, 331,441,932 km2 (127,970,445 square miles), on a corner of the World Physical MapMaker Kit. Ask: Is there more land or water on Earth? Explain that the ocean covers 71 percent of Earth's surface, whereas land only covers 29 percent.
Have students estimate the percentage of each surface type that is protected and record their predictions. Ask: What percentage of Earth's land do you think is protected? What percentage of the ocean do you think is protected? Write student guesses on the board and then provide them with the actual percentages. About 13 percent of land, globally, is protected. However, less than 2 percent of the ocean is protected as a "no-take" reserve.
4. Students visualize the amount of protected area on the World Physical MapMaker Kit.
Have student volunteers tape cut out circles, or draw circles using a compass, on the map in order to visualize the amount of land and ocean set aside in reserves. Explain that these circles represent the total amount of land and ocean that is protected in the world. The size of these circles will differ based on the size of the World Physical map that you choose to use.
Tabletop Map
Total Area of Map: 682.5 in2
MPA: draw a circle with a 1 inch radius
Land: draw a circle with a 3 inch radius
MegaMap
Total Area of Map: 11,781 in2
MPA: draw a circle with a 5 inch radius
Land: draw a circle with a 12 inch radius
Label the circles "MPA" and "Protected Land," and shade them blue and green, respectively.
5. Discuss the importance of protecting the world's ocean.
Ask: How did our predictions compare to the actual amounts of protected land and ocean? Point out that even though the ocean is larger than the land, far less of it is protected. Ask: Are you surprised by this? Why or why not? Discuss why protecting the ocean matters. Remind students of the importance of protecting organisms, habitats, and resources, as well as positive and negative impacts that humans can have on the ocean.
Extending the Learning
Have a class brainstorm session of ways that different groups might be affected by the creation of a "no-take" MPA. Record all student responses on the board. Have students consider fishermen, tourism business owners and tourists, environmental groups, community members, politicians, and organisms. Ask: Which groups would be in support of the idea? Why? Circle these stakeholders in green. Ask: Which groups would be against? Why? Circle these stakeholders in red. Some groups may be coded both red and green. Tell students that the creation of an MPA is typically a complex process because of all of these competing interests.
Subjects & Disciplines
- Earth Science
- Geography
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- compare and visualize percentages of protected land and ocean on a global scale
- consider the importance of Marine Protected Areas
Teaching Approach
- Learning-for-use
Teaching Methods
- Brainstorming
- Cooperative learning
- Discovery learning
- Discussions
Skills Summary
This activity targets the following skills:
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Critical Thinking Skills
- Analyzing
- Applying
- Geographic Skills
Connections to National Standards, Principles, and Practices
National Geography Standards
- Standard 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, geospatial technologies, and spatial thinking to understand and communicate information
- Standard 3: How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface
Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts
- Principle 1a: The ocean is the dominant physical feature on our planet Earth—covering approximately 70% of the planet’s surface. There is one ocean with many ocean basins, such as the North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Indian and Arctic.
- Principle 1h: Although the ocean is large, it is finite and resources are limited.
- Principle 6e: Humans affect the ocean in a variety of ways. Laws, regulations and resource management affect what is taken out and put into the ocean. Human development and activity leads to pollution (such as point source, non-point source, and noise pollution) and physical modifications (such as changes to beaches, shores and rivers). In addition, humans have removed most of the large vertebrates from the ocean.
- Principle 6g: Everyone is responsible for caring for the ocean. The ocean sustains life on Earth and humans must live in ways that sustain the ocean. Individual and collective actions are needed to effectively manage ocean resources for all.
What You’ll Need
Materials You Provide
- Compasses
- Markers
Required Technology
- Tech Setup: 1 computer per classroom, Printer
- Plug-Ins: Flash
Physical Space
- Classroom
Setup
Wall or floor space large enough to hang a giant map
Grouping
- Large-group instruction
- Small-group instruction
Other Notes
Print out and assemble the tabletop map or megamap as a class or on your own before class. Use the assembly video provided to help with this process. If you do not have room for the large map, students can use tabletop maps in small groups.
Background Information
A Marine Protected Area, or MPA, is "any area of the marine environment that has been reserved by federal, state, territorial, tribal, or local laws or regulations to provide lasting protection for part or all of the natural and cultural resources therein" (Presidential Executive Order 13158). The ocean has many habitats and resources that many countries, international, and national organizations are working to protect. Marine parks, marine protected areas, and marine sanctuaries are created to protect numerous areas of Earth’s ocean.
Prior Knowledge
- None
Recommended Prior Activities
- None
Vocabulary
management of a natural resource to prevent exploitation, destruction, or neglect.
environment where an organism lives throughout the year or for shorter periods of time.
meaning or effect.
area of the ocean where a government has placed limits on human activity.
geographic area protected by the national government of a country.
area set aside by the government where all extractive activity, including fishing, mining, and drilling, is not allowed.
living or once-living thing.
available supply of materials, goods, or services. Resources can be natural or human.
protected area where wildlife can live and breed without threat from hunting.
Websites
Tips & Modifications
Modification
For Step 4, older students can calculate the size of the circles by measuring their maps and using ratios to calculate the circle size using the data in Step 3.
Tip
Laminate the individual sheets of the MapMaker Kit map so you can re-use it for several years.
Funder
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As the Ocean Dies, Black and Brown Communities Suffer
The ocean is ubiquitous to human existence, survival, and experience. As it warms and grows more polluted, everyone suffers, and it affects all of our existence. But it's detrimental consequences disproportionately impact many Black and brown communities throughout the world. This collection of resources highlights human impact on the oceans and teaches students strategies to mitigate our impact, striving for environmental justice.
-
Pristine Seas
Our oceans are threatened by pollution, overfishing, and climate change. Even though the ocean covers approximately 70 percent of our planet, less than eight percent is protected. The mission of the Pristine Seas project, launched in 2008 by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala, is to explore and protect the ocean’s last wild places. Since the project began, it has conducted 30 scientific expeditions and worked with world leaders to inspire the creation of 22 marine reserves that protect more than five million square kilometers (1,930,510 square miles).
-
Marine Ecosystems
Marine ecosystems contain a diverse array of living organisms and abiotic processes. From massive marine mammals like whales to the tiny krill that form the bottom of the food chain, all life in the ocean is interconnected. While the ocean seems vast and unending, it is, in fact, finite; as the climate continues to change, we are learning more about those limits. Explore these resources to teach students about marine organisms, their relationship with one another, and with their environment.
-
Marine Protected Areas
Students explore Marine Protected Areas on an interactive map, compare and contrast marine and terrestrial protected areas, and discuss the importance of Marine Protected Areas.
-
Marine Protected Areas Management
Students read a case study and debate the pros and cons of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the region. Then they select a Marine Protected Area and develop and present a management plan for it.
-
Create a Marine Protected Area
Students brainstorm and analyze competing ocean resources and uses. They experiment with designating a marine protected area along an imaginary coastline and discuss the challenges of deciding on rules and restrictions within it.
-
As the Ocean Dies, Black and Brown Communities Suffer
The ocean is ubiquitous to human existence, survival, and experience. As it warms and grows more polluted, everyone suffers, and it affects all of our existence. But it's detrimental consequences disproportionately impact many Black and brown communities throughout the world. This collection of resources highlights human impact on the oceans and teaches students strategies to mitigate our impact, striving for environmental justice.
-
Pristine Seas
Our oceans are threatened by pollution, overfishing, and climate change. Even though the ocean covers approximately 70 percent of our planet, less than eight percent is protected. The mission of the Pristine Seas project, launched in 2008 by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala, is to explore and protect the ocean’s last wild places. Since the project began, it has conducted 30 scientific expeditions and worked with world leaders to inspire the creation of 22 marine reserves that protect more than five million square kilometers (1,930,510 square miles).
-
Marine Ecosystems
Marine ecosystems contain a diverse array of living organisms and abiotic processes. From massive marine mammals like whales to the tiny krill that form the bottom of the food chain, all life in the ocean is interconnected. While the ocean seems vast and unending, it is, in fact, finite; as the climate continues to change, we are learning more about those limits. Explore these resources to teach students about marine organisms, their relationship with one another, and with their environment.
-
Marine Protected Areas
Students explore Marine Protected Areas on an interactive map, compare and contrast marine and terrestrial protected areas, and discuss the importance of Marine Protected Areas.
-
Marine Protected Areas Management
Students read a case study and debate the pros and cons of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the region. Then they select a Marine Protected Area and develop and present a management plan for it.
-
Create a Marine Protected Area
Students brainstorm and analyze competing ocean resources and uses. They experiment with designating a marine protected area along an imaginary coastline and discuss the challenges of deciding on rules and restrictions within it.