Anchialine Pond Detective Story

Unit 3 – Anchialine Detectives

Activity 1 – Anchialine Pond Detective Story

Materials & Setup

• “The Anchialine Pond Detective Story” acetates (master, pp. 11-19)
• Overhead projector and screen

For each student or group of three to four students
• Student Page “The Anchialine Pond Detective Worksheet” (pp. 20-25)

For each student
• Student Page “Hypothetically Speaking” (pp. 26-28)

 

Instructions

1) Divide the class into groups of three to four students, or have students work individually. Hand out the Student Page “The Anchialine Pond Detective Worksheet.”

2) There are eight acetates.
• Acetate #1 introduces anchialine ponds and the activity.
• Acetates #2-6 each pose a mystery for students to resolve to by developing hypotheses. Most include the question, a photo, and a series of observations.
• Acetate #7 is an “Information Interlude” that provides students with background for the next “mystery” acetate.
• Acetate #8 is another “mystery” acetate that includes a question, a photo, and a series of observations.
Use the acetates as a “script” for this activity. Go through the acetates, one by one, giving student groups time to come up with a hypothesis for each question and write it on their worksheets. You may incorporate class discussion into this activity by asking students to discuss their ideas openly with each other before recording their hypotheses. Before moving on to the next acetate, review the correct answer using the responses and additional information provided in the teacher background for “The Anchialine Pond Detective Story” (pp. 7-10).

3) Hand out the Student Page “Hypothetically Speaking” as homework.

Journal Ideas

• Do you think it’s important to protect the anchialine pools on Maui? Why or why not?
• Write a short story about the adventures of a traveling shrimp.

Assessment Tools

• Participation in group work
• Student Page “The Anchialine Pond Detective Worksheet”
• Student Page “Hypothetically Speaking”
• Journal entries

Media Resources

None.