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In this lesson, students will learn about the value, threats, sustainable management of biodiversity before building an Orangutan reserve to benefit the people and profit the planet.
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Click and watch this teacher preparation video to help you understand how to teach this lesson. Here is a YouTube link of the teacher video for your reference: https://youtu.be/y7fTc1LwR3g
Start Here: Teacher Preparation Video
Students develop an understanding of the threats to Biodiversity
Students learn about conservation methods and sustainable development
Students learn about the endangered Orangutan
Students learn how to sustainably manage resources to balance people, profit and planet
Citizenship
Communication
Critical Thinking
This project was developed in partnership with World Wildlife Fund. Explore an exciting new Minecraft world created by Naturebytes as well as three new lessons designed to help you teach about biodiversity and its importance to our planet's past and future.
Is biodiversity valuable?
What benefits do humans and the environment get from biodiversity?
What are Ecosystem Services?
What role do humans play in ecosystem services do we just use them?
What has caused the forest to disappear - what impact could this have, what are the major threats to biodiversity?
Protection would stop people taking the resources, but are there ways people can earn a living without removing all the biodiversity?
What impacts do our lifestyles have on the biodiversity around us and in other parts of the world?
Can we manage biodiversity to balance long-term benefits for people and the planet?
What lifestyle changes and actions can we make individually to help stop the biodiversity crisis?
Read out the lesson introduction above and ask the students to watch the Conservationist Jan’s Orangutan Challenge Video (see external resources) which will introduce them to the challenge.
Ask the students to find the deforested area and interact with the NPCs, farmers, scientists and local community, to investigate what has happened there and make notes on the threats to the biodiversity. Once the students have had an opportunity to speak to all the characters, ask the students to think about how a sustainably managed orangutan jungle could provide for people, planet and profit.
In the classroom, ask students to work in groups to design a sustainable orangutan reserve and management. The newly designed reserve should transform the deforested area to secure a future for the orangutans and all the jungle biodiversity whilst providing ecosystem services and livelihoods for the local communities of the forest. They can use the Thirty Hills WWF website (see external resources) to help plan their sustainable reserve. The design can be done on paper, a computer, whiteboard or similar. Encourage students to use what they have learned, be bold and use their creativity to design solutions. There are no wrong or right answers. As a class, ask students to discuss their design and management plans and agree on the best design aspects and plans to incorporate into your minecraft sustainable reserve build.
In minecraft, ask the groups to build as teams to create the sustainable orangutan reserve design in the Minecraft deforested area. Students can use any of the in-game resources they have available to them. Once you’ve finished building the reserve ask the groups to decide what measures they could take to make it a reality and what personal changes they can make that can positively impact the sustainable management of the jungle and their local environment.
This lesson will enable students to:
Demonstrate an understanding of the different threats to biodiversity and their impacts
Explore the deforested area and pay particular attention to the detail within each source information.
Interact with NPC’s and external sources of information.
Have an appreciation of the different interests and perspectives of how biodiversity should be managed.
Critically assess how the area can be managed sustainably
Use collaborative design thinking to create an area to benefit people and the planet
Build a sustainable orangutan reserve in Minecraft
Understand how individual lifestyle and actions can impact orangutans, the local environment and stop the biodiversity crisis.
Wild Classroom - Biodiversity Kit: The activities in the biodiversity toolkit provide students with an understanding of the importance of nature and how all living things are connected.
Conservationist Jan’s Orangutan Challenge Video: Lesson introduction by Jan Vertefeuille.
Thirty Hills WWF website: Our goal is restore and protect 100,000 acres of former logging concessions and by doing so, save nature and benefit people and the planet.
Ecosystem Services: Learning the value of nature.
Camera, Portfolio, Book & Quill: Learn how to use the camera, portfolio, book & quill.
Check out the Tips & Tricks video playlist that will help you and your students better use Minecraft: Education Edition in the classroom:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkh9rrdH-ARER03ojhFYtmoFDVuACYJLa
More videos added periodically so make sure you check often for more content!
Click and watch the student pause and play video with your class, pausing and playing as needed. This will help your students understand how to navigate through this lesson and Minecraft world and complete the activities located within them. Enjoy!
Check out the YouTube link for your reference: https://youtu.be/CAcImZqp-c8
Student 'Pause & Play' Video
Topic E: Wetland Ecosystems
Students will:
Describe the living and nonliving components of a wetland ecosystem and the interactions within and among them.
Topic E: Trees and Forests
Students will:
Describe characteristics of trees and the interaction of trees with other living things in the local environment.
Unit A: Interactions and Ecosystems
Students will:
identify examples of human impacts on ecosystems, and investigate and analyze the link between these impacts and the human wants and needs that give rise to them.
identify intended and unintended consequences of human activities within local and global environments.
Unit A: Biological Diversity
Students will:
describe ongoing changes in biological diversity through extinction and extirpation of native species, and investigate the role of environmental factors in causing these changes.
Identify needs and opportunities for designing, through exploration
Generate ideas from their experiences and interests
Add to others’ ideas
Choose an idea to pursue.
Making
Choose tools and materials
Make a product using known procedures or through modelling of others
Use trial and error to make changes, solve problems, or incorporate new ideas from self or others
Sharing
Decide on how and with whom to share their product
Demonstrate their product, tell the story of designing and making their product, and explain how their product contributes to the individual, family, community, and/or environment
Use personal preferences to evaluate the success of their design solutions
Reflect on their ability to work effectively both as individuals and collaboratively in a group
Use materials, tools, and technologies in a safe manner in both physical and digital environments
Develop their skills and add new ones through play and collaborative work
Explore the use of simple, available tools and technologies to extend their capabilities
Curricular Competencies
Students are expected to know the following:
biomes as large regions with similar environmental features
Students are expected to know the following:
the nature of sustainable practices around BC’s resources
Cluster 1: Diversity of Living Things
Students will:
Observe and describe the diversity of living things within the local environment.
Identify, based on evidence gathered by palaeontologists, similarities and differences in animals living today and those that lived in the past.
Cluster 1: Interactions with Ecosystems
Students will:
Identify environmental, social, and economic factors that should be considered in the management and preservation of ecosystems.
Propose a course of action to protect the habitat of a particular organism within an ecosystem.
Ecosystem Dynamic
Develop an action project or campaign related to biodiversity protection in community or region.
Habitats and Communities
Students will be expected to:
relate habitat loss to the endangerment or extinction of organisms.
Interaction within Ecosystems
Students will be expected to:
describe interactions between biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem.
Life Science: Habitat
Students will be expected to:
Investigate human impacts on local habitats
Life Science: Diversity of Life
Students will be expected to:
Investigate significant ecological relationships
Environmental Action
Students will be expected to:
Analyse the impact of humans on ecosystems, including pollution and green technologies.
Analyse choices about resource management and sustainability in relation to Netukulimk.
Living World
Explains how the availability of resources in the environment affects reproduction and survival.
Explains factors that affect the biodiversity of a given community.
Defines a disturbance in a community.
Explains the effects of certain factors that disturb the ecological balance (e.g. human activity, natural disasters).
Life Science - Habitats and Communities
Students will:
Assess the effects of natural and human activities on habitats and communities, and propose actions to maintain or restore habitats.
Identify stakeholders who are likely to adopt different points
of view on issues that are highlighted in the media related to habitat protection, restoration, and management.
Categorize human activities by the effects they have or may have on habitats and communities.
Assess intended and unintended consequences of natural and human-caused changes to specific habitats.
Relate habitat loss to the endangerment and extinction of plants and animals within habitats and communities in Saskatchewan and elsewhere.
Collaboratively develop and carry out (if feasible) a plan to preserve or restore one or more components of a local habitat.
Life Science – Diversity of Living Things
Examine and describe structures and behaviours that help individual living organisms survive in their environments in the short term and species of living organisms adapt to their environments in the long term.
Explain how scientists use fossils and the fossil record as a source of information to identify changes or diversity in species over long periods of time.
Suggest reasons why specific species of organisms have or might become endangered or extinct.
Interactions within Ecosystems
Analyze how ecosystems change in response to natural and human influences, and propose actions to reduce the impact of human behaviour on a specific ecosystem.
Predict what a specific ecosystem will look in the future based on characteristics of the area and long-term changes observed in similar ecosystems.
Identify and refine questions and problems related to the effects of natural or human influences on a particular ecosystem.
Be sensitive and responsible in maintaining a balance between human needs and a sustainable environment by considering both immediate and long-term effects of their course of action or stated position.
Understanding Life Systems: Habitats and Communities
Students will:
analyze the positive and negative impacts of human interactions with natural habitats and communities taking different perspectives into account.
identify reasons for the depletion or extinction of a plant or animal species, evaluate the impacts on the rest of the natural community, and propose possible actions for preventing such depletions or extinctions from happening.
Understanding Life Systems: Biodiversity
Students will:
describe ways in which biodiversity within species is important for maintaining the resilience of those species.
describe ways in which biodiversity within and among communities is important for maintaining the resilience of these communities.
Understanding Life Systems: Interactions in the Environment
Students will:
describe ways in which human activities and technologies alter balances and interactions in the environment
Life Science: Habitats
Students will be expected to:
identify examples of positive and negative effects of technological developments on natural habitat
Life Science: Diversity of Life
Students should be able to:
describe reasons why various animals are endangered, and describe efforts to study their populations size and ensure their continued existence.
Life Science: Interactions within Ecosystems
Students should be able to:
Propose actions to reduce the impact of human activities on a specific ecosystem.