Exploring manatee conservation in Latin America

Science (2005)

Grade 6

• Goal 7: The learner will conduct investigations and use technologies and information systems to build an understanding of population dynamics.
  • Objective 7.03: Explain how changes in habitat may affect organisms.

Grade 8

• Goal 3: The learner will conduct investigations and utilize appropriate technologies and information systems to build an understanding of the hydrosphere.
  • Objective 3.03: Evaluate evidence that Earth's oceans are a reservoir of nutrients, minerals, dissolved gases, and life forms:
    • Estuaries.
    • Marine ecosystems.
    • Upwelling.
    • Behavior of gases in the marine environment.
    • Value and sustainability of marine resources.
    • Deep ocean technology and understandings gained.

Grade 9–12 — AP Earth and Environmental Science

• Goal 2: The learner will build an understanding of the interdependence of Earth's systems.
  • Objective 2.05: Investigate the biosphere.
    • Organisms: adaptations to their environment.
    • Populations and communities: exponential growth and carrying capacity.
    • Ecosystems and change: biomass, energy transfer, succession.
    • Evolution of life: natural selection, extinction.
    • Biomes: global distribution.
• Goal 4: The learner will build an understanding of the distribution, ownership, use and degradation of renewable and nonrenewable resources.
  • Objective 4.01: Analyze sources and uses of freshwater and oceans.
    • Renewal rates.
    • Agricultural, industrial and domestic water uses.
    • Increasing water supplies: Dams and desalination.
    • Fisheries and aquaculture.
    • Water management and conservation.
  • Objective 4.04: Analyze biological resources.
    • Benefits of biodiversity.
    • Threats to biodiversity.
    • Endangered species management.
    • Nutrition and food supplies.
    • Green revolution.
• Goal 5: The learner will build an understanding of air, water and soil quality.
  • Objective 5.02: Investigate the effects of pollutants on:
    • Aquatic systems (Eutrophication).
    • Vegetation.
    • Natural features, buildings and structures.
    • Wildlife.
• Goal 7: The learner will build an understanding of environmental decision making.
  • Objective 7.02: Analyze cultural and ethical considerations regarding the environment.
    • Environmental worldviews.
    • Indigenous peoples.
    • Sustainable development.
  • Objective 7.04: Develop an awareness of environmental options.
    • Conservation.
    • Preservation.
    • Restoration.
    • Remediation.
    • Mitigation.

Grade 9–12 — Biology

• Goal 5: The learner will develop an understanding of the ecological relationships among organisms.
  • Objective 5.03: Assess human population and its impact on local ecosystems and global environments:
    • Historic and potential changes in population.
    • Factors associated with those changes.
    • Climate change.
    • Resource use.
    • Sustainable practices/stewardship.

Grade 9–12 — Earth/Environmental Science

• Goal 1: The learner will develop abilities necessary to do and understand scientific inquiry in the earth and environmental sciences.
  • Objective 1.06: Identify and evaluate a range of possible solutions to earth and environmental issues at the local, national, and global level including considerations of:
    • Interdependent human and natural systems.
    • Diverse perspectives.
    • Short and long range impacts.
    • Economic development, environmental quality and sustainability.
    • Opportunities for and consequences of personal decisions.
    • Risks and benefits of technological advances.

Social Studies (2003)

Grade 11–12 — Geography

• Goal 9: The learner will analyze how tourism affects the environmental/physical geography of a place, leading to both environmental deterioration and environmental conservation.
  • Objective 9.03: Identify the environmental costs of tourism such as increased use of resources and increased pollution.
  • Objective 9.07: Identify how tourism can encourage the conservation and preservation of plants, animals, habitats, and traditional indigenous cultures.

Grade 11–12 — Latino American Studies

• Goal 1: The learner will examine the geographical regions and climates of Latin America.
  • Objective 1.01: Describe the major geographical regions and physical environments of Latin America.
  • Objective 1.04: Assess the impact of environmental problems on Latin America.

Grade 6

• Goal 1: The learner will use the five themes of geography and geographic tools to answer geographic questions and analyze geographic concepts.
  • Objective 1.03: Use tools such as maps, globes, graphs, charts, databases, models, and artifacts to compare data on different countries of South America and Europe and to identify patterns as well as similarities and differences among them.
• Goal 3: The learner will analyze the impact of interactions between humans and their physical environments in South America and Europe.
  • Objective 3.01: Identify ways in which people of selected areas in South America and Europe have used, altered, and adapted to their environments in order to meet their needs, and evaluate the impact of their actions on the development of cultures and regions.
  • Objective 3.02: Describe the environmental impact of regional activities such as deforestation, urbanization, and industrialization and evaluate their significance to the global community.