Part I

Engage (45 minutes)

Sharing Explanations

Begin asking a few students to come to the front of the room and project their Science Notebook to share their explanations (from the previous lesson). Discuss with the class and ask students to identify the following:

1. Evidence used that is sufficient to determine a causal relationship between human impact/activities and an increase in the white shark population
2. A chain of reasoning that connects the evidence and evaluation to the claim (as seen in Lesson 8.9: Sharks and Humans):
   1. As our human population grew, so did the demand for seafood.
   2. This resulted in advances in fishing technology that could allow fishers to be more efficient in their work (specifically, gillnets that could catch large amounts of fish at a time) to keep up with the demand for seafood.
   3. Fish reproduction couldn’t keep up with the demand, and the dramatic decline in fish populations as a result prompted legislation to regulate these fisheries and ban nearshore gillnetting.
   4. This led to the recovery of the white shark population in part because the primary source of food for YOY and juvenile white sharks is fish (the same fish being protected) and because the very same YOY and juveniles that use shallow Southern California coastal waters as their nursery (the area that was once heavily fished) didn’t become accidental bycatch and drown. (This is a small detail, but white sharks must constantly keep swimming to ram water over their gills in order to get oxygen. If stuck in a net, they do not get enough oxygen.)
   5. This is perhaps the single greatest recovery of a vulnerable, and ecologically critical, species in California.

Discovering through the Lens of Cause and Effect

Play the video Great White Sharks Are Coming Back in California and That’s a Good Thing, for the class and ask students to use the lens of cause and effect and record any aha moments. (Direct students to use 8.1.H4: Crosscutting Concepts for Middle School Students (from Lesson 8.1: Shark Encounters) to target specific elements of cause and effect in the 6–8 grade band, in the On-Target column. One example, using the last question in the On-Target column, might be that if a source like Discovery Channel continues to create shows that portray sharks in a negative way, an effect of giving false perceptions to the public is highly likely, but still uncertain.)

1. Restate the final quote from Dr. Chris Lowe,

   “This is something people are going to have to get used to, it’s the new norm. And we really have to do a lot more to educate the public about how to share the ocean.”

   Ask students to brainstorm about the following ideas in their Science Notebook:

   1. What perceptions does the public hold on white sharks and where do these ideas come from?
   2. Are these perceptions accurate (given what we have studied and what we have learned from tracking devices)?
   3. Select one or two of the inaccurate perceptions. Think about what information would be needed to change that perception. Jot down your ideas in your Science Notebook.
   4. How can we best educate the public to shift inaccurate perceptions?

Share What You Think

Give groups a chance to share what they recorded and then engage the class in a whole group discussion about public perception of white sharks. What shifted their thinking about white sharks? How can building scientific understanding and, most importantly, gathering evidence, influence public perception of white sharks? Finally, given the increase in reports of white shark encounters, what is something that they, as 8th grade scientists, can do to help shift public perception of white sharks? Ask students to imagine that if they were student interns in the CSULB Shark Lab, what would be a mechanism they could use to get their message out to the public?

TEACHER NOTE

Students will generate ideas about how to shift public perception. These generally include writing an article for a paper or filming their report. This lesson supports the second idea, to film their report as a public service announcement. However, interested classes could replace that with a written article or other student-generated idea. Either project presents an opportunity for a Nature of Science connection. Science is a human endeavour (people need science, not just scientists) and the knowledge generated by science is based upon logical and conceptual connections between evidence and explanations.

Part II

Evaluate (210 minutes)

Brainstorming an Explanation for an Argument by Identifying Relevant Evidence and Generating Claims

1. Give groups a whiteboard and ask them to record the following question in the center:

   What explanation, grounded in scientific understanding, might influence (or counter) inaccurate public perceptions and arguments of white sharks?

2. Encourage each group to use their Science Notebooks and to think of information and evidence they have gathered over the learning sequence that would help answer the question (including models, investigations, and other sources). Have students individually write ideas/evidence on separate sticky notes. When they share, place the notes on the whiteboard and organize them in related “clumps,” asking students to verbally explain their thinking for sticky note placement. (Sticky notes are optional, but helpful as they give students flexibility in moving ideas around. If the budget doesn’t allow for sticky notes, students can write directly on the paper/board but will need to pre-think categories.)

TEACHER NOTE

Monitor students as they are working. To help ensure students pull information from the body of the learning sequence, begin by asking groups targeted questions about aspects they might be missing. For example, “Would any evidence from our exploration of tags and the various waves they use provide evidence?” Some students may benefit by having a list of big topics explored in the learning sequence on the class board or an explicit reminder of which pages in their Science Notebook they should peruse. IMPORTANT: If students do not include discussion of the “big learning” in Lesson 8.9: Sharks and Humans–that the coastal waters of Southern California have predominantly YOY and juvenile sharks AND these sharks primarily eat fish–direct students to review their notes from Lesson 8.9 as well as on 8.4.H1: Understanding White Sharks: Where Does Lunch Come From? in Lesson 8.4: REMUS.

3. Ask students to identify and provide rationale for which sticky notes in a particular clump have information that would be strong evidence to build a respective claim that would address the question:

   What explanation, grounded in scientific understanding, might influence (or counter) inaccurate public perceptions and arguments of white sharks?

4. Once evidence is pulled for a particular question, students should consider the body of evidence identified and generate a claim to answer the questions using the lens of cause and effect to do so (e.g., What does this relationship help predict? Is that a causal claim? Why or why not?) Direct students to use 8.1.H4: Crosscutting Concepts for Middle School Students (from Lesson 8.1: Shark Encounters) to target specific elements of cause and effect in the 6–8 grade band in the On-Target column. Students should check that the evidence matches the respective claim and retain, remove, or edit sticky notes as necessary.

Customizing the Explanation/Argument for a Target Audience

1. At this point, we begin to transition student evidence and claim into an argument. Ask students to imagine they are having a conversation with a worried member of the public and customize their claim and evidence chosen for their target audience.
2. Students can identify their own target audience. Below are some examples:
   1. 5th graders who are interested in learning about white sharks
   2. A person who might need to think of their own safety, e.g., a surfer or swimmer
   3. A person who might need to think about the safety of others, e.g., a lifeguard, or city leader
   4. A parent wondering if they should enroll their child in the Junior Lifeguard program at the beach
   5. Producers interested in making a special TV show (think, “mock”-umentary) where they share frightening, outrageous, and mostly fictional white shark stories
   6. Visitors to an aquarium at the coast who have never seen a shark and have many misconceptions about sharks
   7. A donor or investor who might want to financially support an effort to maintain and even enhance studies that continue to monitor white sharks
   8. The WHOI engineering team that built REMUS (opportunity for interested students to include technical aspects of REMUS)
   9. A person who might want to study a novel question (identify the novel question) about white sharks, e.g., a graduate student at the CSULB Shark Lab

   Student groups may choose their target audience (they may even identify others) or you may assign one of these to each group. If the suggested examples are used, they are presented in order of complexity to allow for differentiation:

   • i is simply reteaching what they understand in a simplified manner.
   • ii–iv also involve reteaching and require students to merge multiple ideas, but would be more accessible to students as they involve a personal connection (more relatable).
   • v–vi increase in complexity by building on a reteach and require students to merge ideas in a novel context (beyond personal safety).
   • vii–ix are the most sophisticated and require students to include technical social or science/engineering application.
3. Once the target audience is identified, ask student groups to predict what the target audience might say about shark encounters. Have students revise their claim into one they think could help inform this member of the public and record on a whiteboard or chart paper. Have students write their claim in a way that makes it explicit to the audience (i.e., what is important for this target audience to know about white sharks).
4. Ask students to then include the evidence previously identified that supports their claim to better inform this target audience.

Peer Review

Once groups have clearly identified their target audience and built their claim with supporting evidence, have groups switch places to peer review the work of another group. Ask each group to evaluate the strength of the claim and supporting evidence and provide feedback to the other group. Sticky notes are the safe way to leave feedback, as they won’t interfere with original work; in the absence of sticky notes, use colored pens.

1. Yellow notes: ask for clarification
   • What do you mean by ____?
   • Can you elaborate on how ____ is evidence for the claim?
   • I respectfully disagree with ____ because ____.
2. Blue notes: build on/add ideas
   • I want to add to your idea: ____.
   • This is a great start; I would suggest you could also add ____.
   • If you look at information in your Science Notebook from ____, you might find more evidence to support this claim.
3. Orange notes: agree and praise ideas
   • I agree with your thinking on ____.

If time permits, repeat this process so groups review a second group.

Revising

When groups return to their areas, give them time to review their feedback and discuss. Ask groups to use the time to revise their claim and evidence. Students should also check that evidence is appropriate and sufficient. (Monitor student work.)

Adding Reasoning

Next, ask students to provide reasoning (scientific concepts) that they have learned in the learning sequence that will connect various types of evidence (suggesting possible causal or purely correlational relationships) to the claim and explain how the evidence supports the claim. Reasoning should connect to evidence and discuss how the evidence is adequate for the explanation.

Check for Adequacy

Finally, ask students to identify circumstances where their claim might not hold true and what additional evidence would be needed to strengthen the claim.

Building an Argument: Public Service Announcement (PSA)

The next step in the process is for students to consider their explanation and how it can be used to build a persuasive argument. This argument will be the basis for a PSA that the group is to create with the goal of better informing the public about white sharks.

1. Students should use 8.10.H1: Public Service Announcement to structure their explanation and argument and to plan for filming the PSA.
2. Once you approve their idea (checking closely for inaccurate ideas and that what students are describing was their actual intent), students can begin filming the PSA.
3. Students should have access to video editing software to edit their PSA.

TEACHER NOTE

A common technique used by language arts teachers, “Modes of Persuasion” are incorporated into this project alongside components to have students engage deeply in the Science and Engineering Practice of Engaging in Argument from Evidence. As we all know, scientific arguments (Logos: persuasion using logical proof/actual evidence) aren’t always compelling enough to convince people who have strong emotions/opinions. Students will also be asked to generate an Ethos (target the feelings or morals of your audience) and a Pathos (persuade your audience by revealing experts with credentials who agree with your side) statement as well to help shape their argument targeted for a specific (likely, nonscientist) audience. Students may need some introduction to this if it is new to them.

Evaluating the PSA

1. 8.10.H2: White Shark Project Public Service Announcement should be given to students early on in the project to help track work. All students are to complete self and group evaluation prior to completion of the project.
2. If you haven't already, distribute 8.10.H3: Final Public Service Announcement Rubric to students so they can evaluate their own work.
3. Evaluate student work using 8.10.H3: Final Public Service Announcement Rubric.

TEACHER NOTE

As a strategy to engage learners, consider giving students a forum for sharing beyond the classroom. PSAs are powerful to share during a family science night or school open house! They could also be published online for broader viewing, presented at a board or other community meeting. Students will be eager to come up with ways to share their message to help improve public perception of white sharks, and their learning is more authentic and powerful when they know that families and their community are invested in their education (strategy for motivated students).

Advice: Be sure to review student work for accidental inaccuracies and encourage students to read their script out loud a few times before recording audio. (Sometimes students can be hard to hear or speak so quickly they are difficult to understand.)