Dolphins: Lesson 5 Geography, Yr 10

Does the End Justify the Means? Dolphin Captivity in Australia and Asia

The learning sequence for this activity begins with sharing ideas about our experiences with dolphins, in both captive and wild settings. First, students watch a video that introduces them to the issues raised by keeping dolphins in captivity. They then listen to the Voiceless ‘APES’ Podcast Episode #1: Dolphins in Captivity. Critical analysis of the interviewees’ various positions on this important topic follows and students are encouraged to develop their own position about cetacean captivity.

Time Allocation

One to two lessons.

Voiceless Resources

Key Inquiry Questions

  • How do world views influence decisions on how to manage environmental and social changes and issues?
  • How can the spatial variation between places and changes in environments be explained when applied to dolphinariums?

Suggested Learning Activities

1. PRE-TEST

Hold a class discussion regarding students’ experiences of seeing dolphins in captivity, both within Australia and overseas. Then ask students to contribute their experiences seeing wild dolphins. Consider how students’ experiences were similar and different in each of these activities. As some students will never have seen dolphins in the wild or captivity, it is suggested that the class watches the video Wild vs Captive: 10 things you didn’t know about dolphins prior to the discussion.

2. EXPLORE

Explain that students will be listening to a podcast and that their job will be to understand the various points of view presented on the issue of dolphin captivity. Introductory discussion may include ideas such as the various factors which help shape our world view including the role our family, friends, socio-economic background and education level plays. Sometimes, our professional lives may also lead us to develop particular views about issues. It’s also important to remember that when an employee speaks publicly on an issue, they will usually be representing the views of the organisation they work for.

As a class, listen to the Voiceless APES’ Podcast Episode #1: Dolphins in Captivity.

As students listen to the podcast, ask them to build a profile of each of the speakers by filling in the Voiceless APES’ Podcast Episode #1: Dolphins in Captivity Worksheet.

3. DISCUSS

  • Divide the class into six groups.
  • Allocate each group the name of one of the Podcast speakers, including the Voiceless narrator.
  • Each group is to design a five-question Kahoot quiz on the information that was presented by their speaker. Their aim is to check the class’ understanding of the content of the program provided by their speaker.
  • Alternatively, a traditional paper quiz could be designed.

4. SHARE

Run the Kahoot!

5. REFLECT

Write an in-class timed reflection in response to this question: ‘What do you think should be the future of dolphin captivity?’

Support your argument with quotes, evidence and examples from the podcast. 200-250 words.

To help us improve our materials, we would appreciate any work, feedback or thoughts you would like to share: education@voiceless.org.au

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Australian Curriculum alignment

Learning Area: Geography
Year Level: Year 10
General Capabilities:

  • Personal and Social Capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Literacy
  • Ethical Understanding
  • Intercultural Understanding
Strands:

Geographical Knowledge and Understanding – Environmental change and management
Content Descriptions:  

Environmental change and management

Human-induced environmental changes that challenge sustainability (ACHGK070).

Environmental world views of people and their implications for environmental management (ACHGK071).
Elaborations:

(ACHGK070)

  • Identifying human-induced environmental changes (for example, water and atmospheric pollution; loss of biodiversity; degradation of land, inland and coastal aquatic environments) and discussing the challenges they pose for sustainability
  • Evaluating the concept of ecosystem services and the importance of these services for sustainability of biodiversity

(ACHGK071)

  • Describing the role of people’s environmental world views (for example, human-centred and earth-centred) in producing different attitudes and approaches towards environmental management.
    Comparing the differences in people’s views about the causes of environmental issues in Australia and across the world.
  • Discussing whether environmental change is necessarily a problem that should be managed and explaining people’s choices of methods for managing or responding to environmental changes.
Cross-Curricular Priority: 

Sustainability

World Views 

OI.4 – World views that recognise the dependence of living things on healthy ecosystems, and value diversity and social justice, are essential for achieving sustainability.

OI.5 – World views are formed by experiences at personal, local, national and global levels, and are linked to individual and community actions for sustainability.

Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia  
 
Asia and its Diversity 
OI.2 – Interrelationships between humans and the diverse environments in Asia shape the region and have global implications.
Acknowledgments

This Australian Curriculum alignment statement is based on the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) materials, which are licensed under CC BY 4.0. The material has been modified from the Australian Curriculum website (accessed April 2018).

All activities have been created by educators for educators and are linked to the Australian Curriculum (Version 8.4). We advise teachers to consult the ACARA website for the most up-to-date curriculum outcomes.

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