Classroom Discussion Topics

Part of our intent in making our Internet expedition interactive is to get students to interact with themselves. One of the ways you can have your students interacting is by use of classroom discussion topics that we present in our expedition review. Through your classroom discusssion your students will be developing their critical thinking skills and learning how to articulate their opinions.

What Do You Think?

During our expedition we met people who had different views or opinions on what need to be done, or didn't need to be done to protect manatees. We present these topics and different opinions as discussion activities for your students. Each one is a real point that has been, or could be raised in the public forum with Florida residents. Each issue needs to be resovled. Each one is a topic that could be related to real issues your students may be asked to give their votes to as adults. (NOTE: There are not be any right or wrong answers. Let your students decide which answers are best from what they have learned about manatees.)

Discussion suggestions:

• Debate: Give a each topic to a group of students. Have half the group take one side of the issue, and the other half take the other side of the issue. Give students a few days to prepare for their side. (Students can use sources from library books, our Expedition Library, and Expedition Logs.) Set a day for students to present their side of the issue to the class. Then:

1. Have students vote on which side presented the best argument.

2. Ask students for suggestions how both sides can work together to resolve their different opinions.

TOPICS:

• Boats:

1) Propellers guards should (should not) be required on all boat propellers.

2) More areas need to (need not) be made idle speed zones to protect manatees from speeding boats.

3) Boaters should (should not) get speeding tickets that go against their driver's licenses.

4) Their should (should not) be speed limits for boats, just like cars.

5) Boaters should(should not) get tickets for driving drunk that go against their driver's licenses.

(NOTE: In Florida each year boats kill more people than manatees!)

6) Boater should (should not) pay for boat licenses with some of the money going to manatee research and protection.

• Fishing:

1) People should (should not) be allowed to fish inside manatee habitats.

2) People should (should not) be fined for throwing old fishing line into the water.

3) Fishing licenses should (should not) be increased with the increase going to manatee research and protection.

• Land Development:

1) More coastal areas should (should not) be protected for manatee habitat.

2) Land developers should (should not) be charged a development fee that goes for protecting manatee habitat.

3) Crystal River sales tax should (should not) be raised by one cent to pay for building a sewage treatment plant for the homes in Crystal River. (NOTE: This was actually a ballot issue that was recently voted down. Currently Crystal River has no sewage treatment and homes all have septic tanks.

4) Any new homes must (don't need to) be connected to a sewage treatment plant.

5) There should (should not) be a limit to the number of people allowed to move into Florida.

• Manatees:

1) People should (should not) be allowed to touch, pet, or scratch manatees.

2) People should (should not) be allowed to feed manatees.

3) People should (should not) be allowed to ride on manatees.

4) People should (should not) be allowed to swim inside manatee sanctuaries.

5) People should (should not) be allowed to eat manatees for food.

6) People should (should not) be allowed to keep manatees as pets.

You Make the Laws.

To control development, slow down boaters, and protect manatees, laws have to be made. Have your students think put some laws they could make to help protect manatees and their habitat, then have students vote on them.

Planet Goss

For some fun, have your students use their imaginations:

Have your students imagine they live on a planet far, far away. The planet is called Goss. There is no land. The planet is one big ball of gas. You live on clouds that float around inside this ball of gas. You are a Gossian scientist who has discovered a creature, called a norp. Norps float between the clouds and only eat floating dust balls. Norps are large, slow, gentle creatures. Norps don't hurt anybody. Norps are not really good for anything. Norps are being killed by Gossians. Gossians are not really trying to kill norps, but some of the things Gossians are doing kill norps. Gossians love clean clouds and having fun. Most Gossians carry dustbusters which they use for target practice and keeping their clouds clean. When a Gossian sees a floating dust ball they pull out their dustbusters and try to vaporize the dust ball with a shot from their dustbuster. As more and more dust balls are being vaporized norps are starving because their food is disappearing.

Gossians also love to go skysurfing. Riding on a skysurfer is lots of fun. Skysurfers go fast, but they don't turn very quickly. Sometimes, cruising along the edge of a cloud, a skysurfer could accidently hit a norp sleeping, hidden along the edge of the cloud. A norp could be injured and die from being hit by a skysurfer.

Norps are an endangered creature. You want to prevent norps from becoming extinct. What should you do to get people to appreciate norps and understand them? What should be done to protect norps?

(NOTE: Your students may want to expand on this story. Encourage them to draw pictures of what Planet Goss, Gossians, norps, etc. would look like.)