Molly Crossland — Dec 23, 2017

Create a presentation showing leaders throughout the world why we need to place importance towards preventing endangered animals ceasing to exist. 

Your challenge:

Learn why is it so important to save endangered species? Why are humans the cause of endangered species? What will happen if we don’t change?

Follow this Process:

1. Watch these four youtube clips as a class:

   1. Protect Life on Earth

   2. Earth is Our Home—Let's Protect It | National Geographic

   3. Why should we bother saving species from extinction?

   4. Kiwis: Saving The World's Cutest Endangered Birds

1. Mindmap In pairs create a mind map of all of the reasons why you think humans are affecting the decline in population of wildlife (e.g. think of deforestation for economic growth, population growth, hunting for fur and entertainment.). Give examples to back up your claims.
   

2. Go deeper by working in your pair extend this mind map and add notes about why you believe it is unethical to do nothing about endangered species. Explain what changes could be made to society to correct the mistakes generations before us have made.
   

3. Summarise your ideas by creating a presentation (poster, slideshow, video, drama, podcast, webpage, etc.) to the class pretending they are some of the world's’ most powerful leaders. How can you summarise your ideas to persuade world leaders to implement conservation plans to save endangered species?

1. Present to the class. Your presentation does not have to be longer than two-three minutes.
   

2. Take action and decide how to raise awareness for the conservation of endangered animals. Now that you understand what an endangered species is and how we can go about saving them, what steps will you take to prolong the conservation of these animals?

3. Capture and share these outcomes using photo and/or video to inspire others.

Educator Notes

To make this more challenging:

Require the pairs to include statistics and case studies of endangered wildlife to support their argument in the presentation.

To make this more accessible:

• Draft as a class a collective mind map targeting the challenge. Then once divided into pairs, the class will have research material to draw inspiration from.

• Make a class website which can be built on throughout the year.

• Get students to connect with specific organisations that help the plight of endangered species to see if they can support the students in their work, or conversely if the organisation can support your students in their learning, or even involve them!