During this portion of the lesson, students will be assigned one part of the content to be learned throughout the lesson. It is broken up so that it is not overwhelming to any student since they are only investigating one topic from two pages of the Striped Bass module website. Students will work independently or in pairs to discover specific information about the life cycle of striped bass, the nursery area for striped bass, the physics of the ETM, daily trends in the ETM, seasonal trends in the ETM, yearly trends in the ETM, or historical trends of the striped bass fishing industry. 

Teacher Note: This activity is lengthy and may take as much as 70-90 minutes.  If your students are familiar with jigsaw it may take less time.  If this is your first time incorporating this type of activity, there needs to be more direction. 

Objectives

• Students will determine the stages of the striped bass fish
• Students will investigate the organisms found in the ETM nursery area of the Chesapeake Bay
• Students will examine the physics that influence the ETM
• Students will compare and contract the daily, seasonal, yearly and historical events of the ETM and their influence on striped bass

Materials

• Index cards with number 1-7 (enough for your student population) to distribute indicating which expert group each student will be responsible for
• Jig Saw Worksheet
• Computers for investigating the Striped Bass module website or hard copy print outs of the web pages
• Desks arranged in groups

Procedure

• Students become an expert on one area of the “Learn About” page or the “Explore the Trends” page about striped bass.
• Students draw cards with numbers to determine which section of the text they will become the expert about.
• Students spend 15-30 minutes on the computer exploring the section of the website that they are to become the expert about. Students take notes on their worksheet about the most important aspects of the information read.
• Students reconvene and meet in expert groups (those that have the same number on their index cards) to discuss and create a summary of the most important aspects of the information.Allow approximately 20 minutes in the expert groups. Assigning roles will help manage the groups. Consider a time keeper, a recorder, a leader and a materials manager.
• Students move to their jigsaw groups (groups made up with numbers 1-7 from the index cards). Each expert on the 7 different topics shares the summary developed in their expert group with their jigsaw group. (Assigning roles will help the process go smoothly, such as time keeper, leader, facilitator, presenter, recorder 1, recorder 2, and materials manager.) At the conclusion of this activity, there should be one completed worksheet for the group.   Allow about 5 minutes per student for a total of 35 minutes to debrief seven topics. 
• Each group member asks clarifying questions until the entire group feels they understand the entire website.
• A whole group discussion only needs to happen to clarify points or to present the most interesting points.  
• Next, students move to the scavenger Hunt activity.

National Science Education Standards

9-12 A: Science as Inquiry

• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
• Understandings about scientific inquiry

9-12 B: Physical Science

• Motions and forces
• Interactions of energy and matter

9-12 C: Life Science

• Interdependence of organisms 
• Matter, energy, and organization in living systems 
• Behavior of organisms 

9-12 D: Earth and Space Science

• Energy in the earth system 

9-12 E: Science and Technology

• Understandings about science and technology 

 9-12 F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

• Environmental quality 
• Science and technology in local, national, and global challenges 

9-12 G: History and Nature of Science

• Science as a human endeavor 
• Nature of scientific knowledge 
• Historical perspectives 

Lesson Resources

Striped Bass Learn About and Explore Trends module pages

Jigsaw Worksheet