Research Activity

Establish Prior Knowledge

Discuss oil spills with students and how an oil spill might affect wildlife, the economy, and recreation of an area. Ask students to share what they know about oil spill clean up.

Exploration

Have students view the Snapshot and read the synopsis. Have students work in small teams. Assign each team one of the following topics to research and report on.

• How does oil affect birds?
  http://www.ibrrc.org/oil_affects.html
  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071109-AP-bay-spill_2.html
• How does the oil spill affect fish and other marine organisms?
  http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/news07/07082.html
  http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/fisheries-closure.pdf
• What effect does the spill have on humans?
  http://www.oehha.ca.gov/public_info/facts/sfbayfacts112107.html
• How is an oil spill cleaned up?
  http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN0822954120071109
  http://ask.yahoo.com/20021218.html
• What effect does the oil spill have on the ecology of the San Francisco Bay area?
  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/11/11/MNFSTA5L9.DTL
• What effect does the oil spill have on the ecology of the Black Sea?
  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2858924.ece

Wrap Up

Call on teams to share their findings with the rest of the class. Allow students time to discuss what they have learned. Use the following questions to wrap-up the activity:

• When do you think the affected areas will be back to normal? What are some of the on-going tasks that will help restore the areas’ ecology?