Ecological islands

Ecological islands

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about finding details, then putting them together to get the main idea of the text.
Read "Ecological Islands", pages 16, 17, 18 and 20 of "The History Makers" (a book in the Applications series). In this text there are lots of details about:

  1. "Island" sanctuaries are being created around New Zealand.
  2. Ecosystems and individual species that are endangered are being restored.
a)  Find details in the text about: "Island" sanctuaries are being created around New Zealand. Quote, or give a brief description of the details:
 

Page: ____

 
 
 
 

Page: ____

 
 
 
 

Page: ____

 
 
 
 

Page: ____

 
 
 
 

Page: ____

 
 
 
 
 
b) Find details in the text that are about: "Ecosystems and individual species that are endangered are being restored."Quote, or give a brief description of the details:
 
Page: ____
 
 
 
 

Page: ____

 
 
 
 

Page: ____

 
 
 
 

Page: ____

 
 
 
 

Page: ____

 
 
 
 
c) Tick  the box next to the main idea of the text.
  Scientists were excited about the potential of ecological islands to save New Zealand endangered species and ecosystems.
  Native flora and fauna are hard to save. There are many pests in New Zealand.
  Sanctuaries may be real islands or ecological "islands" in mainland settings.
  The restoration of New Zealand species and ecosystems is made possible through the establishment of sanctuaries.
Task administration: 

This task can be completed with pen and paper.

Equipment

"The History Makers" from the Applications series, Learning Media, 2006. Click for a copy of the article used in this resource, Ecological Islands.

  1. Page 19 within the above article is not used as it focuses on details of the technology used for monitoring wildlife.
  2. Remind the students that the main idea is what the author wants readers to understand is important.
  3. You may need to explain that when you give a "quote" you copy the exact words from the text, and when you give a "description" you explain a part of the text in your own words.
  4. You may also need to explain that the word island has been put inside speech marks on the student sheet to indicate that sanctuaries may not be true islands, but areas that are isolated by other means.
  5. This task can be done individually or in groups.
  6. Responses can be discussed by teacher and student only, or within larger groups. Group discussion has the advantage of giving students opportunities to consider others' ideas and to practise justifying their own.
Copyright: 
Acknowledgements
  • Material from The History Makers: Ecological Islands – Text and Typographical arrangement reproduced by permission of the publishers Learning Media Limited, PO Box 3293, Wellington, New Zealand. Copyright © Crown, 2006.
  • Bat image at bottom left of page 17 with permission of Brian Lloyd (DOC).
  • Bat image at top right of page 17 with permission of DOC Mount Bruce.
  • Kāpiti Island image on page 16 with permission of Ian Reid.
Level:
5
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Using language, symbols, and texts
Keywords: 
comprehension, main idea, Applications, inference, synthesis
Description of task: 
Students are assessed on their ability to find details to identify the main idea of a text about conservation projects for endangered species.
Curriculum Links: 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • use comprehension strategies
  • locate and summarise information and ideas 
as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Acquiring and using information and ideas in informational texts, sets 5-7
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
a) Student finds details in the text that are about: "Island" sanctuaries are being created around New Zealand. For example:Page 16:

  • "...temporary home..."/ reference to Kāpiti Island becoming a home.

Page 17:

  • Reference to the Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre being a place for the safe breeding of bats.
  • "...an aviary on Kapiti Island..."
  • "Kāpiti Island, which therefore became "home"."
  • "Kāpiti Island was reserved for a bird sanctuary in 1897."
  • The eradication of introduced pests on Kāpiti Island/ "Kāpiti Island finally became completely free of introduced mammals in 1996".
  • "Kāpiti Island was a true sanctuary at last."

Page 18:

  • "Kāpiti Island is now an important part of New Zealand's bird recovery programme."
  • "Pukaha Mount Bruce...aims to restore...forest...and re-establish species..."
  • The ecological "island" at Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre/ projects that try to create an "island" in a mainland setting.
  • "Another ecological mainland "island" is Maungatautari near Hamilton."
  • The building of a predator-proof fence/ providing a "safe haven".

Page 20:

  • "Before the boundary fence was put up, two smaller enclosures were constructed"/ "they...provided a safe place..."
b) Student finds details in the text that are about: Ecosystems and individual species that are endangered are being restored. For example:Page 16:

  • Scientists achieved "the world's first successful translocation of bats for conservation purposes."
  • Some of the lesser short-tailed bats that were "thought to be the last [colony] remaining in the lower North Island" were collected, bred and put on Kāpiti Island.

Page 17:

  • There had been previous unsuccessful relocation attempts of the lesser short-tailed bats.
  • Information about the collection of pregnant females at a wildlife centre, and taking the resulting pups to Kāpiti Island while returning the females to their original habitat.
  • Information about the process of acclimatising the bats prior to their release on Kāpiti/ attaching transmitters to some bats, supplying food, roost boxes, and an aviary for the bats.
  • Information about the work done to eradicate introduced pests that threaten the survival of native species/ "The island [Kāpiti] finally became completely free of introduced mammals in 1996..."

Page 18:

  • "Kāpiti Island is now an important part of New Zealand's bird recovery programme"/ "Kākāriki, saddleback, takahē, kōkako, and brown teal are among the protected or endangered species successfully introduced to the island."
  • "The little spotted kiwi...has also become established here."
  • "The wider aim for the sanctuary is to restore ecosystems as well as individual species by establishing interacting groups of native plants and animals."
  • The water barrier of a true island prevents the reintroduction of unwanted species.
  • The making of "safe havens"/ "ecological "islands" in a mainland setting."
  • Pukaha Mount Bruce aiming to restore forest.
  • Pukaha Mount Bruce aiming to re-establish species.
  • Information about pest control, including fencing and attaching transmitters to goats.
  • "It's [Maungatautari] the largest conservation project in New Zealand..."

Page 20:

  • The building of two smaller enclosures as a temporary safe place for the release of native species/ "They also showed how well the ecology of the area was likely to recover."
  • Information about feasibility tests done on fences and poisoning programmes.
  • The example of the interaction/dependence between a native animal and a plant/ how the bat pollinates the wood rose/ "rare species have been found within the boundary fence..."
  • Because the transfer of lesser short-tailed bats to Kāpiti had been successful, more will be taken there.
  • New colonies set up may be used to repopulate other areas.
c) Student identifies the main idea: The restoration of New Zealand species and ecosystems is made possible through the establishment of sanctuaries.
Diagnostic and formative information: 

This resource was trialled by 36 Year 10 students. The trial involved small groups of students across 4 schools.

The introduction to this transactional text begins in a lively reporting style. Readers are then led into a more scientific report that contains a lot of technical vocabulary, for example, "monitor", "colony", "habitats", and nominalisation, for example, "translocation", "conservation purposes", "introduction", "reintroduction", "eradication". Our trials revealed that many students had difficulty with the vocabulary.

Details identified by students

Students generally had difficulty finding details in the text that related to the two groups of details identified for them. At a), the most explicit statements from the text about Kāpiti Island being a sanctuary were the most commonly identified. At b), the words "endangered" and "restored" helped some students select details that had these words in them or words that they identified as relating to those words, e.g., "conservation". At c), about two-thirds of trial students correctly identified the main idea. This group tended to identify more details for both tasks a) and b) than those who were unsuccessful.

Next steps: 
Students having difficulty finding details not explicitly stated:
 
Support students with vocabulary by making links between content words in the text, thus identifying synonyms. Content words describe concepts that we can picture in our minds, describe, draw, talk and write about. They are distinct from grammatical words like the, into, because, and although. "The emphasis in vocabulary is the building of a large stock of content word meanings...learning new word meanings requires a focus on the features that distinguish the concept." (Duffy, page 57). For example:
  1. Using photocopies of the text, ask students to circle "acclimatise" (page 17, second paragraph, last word). Read the sentence this word appears in. Discuss what this word could mean. It is used in reference to the bat pups when their mums were taken away and the pups were put into an aviary. What things would they have to achieve before they could be released and free to roam the island? (Getting used to the place; getting used to being on their own; getting used to looking after themselves.) Ask students to read the next paragraph (it runs over to the next column) and circle a word they think could have the same meaning as "acclimatise" ("adapting" on line 3 in the next column). Which words give us clues that these words are synonyms? ("...they were fine on their own" followed by "and adapting well.")[1]
  2. Circle "translocation" (page 16, line 7). Discuss what the scientists had done with the bats, so what this word could mean. Ask students to read the second paragraph on page 17 and circle two other words that could have the same meaning ("relocate" on line 7, "transferred" on line 12).
  3. Do the same for "restore" (page 18, line 5), and "re-establish" (page 18, line 6).

Students having difficulty with technical vocabulary:

Give students photocopies of the text and a highlighter. Assign a different page to each student and ask them to highlight words on their page that they don't know the meanings of in this context. Next, ask them to search for meanings within text close by, or model one of the following examples:

  1. 'One of my unfamiliar words is "eradicate". It's on page 17, in the last paragraph's first sentence. The word "eradicate" is being talked about in connection with animals that it says are pests. I know which animals these are because there is a list of them. The text tells me these animals were introduced, so that means that they weren't there originally. When I read on to the next sentence, it starts by saying "The island finally became completely free of introduced mammals...". Now I know that all those animals listed are mammals. I also can see that to "eradicate" is the same as becoming "completely free" of pests. The last sentence proves me right because it says "Kāpiti Island was a true sanctuary at last".' (This talk-aloud could be extended by asking students to search for a synonym for "eradicate" in the last paragraph of page 18, i.e., "exterminated".) [1] Adapt is used differently in science than in everyday contexts. Here, it is used in the everyday sense.
  2. 'If you highlighted the words "endangered" and "species", go to the first paragraph on page 18. Both these words are explained by the use of concrete examples in this paragraph. You will have heard of at least one of these endangered species. So what is a "species"? (Discuss.) There is a word just before "endangered", i.e., "protected". (Note the use of the word "or" that signals the relationship between these two words.) What makes these species endangered and therefore need protection? Who and what from?'
  3. 'I'm unsure of the word "ecosystems". It's on page 18 in the second paragraph. It says they are going to restore them and I know that restoration work is about rebuilding and saving things. Now the sentence goes on to say this rebuilding and saving is going to be done "by establishing" something. That something is "interacting groups of native plants and animals". So, I can tell from this that "ecosystems" is the same as "interacting groups of native plants and animals". So what does "interacting" mean? I know that the intercity buses are buses that go between cities. So "inter" must mean between. And I know that when people interact they relate to each other. In this case, what must need to interact to become "ecosystems" are "groups of native plants and animals".'

Students having difficulty with nominalisation:

Nominalisation is a process by which verbs, and sometimes adjectives, become nouns. It is more natural for students to think in terms of verbs than nouns. However, the older students get, the more nominalisations they are going to meet as texts become more subject specific and technical. Assist students to see how verbs become nouns. Examples from this text are:

The verb becomes a noun
translocating (moving from one place to another) the translocation of bats
introducing (bringing in) the introduction of predators
reintroducing (bringing in again) the reintroduction of unwanted species
eradicating (destroying, removing) the eradication of all local pests
Island bird sanctuaries, a Level 4 science ARB about island sanctuaries.Saving our national bird, a comprehension task using an article about sanctuaries. 
  • Duffy, G. (2003). Explaining reading: A resource for teaching concepts, skills, and strategies. NewYork, NY: The Guilford Press.
  • Ministry of Education. (2006). Effective literacy practice in years 5 to 8. Wellington: Learning Media Limited.