Extinction! Orangutans future

The activities in the biodiversity toolkit provide students with an understanding of the importance of nature and how all living things are connected.

Learning Objectives

NGSS: MS-LS2-5 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics: Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services
NGSS: MS-ESS3-4 Earth and Human Activity: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems
Students develop an understanding of the threats to Biodiversity
Students learn about conservation methods and sustainable development
Students learn about the endangered Orangutan
Students learn how to sustainably manage resources to balance people, profit and planet

Guiding Ideas

This project was developed in partnership with World Wildlife Fund. Explore an exciting new Minecraft world created by Naturebytes as well as three new lessons designed to help you teach about biodiversity and its importance to our planet's past and future.

Introductory questions:

Is biodiversity valuable?
What benefits do humans and the environment get from biodiversity?
What are Ecosystem Services?
What role do humans play in ecosystem services do we just use them?
What has caused the forest to disappear - what impact could this have, what are the major threats to biodiversity?
Protection would stop people taking the resources, but are there ways people can earn a living without removing all the biodiversity?
What impacts do our lifestyles have on the biodiversity around us and in other parts of the world?
Can we manage biodiversity to balance long-term benefits for people and the planet?
What lifestyle changes and actions can we make individually to help stop the biodiversity crisis?

Student Activities

Introduction (watch as a class or individually) (3 mins)

Read out the lesson introduction above and ask the students to watch the Conservationist Jan’s Orangutan Challenge Video (see external resources) which will introduce them to the challenge.

Minecraft Orangutan Forest (individually) (10 mins)

Ask the students to find the deforested area and interact with the NPCs, farmers, scientists and local community, to investigate what has happened there and make notes on the threats to the biodiversity.

Once the students have had an opportunity to speak to all the characters, ask the students to think about how a sustainably managed orangutan jungle could provide for people, planet and profit.

In Class, Design A Sustainable Orangutan Reserve (as a class and groups) (10 mins)

In the classroom, ask students to work in groups to design a sustainable orangutan reserve and management. The newly designed reserve should transform the deforested area to secure a future for the orangutans and all the jungle biodiversity whilst providing ecosystem services and livelihoods for the local communities of the forest. They can use the Thirty Hills WWF website (see external resources) to help plan their sustainable reserve.

The design can be done on paper, a computer, whiteboard or similar. Encourage students to use what they have learned, be bold and use their creativity to design solutions. There are no wrong or right answers.

As a class, ask students to discuss their design and management plans and agree on the best design aspects and plans to incorporate into your minecraft sustainable reserve build.

Minecraft Build a Future for Orangutans (as a class and groups) (20 mins)

In minecraft, ask the groups to build as teams to create the sustainable orangutan reserve design in the Minecraft deforested area. Students can use any of the in-game resources they have available to them.

Once you’ve finished building the reserve ask the groups to decide what measures they could take to make it a reality and what personal changes they can make that can positively impact the sustainable management of the jungle and their local environment.

Performance Expectations

This lesson will enable students to:

Demonstrate an understanding of the different threats to biodiversity and their impacts
Explore the deforested area and pay particular attention to the detail within each source information.
Interact with NPC’s and external sources of information.
Have an appreciation of the different interests and perspectives of how biodiversity should be managed.
Critically assess how the area can be managed sustainably
Use collaborative design thinking to create an area to benefit people and the planet
Build a sustainable orangutan reserve in minecraft
Understand how individual lifestyle and actions can impact orangutans, the local environment and stop the biodiversity crisis.

Skills

Citizenship
Communication
Critical Thinking

External References

Minecraft World File

Download the world and open with Minecraft: Education Edition. You'll find this resource in your Templates, under Create New.

Conservationist Jan’s Orangutan Challenge Video

Lesson introduction by Jan Vertefeuille.

Thirty Hills WWF website

Our goal is restore and protect 100,000 acres of former logging concessions and by doing so, save nature and benefit people and the planet.

Ecosystem Services

Learning the value of nature.

Wild Classroom - Biodiversity Toolkit

The activities in the biodiversity toolkit provide students with an understanding of the importance of nature and how all living things are connected.