Investigating Rulers of the Reef: Coral Reef Parasites

This lesson uses an NSF article to inform the reader about the influence of parasites on damselfish, a coral reef species. The author explains how his team determined the reason for the consistent behavior of damselfish leaving their aggressively guarded territory each morning to go to a cleaning station. He also explains how more questions arose throughout his investigation, questions like "Do these parasites carry other parasites that infect fishes?" and "Do these gnathiid parasites infect other species of fish?" This first-person account creates an interesting view of how marine research is done, including field work, lab work, and collaborating with other scientists. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric.
Resource ID#: 152404 Type: Lesson Plan
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General Information

Subject(s): English Language Arts, Science
Grade Level(s): 9, 10
Intended Audience: Educators educators
Instructional Time: 2 Hour(s)
Resource supports reading in content area:Yes
Keywords: coral reefs, damselfish, parasites, Caribbean, scientific methods, scientific communication, scientific collaboration, mutualism, parasitism, text complexity, informational text
Instructional Component Type(s): Lesson Plan,  Worksheet,  Assessment,  Video/Audio/Animation,  Image/Photograph,  Text Resource,  Formative Assessment
Resource Collection: STEM Reading Resources

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Tutorials

Infectious Evidence:

Click "View Site" to open a full-screen version. This tutorial is designed to help secondary science teachers learn how to integrate literacy skills within their science curriculum. This tutorial focuses on using specific textual evidence to support students' responses as they analyze science texts. The focus on literacy across content areas is designed to help students independently build knowledge in different disciplines through reading and writing.

Type: Tutorial

Words in the Wild: Vocabulary Strategies:

Click "View Site" to open a full-screen version. This tutorial is designed to help secondary science teachers learn how to integrate literacy skills into their science curriculum. This tutorial will demonstrate a number of strategies teachers can impart to students to help them use context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words within science texts. It will also help them teach students how to select the appropriate definition from reference materials. The focus on literacy across content areas is intended to help foster students' reading, writing, and thinking skills in multiple disciplines.

Type: Tutorial

Sparks Fly: Discovering Central Ideas:

Click "View Site" to open a full-screen version. This tutorial is designed to help secondary science teachers learn how to integrate literacy skills within their science curriculum. The focus on literacy across content areas is designed to help students independently build knowledge in different disciplines through reading and writing. This tutorial will demonstrate a series of steps that teachers can use with students to help them determine the central ideas of a science text. It will also demonstrate how students can trace a text's explanation or depiction of a complex process. Finally, it will explain what an effective summary contains.

Type: Tutorial