School Projects
Years 8-12
Science, SOSE, Art, English, Geography, Marine Studies
The Kirra Point committee encourages schools and students to actively engage with local marine environmental issues.
There is nothing better in curriculum design than engaging students in local issues. They bring relevance to the classroom and allow students to apply larger concepts on a local level.
The loss of Kirra Reef, surfing and swimming amenities at the Southern end of the Gold Coast have angered many local residents and business.
Education in this area should be cross curricular. The activities and exercises designed in the Kirra Schools Activity Booklet cover a cross curriculum approach.
Teachers are referred to their current Queensland Studies Authority Accredited syllabus but the Marine Teachers Association of Queensland has a fully accredited QSA Level 4 - Beyond Level 6 Coast and Marine Studies Syllabus that is available from www.marineteachers.org.au.
These activities have been written and developed by the curriculum division of Wet Paper Publications and may be copied for educational purposes.
The author welcomes new activities and feedback to help our campaign to bring back kirra surfing amenity and reef.
The following exercises could be used to supplement Years 8-12 school units.
 Kirra Schools Activity Booklet
Current Version 1.2 June 2008
Click here to download the complete PDF (1 Mb)
Contents
Part A: Exercises
A1. What is climate change and how does it affect the ocean?
A2. Do Australian ocean sea temperatures change?
A3. Is marine life in Australia governed by ocean temperature?
A4. What are some characteristics of waves?
A5. How are waves formed?
A6. How does the weather affect waves?
A7. How does the Sun and the Earth spinning affect currents?
A8. What is El Nino and how does it affect thermoclines in the sea?
A9. What is so special about the EAC?
A10. What happens when currents approach a shore?
A11. How is sand made and transported in a coastal system?
A12. What happens to waves as they approach a beach?
A14. How does sand get onto a beach ?
A15. What are sand dunes and how are they formed?
A16. What do sand dune plants look like?
A17. How does the dune cycles occur?
A18. What happens when the dune cycle is broken?
A19. Is beach nourishment a solution to coastal management?
A20. What is a marine habitat?
A21. What lives in the intertidal zone of an exposed shore?
A22. What lives in estuarine habitats?
A23. Which animals use seagrasses for shelter?
A24. Where do mangroves and seagrasses live?
A25. Why are mangroves and seagrasses important?
A26. Can we make a model to identify coastal ecosystems
A27. Can we use the model and template to show wave refraction?
A28. Can we show what has happened to waves and reef at Kirra?
A29. What's happened to Kirra?
A30. Can you manage the sand by-passing system better?
Part B: Lab and field work
B1. Beach or rocky shore profile
B2. Complete a transect
B3. Wave refraction and sand movement
B4. Sand per cent composition
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