Why Can’t I Eat this Fish?

Students will discover how a simple action such as turning on a television will lead to toxins in our food supply. Many of these toxins concentrate in the Arctic because of long-range transport of pollutants in the atmosphere. Scientists in the OASIS project (http://www.polartrec.com/ocean-atmosphere-sea-ice-and-snowpack-interactions) study these pollutants in the Arctic. Students will learn about actions that they can take to reduce these pollutants.

Objective

Methylmercury and POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) are toxins that bioaccumlate in organisms. These toxins have entered our food supply and most people don't understand the situation. After this lesson, students will understand:

• What is happening to the fish and wildlife
• How it is affecting them
• How it is affecting the people and animals in the Arctic
• What government and industry are doing about it
• What they can do about it

Preparation

Before starting the WebQuest, the teacher should use the "Bioaccumulation of Toxins" assignment to give the students background in toxins, methylmercury, POPs and the concept of bioaccumulation.

1. Show the students how to access the WebQuest on the Internet.

2. Review the following parts of the WebQuest with the students: a. Introduction b. Task c. Process d. Evaluation e. Conclusion f. Vocabulary g. Attachments

3. Part I of the "Process" section contains all of the questions that are one the student worksheet. Each question contains a reference or link to where the student can find the answer. Demonstrate the resources available for the questions: a. Resources typed in Green Text are available as documents at the bottom of the WebQuest webpage under "Attachments." b. The pages listed in the EPA POPs pdf file are numbered as seen in the toolbar for the pdf viewer, they are not the page numbers at the bottom of each page. c. The resources typed in Red Text are available as links to other websites.

Procedure

1. Students will work individually to answer all of the questions within the WebQuest worksheet, utilizing the resources on the WebQuest webpage.
2. Once the research is complete and the worksheet completed, students will work in pairs to create posters.
3. The posters will be used to inform the community about the situation. It will include the following information: a. How do POPs and Mercury get into our environment? b. How do POPs and Mercury get into wildlife and our food supply? c. What are the health effects of ingesting these toxins? d. What are the EPA recommendations for eating fish? e. Why is the Arctic at risk? f. What are the fish advisories for Arizona? g. What can we do to reduce toxins in our environment?

Resources

Webquest address: http://sites.google.com/site/bioaccumulation/Home

Assessment

The worksheet can be graded for correctness based upon the attached answer key. Poster: The requirements and grading rubric for the poster is given in the "Evaluation" section of the WebQuest webpage.

Credits

Betsy Wilkening, ewilkening [at] amphi.com