Save our Turtles!

How can we help preserve the western pond turtle populations living in Washington State?

The Western Pond Turtle is a species of endangered semi-aquatic sea turtles native to the Pacific Northwest and headed towards extinction. Set your students on a mission to help save the western pond turtles by first studying the ecosystems in which they thrive, and then designing solutions to help this species survive. Once students have developed a deep understanding of the interactions within ecosystems, they will design solutions to some of the human-caused threats to this species and will present their solutions to a public audience. This unit focuses on the NGSS Performance Expectations Bundle for 5th Grade Life Science (5-PS-3-1, 5-LS1-1, 5-LS2-1).