Survival vs. Extinction

The following is a list of animals that are native to Texas and on the “Endangered Species” list:

Ocelot                                                              Whooping Crane

Jaguarundi                                                        Elf Owl

Grey Wolf                                                        Burrowing Owl

Mexican Long –nosed Bat                                Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle

Bee Creek Cave Harvestman                            Texas Horned Lizard

Attwater’s Greater Prairie-Chicken                   Texas Blind Salamander

Comanche Springs Pupfish                                Star Cactus

Texas Kangaroo Rat                                         Houston Toad

Many other endangered species at:  www.tpwd.state.tx.us

Your assignment is to choose one of the animals from this list or another endangered species native to Texas.  Once you have chosen your animal, you will need to research to find as much information as possible about the animal.  Find out about the particular characteristics of the animal – physical appearance, habitat, behavior, etc. and to find why this animal is on the endangered list.  Then come up with your plan detailing things that can be done to save this species from extinction.

This information will be presented to the class in a PowerPoint slide show.

Endangered Species Project

Grading Rubric

Project information

Category	0-3 points	4-7 points	8-10 points	Points earned
Physical appearance	Minimal description & 1 picture	Satisfactory description & 2 pictures	Complete description and 3+ pictures
Habitat	Minimal description & 1 picture	Satisfactory description & 2 pictures	Complete description and 3+ pictures
Behavior	Minimal description	Satisfactory description & 1 pictures	Complete description and 2+ pictures
Reasons for Endangered Status	Minimal description	Satisfactory description	Complete description and pictures
Plan to prevent extinction	Minimal description	Satisfactory description & 1 pictures	Complete description and 2+ pictures
Knowledge of how human and natural events influence survival/extinction of the species	Little knowledge demonstrated. Little Analysis.	Some knowledge demonstrated. Some analysis.	Knowledge well demonstrated. Analysis well done.
			Total points earned	/ 60
			Final Grade

Presentation Criteria

Category	0-3 points	4-7 points	8-10 points	Points earned
Title Slide	Not Present		Present
Are slides easy to read	Difficult to read – poor color and font choice	Able to read most information – some parts not legible	Easy to read from any part of the classroom
Transition and flow of presentation	Transitions are too busy and detract from the overall presentation	Satisfactory transitions	Seamless transitions that enable all the presentation information to be easily understood.
Sources slide	Not present	Present, but information is not correctly presented or accurate.	All information is accurate and correctly presented.
Number of slides	Less than 10	10 slides	More than 10 slides
			Total points earned	X 2.5
			Final Grade

There will be a third grade for spelling and grammatical errors:

Number of errors __________ X -5 = _____________ + 100 = _____________

Final grade

** Plagiarism is directly copying someone’s work and presenting it as your own. Any information that you use in the presentation that was gathered from other sources must be summarized or paraphrased into your own words and the source must be cited on the sources slide. FAILURE TO ABIDE BY THESE RULES WILL RESULT IN A GRADE OF ZERO (0) FOR EACH SEGMENT OF THE PROJECT.