This is the fourth lesson of a 5-7 day unit on extinction and conservation, intended for an Environmental Science or Biology class. During this unit, students will: learn about the "Big 5" mass extinctions in earth's history; compare sources and evidence about past mass extinctions and our current extinctions; determine, based on evidence and differing scientific viewpoints, whether we are currently experiencing a sixth mass extinction; analyze new and innovative approaches to species conservation; and finally, write a 1-page persuasive paper advocating for one conservation approach. Resources are available as individual lessons or bundled.

This lesson has students interact with a few things: 1) a list generated by their classmates from the previous day's Ticket to Leave outlining different conservation approaches, which they sort into categories they create, 2) a TED video in which an economist, Melanie Maguire, advocates for the creation of community natural resource management groups, and 3) begin their conservation paper proposal.