This exercise was designed to complement NCEP modules concerning marine conservation (Marine Conservation Biology, Marine Protected Areas and Networks, Marine Conservation Policy, and International Treaties for Marine Conservation and Management; http://ncep.amnh.org, as well as protected areas (Protected Areas and Biodiversity Conservation I and II (http://ncep.amnh.org). All NCEP modules contain one or more participatory exercises. These encourage students to find solutions to important and meaningful questions through investigations and collaboration with others. NCEP exercises aim to model the realities of conservation work. This interactive simulation exercise includes the following components:

1) The computer simulation (ncepinteractive.jar)
2) An exercise for use with the simulation.
3) Instructor's Materials, including Exercise Solutions
4) An optional website (available at http://ncep.amnh.org)

This interactive exercise is most appropriate for undergraduate or graduate level students, or conservation professionals, with background in or majoring in biology or related topics. The exercise is divided into increasingly complex levels. You may choose for your students to work through all of the levels, or only those most appropriate to your classroom. It may be advisable to assign one or two levels per class period, as completing each one may take an hour on average.

As noted in the exercise, it is suggested that students break up into small groups to work through the levels. It is the instructor's choice whether students should switch to different organisms or stay with the same species types as they progress through the exercise.

There are several Discussion Points included in each level. These can be used by the facilitator and the students to initiate a discussion of the issues raised in the exercise. Teachers have recommended using these points and encouraging discussion to maintain student interest and stimulate critical thinking.

You may wish to begin by asking your students to read through the Introductory Sections ("Introduction", "Why is this important?", "Local Fisheries", and "Fishery Management and Biodiversity Conservation"). You may consider asking students to focus on the taxon they will be assigned to when working through the exercise. It would be appropriate for all students to read the "Fishery Management and Biodiversity Conservation" section.

Students may next be instructed to "Download the Simulation", although time may be saved if the simulation has previously been downloaded onto classroom computers.

Next, users are directed to the "Interactive Simulation" section, to familiarize themselves with the instructions and background.

Students will then be ready to start working on the Exercise, which is divided into Seven Levels.

Additional reading and websites of interest are included at the end of the Exercise.

If you are an instructor, you can download the Exercise Solutions from the Network of Conservation Educators & Practitioners website. Click here to access the NCEP website.