Classroom and Field Activity Resources
This website from the University of Florida Sea Grant hosts activities which have been created by or suggested by Florida marine educators. Topics include aquarium maintenance and activities, field sampling, and much more. While you’re on the website, check out all the links to other materials and information, including marine debris, sea oats, educator slideshows and activities, and much more.
http://stjohns.ifas.ufl.edu/Sea/activities.html
Climate Change: Fitting the Pieces Together
The Meteorology Education and Training website provides a wide range of resources pertaining to climate change. The Climate Change module discusses climate change, particularly as it is currently being affected by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases emitted by human activities. It also covers signs of climate change, how scientists study climate, the current thinking on future changes, and what can be done to minimize the effects. Free registration is required.
http://www.meted.ucar.edu/broadcastmet/climate/
Climate Program
NOAA’s Climate Program Office education website offers links to a variety of climate change materials, including presentations; the guide from AAAS, Communicating and Learning About Global Climate Change: An Abbreviated Guide for Teaching Climate Change; and more.
http://climate.noaa.gov/index.jsp?pg=/education/edu_index.jsp&edu=literacy
ConserveOnline
ConserveOnline is an online public library, created and maintained by The Nature Conservancy in partnership with other conservation organizations. The library makes conservation tools, techniques, and experience available to a broad community of conservation practitioners. ConserveOnline offers an open forum for sharing successes and failures, and for connecting scientific research with field-based conservation practice. They welcome anyone with documents, data, maps, or images relevant to the science and practice of conservation to make these resources publicly available through ConserveOnline, and to share their expertise through the discussion groups.
http://conserveonline.org/
Ecolibrary
The EcoLibrary is a source for free photographs useful for illustrating concepts in ecology, conservation biology, and the environment. The website currently contains several hundred annotated photographs that illustrate key concepts and as the site grows, maps, sounds, panoramas, and interactive exercises will be added. Check out the pictures associated with the themes under the Lessons section.
http://ecolibrary.cs.brandeis.edu/index.php
Expedition: Blue Planet
Expedition: Blue Planet highlights a journey across 5 continents to explore critical water issues, focusing both on water itself and our connection to water issues around the world. The website includes blogs, photos, and more.
http://www.alexandracousteau.org/
Fishy Newsletter
The May/June 2009 issue of the Long Island Sound Study newsletter, Sound UPDATE, focuses on fish populations in the Long Island Sound watershed, the methods for managing these populations, programs that encourage watershed residents to go fishing, and simple ways people can help keep Long Island Sound and its fisheries healthy. The newsletter can serve as a good introduction to many issues surrounding fisheries, including outreach, management, monitoring, and more.
http://www.longislandsoundstudy.net/pubs/news/spr09.pdf
Forces of Change
This website from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History explores climate change, ecological change, and cultural change. Drawing on a wide range of research, the site looks at how different types of changes are affecting life on earth. Some of the processes covered include El Nino, volcanic eruptions, and changes in the atmosphere. The website includes interviews, interactive features, research reports, and more, and includes a special educators’ section.
http://forces.si.edu/index.html
Global Change Research Program
The U.S. Global Change Research Program coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society. The program is a consortium of government agencies, major universities, and research institutions. The website hosts links to publications, including an online catalog, reports, and more. The website also includes links to regional and sectoral climate information. The recently released scientific study, Climate Change Impacts, was expressly written in plain language so that its findings are readily accessible to the public, the media, and decision makers. You can view key findings or download the full report. Check out the Resources section, and the Climate Change Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for formal and informal educators.
http://www.globalchange.gov/
Inside Birding
More from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Inside Birding is a new video series designed to provide birders with the information they need to improve their skills and make their experience more rewarding. The video series is made up of four, ten-minute video segments covering bird size and shape, color, behavior, and habitat. This series can serve as a primer for those interested in watching and identifying birds. The videos are a bit choppy for slow connections, but the wait can be worthwhile.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1270
Interactive Shipwrecks Website
The Ventura County Star newspaper hosts this website featuring coastal shipwrecks of the Channel Islands. The website links to an overview article and underwater views highlighting dives on several of the wrecks.
http://www.venturacountystar.com/special/shipwreck/
Marine Conservation Agreements Toolkit
The Nature Conservancy, with the assistance of partners, offers a Practitioner's Toolkit for Marine Conservation Agreements. The website includes a field guide, descriptions of field projects, and more. Be sure to check out the resources, which include funding databases and sample proposals, sample legal documents, contacts, and much more.
http://www.mcatoolkit.org/
Migratory Species Resources
The Rainforest Alliance has developed the bilingual (English and Spanish) Western Hemisphere Migratory Species Initiative Pathway. Supporting the initiative's goal of conserving migratory species through international cooperation and communication as a means to share valuable project information and best practices across geographic and language barriers, the website features resources related to migratory species conservation. Materials include lessons learned, monitoring and evaluation, and an Eco-Initiative of the month.
http://www.eco-index.org/migratory/
Nature Rocks Activity Finder
Nature Rocks is a national program to inspire and empower families to play and explore in nature. The Nature Rocks Website offers ideas for outdoor explorations keyed to time available, location, age, and more.
http://www.naturerocks.org/find-activities.aspx
Nature Video Archive
This website from Nature, the International Weekly Journal of Science, is designed to complement selected articles and letters from their print magazine. These videos feature analysis and commentary from Nature editors and selected scientists. Video topics include ancient tsunamis, deep sea biodiversity, and more.
http://www.nature.com/nature/videoarchive/
Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions
The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions currently focuses on the areas of climate, energy, coasts and oceans, and water. Downloadable files include policy briefs, working papers, commentary, and more. Reports cover climate change, ecosystem services, offsets, and much more.
http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/institute/products.html
Polar Visions
Polar Visions is an educational film about the effects of changing climates on humans and ecosystems, particularly in polar regions. The film contains seven stand-alone segments appropriate for use in classrooms and informal settings from the middle level through college, and was developed to align with the National Science Education Standards across all science subjects. You can watch the first episode or download it from the website, or contact Tina Arthur for a copy and standards alignment information
https://www.denveropenmedia.org/project/polar-visions
Contact Tina Arthur at tina.arthur@colorado.edu
Resources for Learning
The American Museum of Natural History offers Resources for Learning, an online collection of activities, articles, and more, for educators, students and anyone interested in teaching or learning about science. There are over 1000 resources to choose from, browsable by topic, keyword, and special collection. Topics include earth science and biology; special collections include water, climate change, and Ology, the museum’s website for kids.
http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/
Science Nation
The National Science Foundation offers Science Nation, a weekly series of video programs examining breakthroughs and the possibilities for new discoveries. Each program features a two-minute and five-minute version. Current videos include extremophiles, tornadoes, and more.
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/science_nation/index.jsp
Sea Turtles
The Caribbean Conservation Corporation has updated the Sea Turtle Information section of their website. This includes an expanded section on threats to sea turtles, educational animations, additional sea turtle habitat information, and interactive sea turtle nesting site maps powered by Google Maps.
http://www.cccturtle.org/seaturtles
Sponge Guide
The Sponge Guide is a web-based, fully searchable pictorial guide to Caribbean sponges, a photographic guide to over 170 species of sponges found on Caribbean coral reefs and associated rocky and lagoon environments. The simple search can be by color, consistency, and/or morphology.
http://www.spongeguide.org/
Teacher Booklets
The National Aquarium in Baltimore offers downloadable Teacher Booklets containing pre- and post-visit activities on a variety of subjects for students of all grades. While the booklets are designed to complement aquarium programs, they also work as stand-alone pieces in any classroom. Topics include adaptations (grades 2-4), wetland monitoring (grades 9-12), squid (grades 6-12), and many more.
http://www.aqua.org/teachers/booklets.html
World Database on Marine Protected Areas
The World Database on Marine Protected Areas (WDPA-Marine) is dedicated to providing the most comprehensive set of marine protected areas data available.
This website allows users to view information on marine protected areas in their web browser, to visualize them in Google Earth, to download data, and more.
http://www.wdpa-marine.org/ |
