AFSC Education and Outreach: Resources for Teachers
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The Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) Committee on Outreach, Education and Diversity (COED) offers the following resources and services for teachers:
- EPA Climate Change Toolkit 
- Marine Science Resource Activity Guide (K-6)
- Marine Debris Coloring Book (.pdf, 9.7MB)
- AFSC campus tours
- Elementary school curriculum
- Guest speakers
- Job shadows
- Educational links
If you don’t see what you need or have questions, please email us at afsc.outreach@noaa.gov.
AFSC Campus Tours (Seattle, WA)
NOAA welcomes inquiries into the availability of campus tours. These tours can be a broad tour of the NOAA Western Regional Center (WRC) facility with highlights of the various programs housed at the WRC or as specific as learning about research conducted on Alaskan Fisheries.
At this time we only can accommodate requests from school or student groups. Requests for a tour must be made at least 3-4 weeks prior to the tour date.
Fill out the campus tour request form (.doc file) and send to Rebecca.Reuter@noaa.gov. Please note that submission of a tour request does not guarantee that NOAA will be able to accommodate the request.
Elementary curriculum: Killer whale, "Saving Springer" - How NOAA helped an orca go home
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Springer and her mom. Photo by Marilyn Dahlheim, (AFSC) |
The Alaska Fisheries Science Center is developing an elementary school curriculum around the story of Springer, the young killer whale who was found orphaned in the Puget Sound in 2002. The curriculum introduces killer whale biology, research and management through Springer’s story. It illustrates how NOAA, the community, and many other agencies in both the United States and Canada worked together to reunite Springer with her pod. One goal of the curriculum is to encourage students to become stewards of their environment through the knowledge they gain about the issues faced by killer whales. We hope that Springer’s story will demonstrate that students’ efforts can make a difference.
The curriculum incorporates NOAA’s Emmy Award winning documentary "Orphan Orca: Saving Springer" (http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/video/orphan_orca.ram *). Background information on killer whales is covered, and each segment of Springer’s story in the curriculum is aligned with corresponding information in the documentary. The curriculum covers 7 classes, each with hands-on activities illustrating concepts such as the social structure of killer whales, identification of individual killer whales through photographs and vocal calls, food webs, stranding networks, and stewardship. The curriculum is broken down into two grade bands (K-3 and 4-6), with different activities for each band. The book "Springer’s Journey" by Naomi Black (http://www.springersjourney.com) can also be incorporated for grades K-3.
The curriculum was tested at three partner schools in Seattle during the 2006-07 school year, and has been updated for the 2007-08 school year. It will be ready for testing in other Seattle area elementary schools in January 2008.
* RealPlayer is required to view this video. A text transcript of the video is also available.
Elementary curriculum: Sound
The Alaska Fisheries Science Center is currently developing a draft curriculum on how sound is used in NOAA science. We are developing activities that can be used to augment science kits currently used in school districts in Washington State, rather than a stand-alone curriculum on sound. Activities will illustrate the use of sound in NOAA research – for example, mapping bathymetry and fish habitat using sidescan sonar, surveying fish hydroacoustically, and assessing whale abundance and distribution by listening for their calls. This curriculum will be in draft form in 2008, to be tested in the 2008-09 school year.
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