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Purpose & Goal
With the many threats that our nation’s oceans face, it is time for a new era of ocean literacy and enhanced efforts to prepare today’s children to be tomorrow’s ocean stewards. Estuaries are an ideal topic to excite students about studying the ocean because of the strong personal connections people have with estuaries—from treasured recreation experiences, scenic views during transits, to making a living on the water. Advancing estuarine, coastal, and ocean literacy is a priority of NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). It is our expectation that, through the Estuaries 101 Curriculum, students and teachers will gain an understanding of the great importance of estuaries and the intricate connections it has with the ocean and climate systems.
The goal of Estuaries 101 is for students and teachers throughout the nation to become more ocean literate through increasing their knowledge of coastal and estuarine science and how estuaries affect their daily lives. To achieve this increased literacy, teachers will use this estuaries.gov site to access the modules and activities for grades 9-12 and an online interface to real-time and archived estuarine monitoring data (from NERRS’ System Wide Monitoring Program). Use of the Estuaries 101 website will be encouraged and supported through professional development trainings hosted at 27 Reserves and at professional meetings across the nation.
Using the Estuaries 101 curriculum, teachers will be able to teach their students about Earth System Science using coastal and ocean data. Through this curriculum—which includes interactive investigations, field studies, and data analysis—teachers and students will learn that estuaries provide shelter, spawning grounds, and food for many species, that they act as buffers to improve water quality, reduce the effects of floodwaters, and prevent erosion, and that coastal areas provide value to humans in the form of recreation, scientific knowledge, aesthetics, commercial and recreational fishing, and transportation (Thayer et al., 2003).
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Last Updated on: 08-11-2008
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