 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
About the Modules
Each Module tells the estuary story through one of three perspectives—through Earth, life, or physical science. With theses emphases on specific domains, each Module will appeal to different teachers, to be used together or separately.
Earth Science Module
Students investigate landforms and features associated with estuaries, tides and salinity in estuaries, watersheds and their relationship to the dynamic changes that occur in estuaries due to drainage and runoff, and how hurricanes can affect estuaries.
Life Science Module
Students investigate the range of conditions that selected animal and plant species need to survive in an estuary, model estuaries, consider algae blooms in estuaries, study how nutrients cycle through an estuary, suggest recommendations for reducing nutrient inputs to estuary waters, and investigate the incredible biodiversity that exists in estuarine environments.
Physical Science
Students investigate water quality parameters to study the nature of, and the cyclical changes inherent in, the chemistry of estuarine water, learn about dissolved oxygen and its effects on life, with a focus on the chemistry, model a pollution spill that occurred at Bangs Lake (a tidal lake within the Grand Bay NERR), and study the actual spill and how it changed water quality parameters in the estuary.
Key Features of the Estuaries 101 Curriculum:
- The activities in the Estuary 101 Modules have been field tested and found to be very engaging and popular with both teachers and students.
- They are inquiry-based, conveying both content knowledge and scientific thinking and problem solving skills.
- They are aligned with the National Science Education Standards and with the standards of several states.
- They are also based upon core principles and concepts identified by the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) educators—key principles and concepts about estuaries that students need to master in order to become environmentally literate.
- They are grounded in specific estuaries within the NERR system, though you should feel free to adapt the activities for an estuary near your school or ones in parts of the world appropriate to your classroom and curriculum.
- A number of the activities make use of Google Earth as a means of providing context to the students’ investigations and offering virtual field experiences. A support guide on using Google Earth as part of the Estuaries 101 curriculum is available online and details related to exploring specific estuaries are included in the activities that use Google Earth.
- And the activities all follow the same basic structure:
- o Teacher Guide, including an introduction and overview, learning goals and standards-matching, background information, materials and preparations, procedures, assessments, and extensions
- Teacher Answer Key
- Student Reading(s)
- Student Sheet(s)
- Student Data Sheet(s)
- Finally, each Module concludes with an assessment piece, designed for use after completion of all the activities within that Module. These assessments, which overarch all the activities within a Module, provide a means for both grading, as appropriate, and checking in with student advances in understanding. Also, within each activity, there are opportunities for formative assessment.
|
Last Updated on: 08-11-2008
|
|
|
|