Wild Classroom
SOSF is funding the production of a series of short videos in support of The Wild Classroom, a website aimed at inspiring young people to become passionate protectors of the oceans.
Awareness of the Earth’s marine environments is extremely important, especially for the young people who will become future policy makers. Teachers need new, interesting and motivational classroom material to aid them in inspiring and encouraging children towards both careers in conservation and lives of conservation. And this was the inspiration behind The Wild Classroom: a website dedicated to opening the eyes of the public to science by producing action-filled nature documentaries, creating exciting lesson plans for schools and educators, and by holding seminars, presentations and photographic exhibitions. It is already receiving nearly 40,000 unique viewers to its biome web-pages each month, almost all are students researching school projects.
Bringing the outdoors into the classroom
SOSF is funding the production of a series of short videos in support of The Wild Classroom, a website aimed at inspiring young people to become passionate protectors of the oceans.
Awareness of the Earth’s marine environments is extremely important, especially for the young people who will become future policy makers. Teachers need new, interesting and motivational classroom material to aid them in inspiring and encouraging children towards both careers in conservation and lives of conservation. And this was the inspiration behind The Wild Classroom: a website dedicated to opening the eyes of the public to science by producing action-filled nature documentaries, creating exciting lesson plans for schools and educators, and by holding seminars, presentations and photographic exhibitions. It is already receiving nearly 40,000 unique viewers to its biome web-pages each month, almost all are students researching school projects.
Videos to enhance website
SOSF is supporting this by funding the production of a series of 14 short videos to help enhance the content of the site. Seven biomes videos will examine the ecosystems of estuaries, coral reefs, lakes and ponds, oceanic/pelagic, abyssal, tropical coastal, and inter-tidal. Species profiles for each of these will include: manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris), manta rays (Manta birostris), corals, crocodiles, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), deep-water micro fauna, white-tip reef sharks (Triaenodon obesus) and seals.
Essentially, the videos serve as a springboard for teachers to introduce a topic, with the website as a platform for students to further their understanding of the biome. Students today are accustomed to a fast-paced video style, a format different from most material available to teachers (ie, feature length documentaries). The format of the videos reflects this: they are both educational and fun, as well as being short enough (approximately 5-8 minutes) to be viewed on the internet or as part of a teacher’s lesson plan.
The videos for the marine biomes will be shot primarily in Hawaii and Panama during 2008/09. Project leader Rob Nelson and co-producer Jonas Stenstrom will be collaborating with a team of scientists, each studying a diversity of species with a conservation aim.
Nick Whitney of the Hawaii Institute of Biology is monitoring the behavior of white-tip reef shark in an effort to understand how to designate marine reserves. At the University of Hawaii, Alison Stimpert is analysing the sounds of humpback whales to see whether boats adversely affect their movement patterns. Heather Spalding is studying the effect of deepwater trawling on macro-algae and other deep-sea creatures. Lance Smith is conducting research in how corals are responding to an increase in global ocean temperature. Profiles of these young researchers in the field will act as a resource about career opportunities in conservation as well as providing students with young scientist as role models to emulate.
These videos will be incorporated into the website, podcast via The WildClassroom, and eventually spread throughout the web as free downloads via iTunes, Googlevideo, YouTube,
Revver, BlipTV etc. Through watching the videos, in-class discussions, and outside assignments, the conservation message will be reinforced for the students. Through distribution to classrooms and a travelling guest speaker tour, a follow-up outreach plan hopes to reach 50% of American middle school students inspiring them to become passionate protectors of our oceans.
Essentially, the videos serve as a springboard for teachers to introduce a topic, with the website as a platform for students to further their understanding of the biome. Students today are accustomed to a fast-paced video style, a format different from most material available to teachers (ie, feature length documentaries). The format of the videos reflects this: they are both educational and fun, as well as being short enough (approximately 5-8 minutes) to be viewed on the internet or as part of a teacher’s lesson plan.
The videos for the marine biomes will be shot primarily in Hawaii and Panama during 2008/09. Project leader Rob Nelson and co-producer Jonas Stenstrom will be collaborating with a team of scientists, each studying a diversity of species with a conservation aim.
Nick Whitney of the Hawaii Institute of Biology is monitoring the behavior of white-tip reef shark in an effort to understand how to designate marine reserves. At the University of Hawaii, Alison Stimpert is analysing the sounds of humpback whales to see whether boats adversely affect their movement patterns. Heather Spalding is studying the effect of deepwater trawling on macro-algae and other deep-sea creatures. Lance Smith is conducting research in how corals are responding to an increase in global ocean temperature. Profiles of these young researchers in the field will act as a resource about career opportunities in conservation as well as providing students with young scientist as role models to emulate.
These videos will be incorporated into the website, podcast via The WildClassroom, and eventually spread throughout the web as free downloads via iTunes, Googlevideo, YouTube,
Revver, BlipTV etc. Through watching the videos, in-class discussions, and outside assignments, the conservation message will be reinforced for the students. Through distribution to classrooms and a travelling guest speaker tour, a follow-up outreach plan hopes to reach 50% of American middle school students inspiring them to become passionate protectors of our oceans.