[Coral-List] Education is the key!

Colette Wabnitz c.wabnitz at fisheries.ubc.ca
Wed Mar 15 21:16:24 EST 2006


Dear List,

A very useful, fun, approachable, successful and educational guide was
developed by David Gulko and Karen Eckert entitled: Sea Turtles - an
ecological guide (2003 - Mutual Publishing, Honolulu HI 128 pp).
It is aimed specifically to accompany science courses dealing with marine
science in middle schools, high schools, universities and colleges. Although
it deals with, you guessed it, sea turtles, it is an incredibly well put
together little booklet - and indeed indirectly relevant to corals
(hawksbill turtles) and seagrass habitat (green turtles)!
I strongly encourage you to have a look - and potentially something similar
could be developed specifically targeting coral reef education!

Regarding Patti's email and exchange of information: Students registered
here at UBC and working as part of Project Seahorse, regularly have to
answer 'kiddies mail'. These are letters from kids any age asking questions
they have relevant to seahorses - it is an incredibly fun and enriching
experience for kids and students alike!
Again, potentially something similar could be set up at a number of
schools/universities (through formal or informal partnerships for example?)

Just some thoughts :o)

Colette 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Colette Wabnitz, MSc
PhD student/ FC student representative
Sea Around Us Project, Fisheries Centre
Aquatic Ecosystems Research Laboratory (AERL)
University of British Columbia
2202 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Tel: +1 604 822 1636
Fax: +1 604 822 8934
Email: c.wabnitz at fisheries.ubc.ca
http://www.fisheries.ubc.ca/students/cwabnitz/
www.seaaroundus.org


-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Kathryn Hedges
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 5:09 AM
To: Patti Nicoll; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Education is the key!


One of the big problems with working with very poor students, 
particularly minority students in urban environments is that they are 
still far behind technologically.  Few of my students have computers at 
home, the library is not a very usefully option because time is limited 
to 20 minutes and if you have watched a person who is not comfortable 
with computer technology you will know they waste a lot of time figuring 
out what to do.  I know that I am not offering solutions but if we are 
aware of problems maybe we can figure out ways to work around them. 
NOAA was instrumental in my student's life changing experience.  They 
work with many students - a few at a time- and those few return home to 
tell their friends and relatives.  The first hand accounts are well 
received.  After our trip to Hawaii I was stopped on the street, in the 
grocery store, and at church by people who heard about our experience 
and who wanted to know more.  Students at our school were excited to 
learn more from Alessandra. 

Patti Nicoll wrote:

>As a teacher, I agree that education is the key. Although interaction of
scientists with the public is important, it is also important to get
students from different areas of the world dialoguing about what is
happening in their area. Students respond very well to their peers. The
students in coastal areas, provided they have a good teacher, will generally
know a fair deal about threats to their region. Students in land-locked
areas could benefit, and may just listen, to an exchange of information. The
best way probably to do this is through web-chats, preferably including
video (password protected connection). Unfortunately students today, due to
the speediness of the world wide web, are not very patient when it comes to
snail mail, but if it is the only option then it may still work. Once
contact is made though, students and classes could exchange materials,
perhaps sending care packages illustrating what the key components of their
habitats are. The land-locked students c
 o
> uld send information about their habitats as well, validating their
contributions to the dialogue and trying to bridge connections between the
two. I am on a crazy brainstorm right now and it is too late at night. If
anyone has any further suggestions, please respond!
>Thanks,
>Patti
>_______________________________________________
>Coral-List mailing list
>Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
>  
>




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