According to NOAA, over half of the population of the United States lives within 50 miles of the coastline. This trend holds up over the vast majority of the world, and many countries in East Asia show an even greater build up along coastlines. Humans have, and continue to rely heavily on ocean resources for their livelihood. The continued concentration of human life in these areas creates great stress on marine ecosystems. This fact alone is enough to suggest imminent and increased stress on the natural workings of the world ocean. However, what about the other ~50%?
If you live in, oh… Saint Joseph, Missouri… what effect can you possibly have on ocean resources? For folks who have lived out their lives from the center of a continent, issues such as this tend to pass by without even a glance. And yet, certain actions we take on a regular basis directly affect marine ecosystems hundreds of miles away.
No ocean in Missouri
As an educator who hails from dry land in relatively rocky Missouri… I have long struggled to help these concepts move beyond the abstract and into the concrete lives of my students. From the start, the Marine Biology program in my district was built around a rich field study set truly in the middle of nowhere on the Andros reef in the Bahamas… aboard sailboats for a week in April. If you haven’t seen them, sets from our most recent two field studies in 2009, and 2008 can be found on my Flickr page. From the images alone, I think you’ll instantly see the educational value of this experience.
From the start, leaning my curriculum against such a rich experience has done wonders for establishing relevance in this course. However, in my opinion, there is still value in being able to understand our effects on ocean resources… even when were hundreds of miles from water. Of course there are many ways in which we on dry land are still intimately tied to the ocean. However, over the years it seems the direct connection from plate to mouth is the one that establishes a real connection with my students.
Challenge based learning
I’ve written before about projects concerning seafood resources. Working up to last year, these challenges have moved from the classroom alone toward true social action. It seems pretty easy for students to buy in to the idea that teaching not only helps one to learn something, but it can also affect change in the world. Working up to last year’s challenge based on ocean resources, students were encouraged to take on their own project. There were given the challenge of being creatively independent in reaching a wide audience of local folk with information related to smart uses of seafood resources.
While certain successes were had with this approach, a rather novel set of occurrences this year has pulled us back together as a whole class to take up this challenge in our community.
The End of The Line
“Imagine a world without fish” is the tag line that follows the title of this new full length film. The End of The Line made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The film had its North American premier on July 19, 2009, and continues to play in theaters, communities, and campuses across North America. Screenings this month are scheduled in cities like Anchorage, Alaska and Kamuela, Hawaii. The film shows most often on college campuses and at film festivals. In Saint Joseph… far from the sea… it will play free to the public in the Benton High School auditorium. Here’s betting that this public screening of the film will be the only one for hundreds of miles.
On October 26th, from 6 to 9pm, Benton High will be a hub of discussion about ocean resources, especially smart and sustainable attitudes toward our ocean. Fr0m 6 to 7pm, a gallery walk will take place in the hallway leading to the theater. Marine Biology students who have been studying these issues will present displays and talk with guests informally about topics that bring these issues directly to the “table level” in our own community. Our guests will also leave with practical tools in hand to make smart decisions about seafood. Pamphlets, pocket guides, bumper stickers will serve to remind well after the film ends. The End of The Line has a runtime of 82 minutes and will begin at 7pm. After the film, students will again be available to discuss individual topics in the galleryway until 9pm. Concessions will be available. Hey, its a movie. Movies require popcorn, right?
The screening of the film is sponsored by the Saint Joseph Marine Institute (Marine Biology program) and the Saint Joseph School District. Thanks to district officials who have long sponsored innovation in the classroom, this community event will be offered free of charge. Thanks, Dr. Dial. My students thank you, as will any members of our community who are touched by this experience.
To help spread the word about this free community event, feel free to download a copy of the full-size poster here and display in your school or place of business.
We are less than a day away from our Marine Biology class field study on Andros Island in the Bahamas. I am still waiting for students to come in to weigh their gear. I still need to pick up a few last-minute items. I still need to prepare to be perfectly (and wonderfully) off the grid for an entire week. As hurried as I have been lately, I have done some fun preparation for this blog. Since I cannot write for at least a week, two of my electronic pals have agreed to make a guest appearance in my absence! Dr. Punya Mishra (of TPACK fame) and Stacy Baker (of Edublog Awards fame) will be taking the wheel.
I don’t exactly know what they will be bringing to nashworld other than the typical insight and wit they spill forth in their own projects on a regular basis. Stacy’s class blog was the 2008 Edublogs Award winner for “best class blog.” Her insight on how to pull off this type of framework will certainly be valuable. Along with Dr. Matt Koehler, Dr. Mishra is one of the co-developers of the TPACK framework. Our school has begun to embrace the simplicity of the framework as well as the deep commitment it takes to move toward the “center” of the model. I am convinced this framework will be more valuable as more of America realizes the need for true integration of technology into our current and future models of education reform.
We have a ton to learn from these two. I am already excited to read what they bring to the site while I am away. Did I mention that I still haven’t left yet?
Andros Island?
Without going into too much detail in my frazzled state, I will say that the reason for our choice of field station locale is simple. Andros Island boasts what is said to be the third longest barrier coral reef in the world. We will be on 45′ sailboats for seven days, snorkeling the reef, mangroves, sandflats, blue holes, etc. Just a few hundred miles off the coast of Florida, Andros is an amazing and surprisingly remote place.
At nearly one hundred miles long, Andros is overwhelmingly the largest land mass in the Bahamas. Nassau, the capital city, sits on New Providence island with over 250,000 inhabitants and is the bulk of the tourism target. Andros, on the other hand, is large, flat and green with just around 8000 inhabitants. This island is wonderfully and yet very strangely “backwoods” considering its proximity to the United States.
Until we return with our many fish tales, take a second to visit our class network or perhaps some of the images from our 2008 field study. The Ning site is less than a year old. It will be exciting to spill the journals, images, and videos of eighteen students onto that space when we return. We stopped updating our crusty old static “Web 1.0″ page back around 2003 or 2004.
Protecting living coral
That said, our crusty old static presence was still quite functional a few years back when I was contacted by a member of the Center for Biological Diversity about using some images from our site for an historic petition to list the first coral species under the Endangered Species Act. Apparently, our images of the Andros reef chronicled the state of two threatened species of Caribbean-region corals quite nicely. And of course, being a marine biology teacher, I have images that tell the entire “natural history” of the ecosystem as opposed to merely pretty pictures.
The petition that was prepared (by no means a typical “petition,” but instead a 111 page formal manuscript that takes patience to load) not only features one of my images on the cover, but is illustrated using mostly our images from the Andros reef. Hey- whoever said “Web 1.0″ wasn’t much for education? My students get a kick out of all of the international communication that happens as a result of our network, blogs, etc. However, this one event in 2005/2006 stuck out like crazy at the time to my students of Saint Joseph, Missouri.
I suggest checking this document out. If for no other reason than to see what something like this entails. Well, that and… the photos! If you do check out the petition, slide all the way back to the “acknowledgments” on page 111. It was pretty cool to see our little school district listed there so prominently on such a landmark document. The real bottom line here: this petition succeeded in getting both Elkhorn and Staghorn coral listed as threatened species under the ESA. These are some of the only invertebrate species ever gaining protection under the Endangered Species Act.
So stay tuned for Punya & Stacy… and a ton of news from the reef!
Is it possible to make a claim that your iPhone application can help to save the world? In this one case, I think it might be justified. Honestly, I never thought I would be the type of person to do a write up on the latest “cool app” for the iPhone. That all quickly changed with the new year’s eve release of “Seafood Guide” for the iPhone. Seafood Guide is a product of Seafood Watch. According to the website, Seafood Watch is…
A program of Monterey Bay Aquarium designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources. We recommend which seafood to buy or avoid, helping consumers to become advocates for environmentally friendly seafood. We’re also partners of the Seafood Choices Alliance where, along with other seafood awareness campaigns, we provide seafood purveyors with recommendations on seafood choices.
So what if you say, “Sean, I don’t own an iPhone”, or how about “I don’t even like seafood, so…?” If this is you, then stay with me another minute. There is a little something for everyone here. There is something for the geek, the teacher, and the conscious consumer in us all. Before we go any further, click here if you want to download the app straight away. You hyper-connected geeks will love how the iPhone platform allows for easy access to a ton of information about the seafood available to you at local restaurants and markets.
Teaching “sustainability”
It is always been really easy for my Marine Biology students to appreciate the intrinsic beauty and fragility of coral reefs. Spending seven days snorkeling remote reefs of the Bahamas in the month of April will do that to you. However, I have always wanted my students to do more. I want them to know that what happens back home matters as well. We have only recently attempted to study conservation of ocean resources from our home near the center of the continent. In fact, Missouri does a super job of conservation of regional natural resources at the state level. Anyone who has ever been hunting, fishing, etc. in Missouri for a long time would know that we have a very proactive and effective Department of Conservation. Learning Marine Biology in Missouri is a different story, however. How can you convince teenagers that something they do at home can directly affect natural resources in an ocean so many miles away?
Those of us in the know realize that the very air we breathe is filled with many oxygen molecules that originated in the sea. The facts are simple, but abstract. The challenge: find a concrete example of how a local teen can touch the ocean on a Tuesday in Missouri. My attempt at a solution: a project-based approach to protecting oceanic resources that includes social action. To make a much longer story quite shorter here, download my documents for the lesson series which includes: 1) a beginning presentation making the case for action to students, 2) exploring what we know, don’t know, and can find out about local usage of seafood resources, and 3) the actual “call to action” in the form of a performance task, minimal sample solution, and the associated scoring guide. Please feel free to ask questions, or offer suggestions about any element of this project. We would certainly appreciate the help!
For several years now, we have distributed booklets in one way or another as an approach to a public awareness and education program. This year’s project will be opened up considerably with regard to the ways in which students can attack the problem. For the first two years, we used the free resources available from the Blue Ocean Institute. The very first day I laid eyes on the “Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood,” I knew it could be a valuable tool to not only learn about these issues, but also to publicly inform others. The newest product available for download as well, is a sushi guide. Yum. You can order a single free wallet-sized guide here, or ask for a class-sized volume. I have always requested enough for widespread distribution by students.
This year, we also began using resources made available by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. You can download a copy of the guide for your region, order a large number for a project such as the one described here, or get it on your fancy phone. In fact, you don’t honestly need an iPhone to get the guide digitally while trolling through your favorite fish market or restaurant. Simply navigate to mobile.seafoodwatch.org and choose the guide you need. In the end, consumers need not remember all of the gory details of why farmed salmon are relatively damaging to marine ecosystems…. or why wild-caught Alaska salmon are a good choice due to abundance by careful management. Many differences such as this one are not readily intuitive to consumers. Many casual seafood buyers who are conscientious people would assume that anything “farmed” would be better than continuing to pull organisms from wild habitats. This application can help average phone jockeys negotiate the subtleties of the situation.
Geeks
Go get it. I’m sure you have far sillier apps taking up space on your phone. I know you paid money for the Koi Pond… my daughter thinks those little fishies are actually in there! Do our children a favor and check out Seafood Guide available for iPhone from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We could all carry around the nifty little pamphlet, but why would you with a computer in your pocket? Bringing this useful guide to the finger-scrolling pleasure of the iPhone is a significant milestone in this mission. Not only do you get the “score” for each species in your region, you can also learn a lot of the supporting details as well.
This app is a perfect compromise between paper and lugging a laptop to the grocery store. Navigating your way through the nuances of research, conservation, environmental impact, and sustainability are not easy. This guide is a real solution toward putting solid scientific data and decision-making into the hands of an increasingly large public. This app makes caring simple and science palatable.
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