Students create a life size model of a bowhead whale based on information they have collected.
Objective
Students will be able to organize specific technical information from a variety of resources to develop a "blue print" or pattern to create a life size model of a bowhead whale.
Procedure
Introduction to project, student research on whale
This lesson was written for a Photography I course, to be taught in a lab with access to either a darkroom or computers/printers. The class has already spent ample time getting used to the basics of photography, learning to use their cameras as a creative tool, just as a painter might use a brush. This lesson could easily
Students are designated as the water or ocean currents, zooplankton, and bowhead whales. The zooplankton are informed that they are at the mercy of the currents. The currents are given instructions as to where to go during different times of the year (map). The whale pod is told that they need to breathe (raise hands above head to indicate
This one hour webinar with PolarTREC teacher Lisa Seff shares ideas and experiences on bringing polar science into your classroom and community. Her work focuses on the oceanographic conditions of bowhead whale habitat.
This one hour webinar is designed for educators as polar professional development. Dr. Okkonen details his work on the project studying bowhead whales and oceanographic conditions in their environment.
This blog documents the process of creating a 25-minute animated film at the University of Alaska Museum of the North that tells the story of bowhead whale annual migration in the Bering, Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The film takes its basic narrative and title from the 2013 calendar edited by Steve Okkonen, A Year in the Life of Bowhead Whales
The life of the bowhead whales calendar is a teaching tool created by Dr. Steve Okkonen and colleagues to portray science and natural history of bowhead whales in a compelling form. The calendar is available as a PDF and in poster PDF forms.
This PolarConnect event with PolarTREC Teacher Bill Schmoker working onboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy was held with Centennial Middle School in Colorado. This event was closed to the public and does not have a Wimba archive.
Live from IPY event with PolarTREC teacher Cathy Campbell and researchers, Donie Bret-Harte, Laura Gough, and John Moore. The group called in from Toolik Field Station, Alaska to talk about the different research projects they are all involved in conducting about tundra ecology at the field station.
Kirk Beckendorf, along with researchers from the University of Wisconsin Madison are based at McMurdo Station, Antarctica and traveling around the continent maintaining automatic weather stations. About 300 students from about 13 states joined the event.