HR: 1330h
AN: ED22B-1236    [PDF]
TI: Integrating Marine Science Into Elementary School Education
AU: * Hill, H W
EM: hhill@seas.marine.usf.edu
AF: College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, 140 7th Ave South, St. Petersburg, FL 33703 United States
AU: Miller, B
EM: MILLERBA@pcsb.org
AF: Forest Lakes Elementary, 301 Pine Ave. N, Oldsmar, FL 34677 United States
AB: Oceanography has become the theme for science in a fourth grade classroom at Forest Lakes Elementary (FLE) in Oldsmar, Florida. As participants in a new GK-12OCEANS program, we have incorporated marine science ideas into the state standards in an attempt to create an interdisciplinary understanding of the world around us. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded GK-12 initiative allows graduate students from the College of Marine Science, University of South Florida to collaborate with K-12 teachers in Pinellas County, Florida. Our goal at FLE is to engage students in science and the scientific processes by tapping into the natural resource that surrounds them, the ocean. To create coherency among the state standards, students focus on three primary questions that address why the oceans exist, their composition, and why we study them. Subdisciplines created under each category allow us to cover topics such as life processes, ecosystem diversity, and energy. An inquiry-based, hands-on, minds-on approach is an important component of our science learning process.
DE: 6605 Education
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting