FREE marine science learning resources
Sarah Egner, Senior Vice President Program Services
Did you know that MarineLab has marine science education resources available for you (at no cost!) on our website?! No? Read on!
What do you mean by “resources”? The products available consist of videos, learning activities and lesson plans. We wanted to make sure as many students as possible could get a taste of the MarineLab experience. While virtual material will never match the onsite field trip, all of the material definitely has the MarineLab spin; you will get to see and learn about the unique underwater habitats that MarineLab students explore, with many of your favorite animals (and instructors!) making appearances.
Who are these resources for? The material was developed for students from early elementary through high school – you can search for products by grade level – but most of the resources can be adapted to be utilized by everyone. The lesson plans were developed to be teacher led within a classroom but would be relatively simple to be done within the household. The videos and learning activities can be teacher, parent or student-led. The description for each resource will give a better idea for this type of information.
The Coral Reef Succession Activity could be a great post-MarineLab activity as well as a stand alone option
Ideas for how to use the material? Since these resources have become available, we have learned that there are many uses and look forward to hearing how YOU use them:
Pre/Post MarineLab field trip activities. Some of the material can be used to get students excited about what they are going to see while at MarineLab (e.g. “Snorkel a Coral Reef” Video), others give good general content to understand before diving deeper into the topic once on site (“What is Ecology?” Activity), and other lessons are great for students to learn about a topic they were introduced to while at MarineLab more in depth once back in the classroom (e.g. “Limiting Factors?, Fighting words!” Lesson). It is noted in the description of the resource if we recommend the video/activity/lesson for pre or post MarineLab onsite field trips.
For many reasons, sometimes some students are not able to join classmates on a MarineLab field trip. Some of learning resources are excellent replacements so that students at home can get a bit of the experience their classmates are having onsite. The mangrove ecology video is a great example.
Group specific uses. Every school, every class, every student is unique with their own learning needs and interests. We think the learning resources available help cater to this diversity. For instance, the interpreters for our students that come to MarineLab with the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind used many of the resources to prep for interpreting the scientific language MarineLab instructors use while teaching.
Just for fun! Who doesn’t like looking at videos of sea slugs?!?!
Screenshot from our sea slug video shows our beautiful and beloved lettuce sea slug!
You said they are available at NO COST? The best part is, thanks to a generous donation from the Rickel Foundation, all of our learning resources are available at no cost. The Learning Resources page is set up as though you are shopping but we do this simply to track what resources are of most interest to you – so while you will need to “checkout,” notice the cost is $0 for everything.
Learn, engage and enjoy but please give us feedback! We plan on editing and adding to our resources but we want to make sure we are providing what YOU want. Let us know via the site or feel free to email Sarah directly at sarah.egner@marinelab.org.