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Update on K-12 Activities

March 2018 — The Woods Hole Sea Grant Education Program (WHSGEP) in collaboration with WHOI will again be offering its semi-annual teacher workshop, “Topics in Oceanography”. These workshops happen in the spring and fall and are designed to allow teachers to interact with our oceanographers, either visit their lab or go on a local field trip, and take home a flash drive with relevant information and valuable classroom activities relevant to the topic covered. If you are interested in attending, please contact Grace Simpkins at gsimpkins@whoi.edu or 508-289-3639.

WHSGEP in collaboration with the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center has also been busy this spring visiting local kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms in local school districts. These free, one hour lessons bring scientists and students together covering a variety of topics. Topics range from climate change and sea level rise, marine mammal bioacoustics, marine food webs and how marine debris affects them, and many more. The students learn about their local coast and ocean, have the opportunity to ask many questions, and get to do hands on science. The students have been very excited about the science they are learning and some have even expressed interest in pursuing science at a higher level. All these Junior Scientists have great ideas about how to protect their local marine life. If you are a local teacher and interested in learning more about our classroom visits, please contact Grace Simpkins at gsimpkins@whoi.edu or 508-289-3639.

The Program is also in the process of bringing students to WHOI to experience WHSG firsthand. Many communities in Massachusetts do not have easy access to WHOI and the cutting edge science occurring here. This program will bring students from New Bedford to Woods Hole to spend a full day at WHOI touring, hearing from scientists, and doing hands on activities. Students will learn more about their coastal community and the research being done both on the coast and in the water. They will gain some ocean literacy as well as learn how they can be stewards of this resource that is right at their doorstep.

Lastly, we are updating the WHSG Education website. We will be adding classroom lesson plans, resources, information about upcoming events, links to educational games, and so much more. Stay tuned for our new and improved website!