Blogs from Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia, Oceania - page 11

Grade: First Grade Standard: S1CS3. Students will use tools and instruments for observing, measuring, and manipulating objects in scientific activities. Objective: Students will use various nonstandard units of measurement to determine the best unit for measuring odd shaped objects. Materials: Odd shaped objects for measuring such as plastic animals, balls, rocks for each group Nonstandard measuring units such as string, sticks, hands, small counters or coins for each group 1 copy of record keeping page Procedure: 1. Show students video clips from Australia 2. Put students in groups of 2-4 depending on the amount of materials you have (grouping should be mixed ability levels) 3. Each student has a job: hold object for measuring, record keeper, and measurer 4. Ask students what the scientists in the video were doing to the turtles. They should answer: measuring, ... read more

Turtles of the Great Barrier Reef Grade: Second Grade Standard: S2CS5. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly. Objective: Students will describe animals in photos clearly. Materials: Procedure: 1. Show the general turtle video. Pause and blindfold half of the children. Play litter video (without sound) for a few minutes. Pause. 2. Non-blindfolded students now have to describe what the blindfolded students missed. 3. Blindfold other half and resume video for another few minutes. The non-blindfolded kids now have to describe the missed video to the blindfolded kids. 4. Ask students what they notice about having to communicate what they are observing and what it is like to try and picture what is being described. Help students determine that describing in terms of number, shape, texture, size, weight, color, and motion can be helpful. 5. ... read more

Video for use with 2nd and 3rd grade lesson. ... read more

Wednesday June 25th: We had to get up bright and early again. Today was the start of our five day learn to scuba course. The shuttle picked us up and took us to their retail shop in downtown Cairns. There we squared up all the remaining money, met our instructor Nick and the other six people that would be in our class. From tehre we were shuttled to a small private pool. There we spent the rest of the day. There were two days to be spent here. The people on day two of the course were already in the pool when we arrived. We started in a classroom where we received our text books, learned about the equipment and watched an hour of instructional video. After this was our swim test. Before you can get ... read more

While Simon was exploring deep, dark wrecks near Sydney, Lauren flew north to Townsville where she met her friend Sabrina (who is studying there this semester). The dynamic duo (of MSC 201 and University of Miami Science Diving) reunited with a bang and had a night out on the town, then got up at 5am to catch a bus to Cairns. Cairns is much more Australian feeling than Sydney, with a relaxed and beachy flair evident even through the rampant tourist industry. From Cairns, Lauren and Sabrina boarded the MV Taka and set out for a long weekend of diving on the Great Barrier Reef’s Ribbon Reefs, Cod Hole, and on the outer reef Osprey. There were about 20 guests on MV Taka and full crew. The girls stayed in a shared bunk room (cattle class), ... read more