Through this Web site, we hope you will find information, activities, and resources to assist you in your classroom science curriculum. We also hope that this information is flexible to address your district and state science standards.
We believe that these resources provide good materials to help meet the National Science Education Standards and the Benchmarks for Science Literacy.
Graduate student interns would be happy to answer your questions related to science standards and curriculum topics.
An overview of how this site meets these standards is presented below.
Bermuda Coral Reef Web Site and The National Science Education Standards
This Web site strives to address the standards for professional development and for content for grades 5-8.
Standards for Professional Development for Teachers of Science
This Web site helps meet Professional Development Standard A by acquainting teachers with scientific resources related to coral reefs and technological resources that increase their knowledge of science and ability to gain access to further information.
It also meets the requirement to address significant issues in science, in that it enhances awareness of the environmental issues that impact health of the coral reefs in Bermuda. Through the use of the Web, teachers expand their knowledge of science through technology.
It addresses Standard D in that it fosters collaboration with scientists. This is particularly relevant with regards to the Online Coral Reef Workshop for Educators. These workshops are help from time to time both online here and on site at the Biological Station. These workshops feature marine biologists, oceanographers and other scientists as keynote presenters. These experts answer questions and engage in dialogue with the educators. This workshop and in fact, all the resources on this site address teachers' needs as learners to build on their current knowledge. Standard C incorporates the need to provide opportunities to have access to existing research and experiential knowledge. The Web site offers these opportunities to understand what the scientists have been researching in the oceans near Bermuda.
Content Standards 5-8
Since the initial thrust of the materials on this site is for middle school, we will discuss how the resources here meet the content standards for those grade levels.
The Web site helps meet Standard C-- support students' understanding of ecosystems and the interactions between organisms and environments. The coral reef is an excellent ecosystem by which to point out these dynamics. Showing how lack of resources limits the growth of populations in the coral reef ecosystem is discussed in the Impacts area of the Web site. Diversity and adaptation of organisms (Standard C) is also shown through this study of the coral reefs.
Standard D relates to students' learning of the structure of the earth system. Bermuda's coral reef formation is described on the site and this ties in with understanding the constructive forces of land forms.
The Web site also enhances students' knowledge of technology and science and reinforces the idea that technology is essential to science (Standards E and F) Using Web technology for science research is encouraged. In addition, on the site, there are descriptions of scientific instruments used to collect data and of the cameras that are on the reef providing images to the Web. The challenges of getting the camera on the reef are highlighted and they demonstrate that technological designs have constraints.
The impacts of technology on the health of the reef are shown on the site, providing evidence that technology affects society through its products and processes. The environmental issues cited show that technological solutions may bring unintended consequences as well as intended benefits. Students gain a perspective about environmental degradation associated with hazards created by human activities. The site increases awareness that oceans are not limitless resources.