Learning and Leading - September/October 2011

The Mote Marine Laboratory. Perhaps aquatics and studies in marine biology have seemed out of reach for classroom connections, especially if you’re hours away from the nearest coastal region. The Mote Marine Laboratory offers countless resources in the fields of aquaculture, ecotoxicology, ocean life, fisheries, and more. Although many of the web resources lack interaction with a live biologist, Mote does provide outreach programs for schools. One such program is Sea Trek, which features real scientists working in the field and live from the shark tank. Designed for students in all grade levels, the companion curricula covers sharks, sea turtles, reefs, sea life rescues, careers, and more.

Center of Science and Industry (COSI). Videoconferencing allows educators to bring the scientific world into their classrooms. By connecting students to scientists, doctors, and experts in the field, COSI allows students to see the real-life work of scientists. For example, students can have front-row seats during a live knee replacement operation. If anatomy is your specialty, how about allowing your students to watch an actual autopsy, narrated by an expert in forensic pathology? COSI brings the professionals in science, math, engineering, and more to your classroom to discuss cutting-edge research and procedures.

Gemini Observatory. Using videoconferencing, experts report live from the observatory control room, sharing the process of scientific inquiry, human endeavors in science, global challenges, and the nature of scientific knowledge. Teachers can also visit the site to request a CD-ROM that allows students to observe procedures and activities that use real data.

Resources

Center of Science and Industry: www.cosi.org/
educators/videoconferencing
Gemini Observatory: www.gemini.edu
JASON project: www.jason.org
Mote Marine Laboratory: www.mote.org
The New York Hall of Science: www.nysci.org/
learn/education/virtualvisits

The very technologies that connect scientists to each other are the same tools that classrooms can use to meet scientists in their natural “habitat”—the lab, the field, or wherever their careers may take them.

—Jared Mader is the director of technology at Red Lion Area Senior High School in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, USA. He has been a chemistry teacher for more than 10 years.