Looking for ways to address the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill with your class?
Education is one of the many tools to avoid incidents like the Deepwater
Horizon Oil Spill in the future.
Gulf of Mexico Alliance Education website
- click on Oil Industry & Spills to find lesson plans and experiments to
engage students with oil spill curriculum.
Gulf of Mexico Alliance's oil spill maps
PBS Kids Blog discussing the spill -
Scroll down to Blogs, first entry
Earth Gauge Kids - Gulf of Mexico Month
The Earth Gauge Kids theme for June, "Gulf of Mexico," is online at www.earthgauge.net/kids.
The website is geared toward grades 5-8, but is a useful tool for many audiences. There is a
widget available, which any organization can add to its website.
Though the themes (and the widget image) change monthly, the pages are archived on the site.
Earth Gauge has also continued to add to its
list of vetted resources on the BP oil
disaster for meteorologists, educators and the public.
VISIT EARTH GAUGE WEBSITE
Encyclopedia of Life reaches out to
K-16 educators with marine theme
The
Encyclopedia of Life (EOL),
the global initiative to put every one of Earths 1.8 million living known
species online in approximately 10 years, launches its K-16 education outreach with a
year-long campaign focusing on marine biodiversity and conservation.
VISIT EOL WEBSITE
NOAA website offers kids games online
The National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) offers
an "online arcade" filled with interactive games and activities
focused on ocean and air themes. It highlights the science and activities
of NOAA and other agencies and organizations promoting environmental
stewardship.
This month, NOAA added a new game its arcade called, "WaterLife: Where Rivers Meet
the Sea." Set in California's Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research
Reserve, the game explains what an estuary is and describes diverse
ecosystems in estuaries, tidal influences, restoration efforts, and marine
debris. WaterLife and other games are online at:
http://games.noaa.gov.
Estuaries.gov offers curricula, videos
Check out
www.estuaries.gov to find a new on-line science curriculum from NOAAs National Estuarine Research Reserve System
called Estuaries 101, which
provides powerful ways for students to learn fundamental concepts in science and develop scientific thinking skills, as well as explore
the nations biologically rich and economically important estuaries.
From flying over an estuary with Google Maps to tracking the path and impact of a hurricane, Estuaries 101 modules feature hands-on
learning, experiments, field-based activities and data explorations.
Designed for 9th12th grade classrooms with the flexibility to adapt to higher or lower grades Estuaries 101 meets key National
Science Education Standards and can be readily aligned to all state standards.
In addition to Estuaries 101, students and educators can access:
- Videos: A series of complementary videos will bring to life the different concepts taught in the Estuaries 101 Curriculum.
- Animated interpretations of live water quality and weather data from the NERRS System-Wide Monitoring Program to help students
understand concepts and visualize processes and changes in an estuarine system.
- A database of teacher training opportunities offered at the National Estuarine Research Reserves.
- Fish fact sheets which provide useful information on species, including: a picture of the species, a map of the
species' range, quick facts about the species, conservation notes and life history information.
- News section featuring current events and activities in the reserve system.
Create an ecosphere in a jar
without getting your hands dirty!
This interactive simulation by the BCC uses real
data from university experiments. Success or failure -- you decide!
CLICK TO PLAY GAME
An ecosphere is a world in minature, a tiny slice of life sealed off from
the outside world. It could be described as an ecosystem in a bottle.
Materially closed, but thermodynamically open, it takes no additional
material from the outside but still allows heat and sunlight in. Ideally,
an ecosphere is self-sustaining. Once sealed, the animals and plants
contained in it should be able to survive indefineitly, by cycling carbon,
nitrogen, oxygen and other elements.The resources on Earth needed to
sustain life (air, water and food) are limited. At any given moment there
is only enough oxygen in the atmosphere to support the breathing of all
living things for about 2000 years. Yet life on Earth has existed
considerably longer, and there are no envisioned natural causes within the
biosphere that suggest it will end in the near future. Herein lies the
paradox: life may be endless but its resources are finite. Such an apparent
contradiction is only possible because these resources are constantly
recycled for use again and again.
Ecology is the study of the interaction between living things, their
environment and the resources they need to sustain life. The kinds of
systems studied by ecologists are wide-ranging and varied. They include
single locations such as ponds, rivers and fields, through to more general
environments such as plains, forests and oceans, ending up with the Earth
itself. The Earth is one giant ecosystem with all living things interacting
with the environment and each other, using and reusing the finite resources
to live.
Treasures of the Texas Coast
Children's Art Contest
The Texas General Land Office Adopt-A-Beach Program's 11th
Annual Treasures of the Texas Coast Children's Art
Contest received 6,073 entries from children all across Texas.
The artwork illustrated what children like about the Texas coast
and the program's official slogan "Trashing Texas Beaches Isn't Cool!".
The annual contest is organized through the General Land
Office's Adopt-A-Beach Program. For more information on the Adopt-A-Beach Program, the
Children's Art Contest, or the Spring Cleanup, call toll free at
1-877-TXCOAST or visit the website at
www.texasadoptabeach.org where
all the winning artwork is displayed.
Gulf of Mexico Foundation - PMB 51, 5403 Everhart - Corpus Christi, TX 78411
(800) 884-4175 toll free - (361) 882-3939 phone - (361) 882-1262 fax
e-mail: info@gulfmex.org
website: gulfmex.org
webmaster: Carrie Robertson
