Virtual Field Trip with The Ocean Institute

December 11, 2017 9:00 AM
(EST)

Summary

Panelists

Nathan Taxel

Director of Outdoor Education at The Ocean Institute

Nathan Taxel is originally from Cleveland, Ohio.  He has a Bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and political science.  Nathan also has a Master’s degree in Parks and Resource Management.  Nathan says he works at the Ocean Institute because it gives him the chance to create opportunities for students to participate in life-changing educational programs that foster connections to California’s rich natural and cultural history.

Classroom Resources

Beyond the Dead Zone Part 1

South Florida is home to some of the world’s most unique aquatic ecosystems such as the Everglades, which provide critical ecosystem services for the people and animals of South Florida. Take off with Philippe Cousteau and EarthEcho Expeditions co-host Josh Carrera, as they explore how Florida’s Everglades are being protected and restored after decades of damage from development and agricultural runoff. Our hosts travel by helicopter and airboat to examine how natural ecosystems can be engineered and adapted to mitigate agricultural pollution.

Service Learning in Action with World Learning Inc.

As part of an exchange program through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and World Learning Inc., Ecuadorian, Colombian, and Peruvian youth worked with South Florida Water Management District scientists to restore a section of the roughly 60,000 acres of Stormwater Treatment Areas. These youth planted emergent and submerged aquatic vegetation to help reduce the phosphorus pollution that enters the STA’s from adjacent agricultural canals.

Beyond the Dead Zone part 1: South Florida is home to some of the world’s most unique aquatic ecosystems such as the Everglades, which provide critical ecosystem services for the people and animals of South Florida. Take off with Philippe Cousteau and EarthEcho Expeditions co-host Josh Carrera, as they explore how Florida’s Everglades are being protected and restored after decades of damage from development and agricultural runoff. Our hosts travel by helicopter and airboat to examine how natural ecosystems can be engineered and adapted to mitigate agricultural pollution.

Service Learning in Action with World Learning, Inc. As part of an exchange program through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and World Learning Inc., Ecuadorian, Colombian, and Peruvian youth worked with South Florida Water Management District scientists to restore a section of the roughly 60,000 acres of Stormwater Treatment Areas. These youth planted emergent and submerged aquatic vegetation to help reduce the phosphorus pollution that enters the STA’s from adjacent agricultural canals.

Make A Splash: A Kid's Guide to Protecting Our Oceans, Lakes, Rivers & Wetlands provides a closer look at our oceans and waterways and our role in protecting this water planet.

EarthEcho: Urbanized Water Cycle Lesson Plan helps students describe the natural movement of water in the hydrologic cycle, identify the state of water as it moves through this cycle and the energy inputs that drive that movement, and understand how increased urbanization impacts the hydrosphere and adjoining biosphere.

EarthEcho: Rain Check: Action Guide helps students develop a plan to protect local waterways from polluted stormwater.

National Geographic: How People Affect Ocean Animals helps students understand how people everywhere can have an impact on the ocean and the life that calls the ocean home.

Science Standards

Potential Next Generation Science Standards Included in this Virtual Field Trip:

  • ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems:  Human activities have significantly altered the biosphere, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. But changes to Earth’s environments can have different impacts (negative and positive) for different living things. (MS-ESS3-3)
  • ESS2-3.Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.
  • ESS2-2. Describe and graph the amounts of saltwater and freshwater in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.
  • ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
  • MS-ESS3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.