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Marine Education Center & Aquarium
http://www.uga.edu/aquarium/DL1.html
Contact: Bob Williams (912) 598-2338
Email:  bobwms@uga.edu

About the Provider

The Marine Education Center & Aquarium has been providing interactive distance learning programs to schools across the country since 1994, and has pioneered the use of multimedia and mobile videoconference equipment in delivering our programs. Our system was upgraded in 2001 to enable both dedicated T1 connections over the State of Georgia's videoconferencing network (*GSAMS) and IP dialup conferences over the internet.

Our program offerings reflect MECA's focus on ecosystems, coastal flora and fauna, water quality issues, and the physical character of the coastal and marine environments. Programs are presented by our teaching and marine advisory faculty, educators from NOAA's Grays Reef National Marine Sanctuary office, and scientists from the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography.

Registration Information

There are two basic options for scheduling programs for 2004:

• PROGRAMS ON REQUEST: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays have been set aside for K-12 teachers to select, from our current program offerings, topics that are petinent to their curriculum and for a time that is convenient for their classes. A minimum 2-week notice is necessary for these requests. Any of our programs (see Program Offerings) can be requested, with the understanding that specific days and times will need to be coordinated between schools and our instructors. We will also work with AP high school and college instructors to provide content on special topics, provided adequate lead time is given. Please provide a few alternate dates and times when requesting these classes.

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• SEAfari PROGRAMS: A limited number of programs are being offered on Mondays and Thursdays at pre-determined times for elementary and middle school classes. These programs are aimed primarily at Georgia schools (GSAMS) but schools outside of Georgia may participate as well. We require at least one week's notice to reserve your place for a SEAfari program. Please make sure that teachers are apprised of the status for their requested programs. Programs will be presented at an appropriate level for the participating class(es).

Online request form available - http://www.uga.edu/aquarium/distlern/dlschedule.html

Connectivity

Program Topics

The Virtual Aquarium Tour

Grades 3-6 - Can be adapted for other grades

Fish make up over 1/2 of the number of vertebrate species on our planet. How much do you, and your students know about this remarkable group of animals? We will take the students on a tank-by-tank tour of our aquaria to examine the basic design of fish and illustrate adaptations to a variety of habitats.

Feeding Frenzy

Grades 4-8

Join us as we take a close look at the feeding strategies and adaptations of several residents of Georgia's coastal waters. Find out which group of animals finds it perfectly acceptable to eat with their feet! During the hour program we will examine the eating habits of zooplankton, sea jellies, crabs, snails, barnacles, fish, and others.

Fractured Fish

Grades 3-5

During this hour long program students will learn about the different fins and body parts of fish, how they use these, and how their shape and form help fish to adapt to niches in their environment. Staff artist Edie Schmidt will lead students in an activity where they will draw and design their own unique fish employing concepts of adaptation, camouflage, coloration, and habitat. Classroom teachers will need to supply paper, pencils (w/erasers), and felt markers.

Sea Turtle Safari

Grades 3-6

Take an imaginary journey with a baby loggerhead sea turtle from inside its leathery egg to the deep waters of the ocean. Meet a baby loggerhead living at the Marine Education Center & Aquarium! We'll learn about the lives of these amazing marine reptiles and what makes them so unique. We'll also take a look at the efforts being made on the coast of Georgia to save these magnificent animals from extinction. This program compliments Georgia State QCC K-5 science objectives involving the study of animals and the adaptations which allow them to survive.

Archaeology of Coastal Georgia

Grades 4-6

A look at the early humans who inhabited the coast of Georgia. The Guale Indians, along with many other tribes, were the original inhabitants of the “New World” prior to its discovery by the Europeans. Skidaway Island, St. Catherine’s Island, and other locations along the Georgia coast were the sites of several villages and towns of these Native Americans. Learn about their culture and how they used the available natural resources in their daily lives.

Marvelous Marine Mammals

Grades 4-8

The private and public lives of dolphins, whales and manatees are revealed in this engaging program of our favorite, most visible and marvelous marine mammals. Bottlenose and Spotted Dolphins are seen along our coastal waters throughout the year, while North Atlantic Right Whales are seen only during our late fall and winter months. The Florida Manatees are typically seen only during the summer months. Through video footage, slides, skulls, bones and baleen the presenter Cathy Sakas of Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary will discuss the natural history of these large creatures and cover issues threatening their health and their very existence. Highlights of the program include rare video footage of Bottlenose Dolphins engaged in "mudding", a feeding strategy exhibited only by coastal South Carolina and Georgia populations. Other highlights include rare video footage of a baby Florida Manatee nursing its mother, and historic slides of the first baby North Atlantic Right Whale stranded on a Georgia beach from the winter of 1980.

"Thar She Blows! It's The Right Whale!

Grades 4-8

The North Atlantic Right Whale is the most endangered whale in the world with approximately 350 members left in its population.  Cathy Sakas, Marine Educator at Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, will present the life history of the Right Whale through video footage, slides, bones, skulls, personal encounters and preserved specimens.  She will also discuss the research that takes place off our coast each winter, and the reasons these buoyant, oil ladened, slow moving leviathans are so endangered.

Holy Sea Cow Batman: It's a Manatee!

Grades 4-8

Manatees are the gentle giants of the coast. These slow moving large marine mammals spend their days grazing marine and aquatic vegetation belying there relationship to their closest land relative the elephant. This program presents the life history of this docile creature through video footage, stories of personal encounters and Manatee bones and skull.