[SEMCO] PD Workshop at New Bedford Whaling Museum

Fri Feb 27 14:28:06 EST 2015

As a reminder:

For those of you looking for a fun, engaging, very reasonably priced Professional Development workshop, with potential for PDPs and/or graduate credits, we have the PD workshop for you. We will be hosting Schooling with Whales (course description is pasted below) on the weekend of March 7 and 8. The course is $50. The grad credit is $50, offered through Cambridge College.

The focus of the workshop is teachers of grades 3-6, but we've had teachers of other grades attend the workshop in the past. They have found it quite useful.

I also provide lots of beverages (hot and cold) and goodies for snacking during the workshop.

I realize that the snow has messed up everyone's schedules, but if you can this workshop into your schedule, we'd love to have you join us. Due to space limitations, we limit the # of participants to 20.

Please contact me directly if you have any questions.

Thank you for all that you do,
Bob Rocha

Schooling with Whales

Whales may not travel in schools the way that fish do. But, they can be used within several disciplines in a school building to help us teach several important concepts. This ten hour workshop will demonstrate ways to use whales and their kin to teach food chains, math, geography, reading comprehension and taxonomy. You'll leave with a packet of activities, links to useful web sites and a greater appreciation for whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Target audience: Teachers of grades 3-6

Graduate credit and PDPs: Teachers may choose to earn one graduate credit or 10 PDPs for 10 hours of class time. Credit is optional and costs $50.00 payable to Cambridge College. PDPs are free and will be granted by Museum Institute for Teaching Science (MITS).

Meeting time: Saturday, March 7, 2015                   8:30a - 4:30p
   Sunday, March 8, 2015                    12:00p - 4:30p

Location:   New Bedford Whaling Museum
                    18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA

Instructor:  Robert Rocha, Director of K-12 and Science Programs, NBWM

Cost: $50.00 tuition payable to New Bedford Whaling Museum
            $50.00 one graduate credit from Cambridge College

Course Number: EDU-5017

Course description: This ten hour course will introduce teachers to whale/cetacean related topics which can be used to teach concepts prescribed by state science and mathematics frameworks. Each session will include information, practice of math and science activities for students, and take-home resources for teaching each concept.

Course objectives: Participants will be able to:
1.                  Explain the anatomical differences between toothed and baleen whales.
2.                  Use inexpensive props to teach these features to their students.
3.                  Utilize a conversational story about young whales to teach comprehension and reading skills.
4.                  Use a dichotomous key to identify several cetacean species.
5.                  Explain transfer of energy through marine ecosystems.
6.                  Utilize a variety of cetacean facts as the basis for mathematical comparisons, conversions and calculations.
7.                  Use historical whaling data as the basis for mathematical word problems.
8.                  Understand the historical whaling connection between this region and the Azores.
9.                  Take absolute locations from a primary source document and plot them on a map.
10.              Describe the natural history of several species of whales found in New England.

Course expectations: Participants taking the course for credit will be expected to:

  1.  Attend both classroom sessions
  2.  Take a pre- and post-workshop assessment quiz to gauge effectiveness of the course.
  3.  Complete reading and homework assignments and submit lesson plan by due date.
  4.  Participate in class activities and discussions
  5.  Develop a lesson plan for their own use

Course texts and materials:
Cetaceans:
Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises by Mark Carwardine 10-18, 28-29
(These pages will be mailed to participants once they've registered)

Basics
http://www.whalingmuseum.org/learn/about-cetaceans
Basics / Kid Friendly Page
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/whales/index.shtml
Fin Whale at Feeding Time (Carl Zimmer, NY Times 12/11/07)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/science/11gulp.html
How Ancient Whales Lost Their Legs, Got Sleek and Conquered the Oceans http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060523092737.htm
Hear That? Bats and Whales Share Sonar Protein
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/01/25-03.html
Learning from Whales and Whalers on Top of the World
http://www.sitnews.us/0610news/061710/061710_ak_science.html

Food Webs:
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/F/FoodChains.html
http://sustainablehuman.me/how-whales-change-climate/ (video)

Geography
http://geography.about.com/cs/latitudelongitude/a/latlong.htm
http://geographyworldonline.com/tutorial/

Azorean Influence
http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/portam/bedford.html   (there are several interesting links off of this web site)
Course requirements: Participants will complete homework assignments as assigned.
The major assignment for the course is for teachers to develop a lesson plan or unit for their own classes. The lesson will be based on material presented in the course. The format for the lesson plan will include sections on
*         Title
*         Grade level to be taught
*         Relevant state science or math standards
*         Main concepts
*         Materials and equipment
*         Background information
*         An outline of the lesson
*         Tips and hints for other teachers
*         Your sources of information
Teachers may work alone or with partners to develop the lesson. The goal is for teachers to develop a lesson that they will use.  Each teacher will present an outline of the lesson plan on the last day of classes.  Sample lesson plans will be provided as guides to the content and extent of the required lesson plans. The completed lesson will be due May 3, 2013.
Grading criteria:
Class participation will count as 15% of the grade.
Completed assignment will count at 85% of the grade.
Participants taking the course for PDPs but not for graduate credit will not be graded but must turn in a lesson plan by Friday, May 1, 2015.
Contact: Robert Rocha, New Bedford Whaling Museum, 18 Johnny Cake Hill New Bedford, MA 02740, (508) 717-6849, rrocha at whalingmuseum.org<mailto:rrocha at whalingmuseum.org> for more information.

[MITS logo.gif][NBWM_logoSM.jpg]

Museum Institute for
Teaching Science

Robert C. Rocha, Jr
Director of K-12 and Science Programs
New Bedford Whaling Museum
18 Johnny Cake Hill
New Bedford, MA 02740
(508) 717-6849
rrocha at whalingmuseum.org

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