Please select your home edition
Edition
Cure Marine - Cure 55 - Leaderboard

New curriculum inspires the next generation of marine mammal stewards

by NOAA Fisheries 4 Sep 2021 18:43 UTC
New curriculum inspires the next generation of marine mammal stewards © NOAA Fisheries

Endangered Southern Resident killer whales may be coming to a classroom near you. These majestic animals are often seen as sentinel species that reflect the health of the environment.

Now a new curriculum seeks to inspire young people to become environmental stewards and join efforts to recover imperiled species such as the Southern Residents.

NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region has designed the new curriculum, Saving the Southern Residents, for middle schoolers. Throughout the unit, students collaborate to answer the question: How can we make a meaningful difference for the critically-endangered Southern Resident killer whales?

This multi-part curriculum is free and focused on educators and students on the West Coast, but the curriculum is available to anyone with interest and access to the materials online. It not only presents information on the Southern Residents and their status, but also gives students the opportunity to think about ways they can help in their own classroom and community.

Enriching the way students learn

This curriculum employs a unique teaching approach, called project-based learning. This is an evidence-based tool that can advance student achievement and empower student-led action. Rather than passively learning, project-based learning empowers students to coach, facilitate, and learn together. Research has shown that students learn best when they experience and solve real-world problems. Southern Resident killer whale conservation and recovery are natural topics and let students tackle challenges collaboratively.

"This unit gives students not just the important information on the endangered state of Southern Resident Killer Whales, but teaches them how to collectively tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our world today," said Alicia Keefe, Education and Outreach Coordinator, for NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region.

"Project-based learning can be applied to a multitude of real-world issues that we need to enlist our younger generation to help solve," said Keefe.

This standards-based unit helps students understand:

  • Cultural, economic, and ecological importance of Southern Residents
  • Connections between individual actions and watershed health
  • Limitations and benefits to different types of action
  • Unique power of youth voice and passion for driving change

The unit contains nine fully-planned activities that can be used alone or as a complete series. Activities can be scaled to different timelines and students' interests. The unit provides many opportunities for students to create public products and share beyond the classroom. The final activity supports a student-led stewardship project that embraces students' talents and interests.

Interdisciplinary and inclusive learning

The unit challenges middle school students to apply connections across different subject areas, making the material more relevant and meaningful. This unit steers students in the cultural, environmental, and economic importance of Southern Residents. They can discover how their own actions can support the conservation and recovery of these critically-endangered whales.

Southern Residents are culturally and spiritually important to the Salish Sea and beyond. They are featured prominently in the stories, songs, dances, art, and ceremonies of the Coast Salish people. Some tribes believe the Southern Residents to be their ancestors. For example, the Lummi name for killer whale, Qwe 'lhol mechen, roughly means "our relations under the sea."

"This unit teaches not only about the Southern Residents," said Amilee Wilson, Tribal Coordinator for NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region, "but how important the Southern Resident killer whales have been to local native cultures, appearing in creation stories that have been handed down for generations."

To help reach as many students as possible, this unit:

  • Uses a font, OpenDyslexic, that helps with some common symptoms of dyslexia
  • Includes a Google Classroom companion to support online and hybrid remote learning
  • Will be translated to Spanish later this fall

All hands on deck

Every day we make choices that affect the Southern Residents, their prey, and their habitat. The recovery of these iconic whales depends on government, industry, and community partnerships and active, informed individuals, including our youth! It will take all of us working together to save the Southern Residents.

While students are not responsible for the state of the Southern Residents, they can be a real force for change—especially when they work together. The curriculum helps students understand the limitations of individual action and the benefits of collective action, governmental regulations, and social norms—and how to make a difference.

For questions or comments about this unit, please reach out to Alicia Keefe at .

Related Articles

Monk seal & sea turtle research & recovery review
As we prepare for our 2025 field camps, we look back on the important work done in 2024 Monitoring and population assessment field camps are the foundation of NOAA's research and recovery efforts for Hawaiian monk seals and Hawaiian green sea turtles (honu) in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Posted on 18 May
Conserving long-lived species
The importance of monitoring decades-old individuals Conservation and recovery of long-lived species requires continued monitoring of individuals. Meet some of the animals that have been known to scientists for decades. Posted on 17 May
Gray whales on the rebound
Signs of hope despite challenges California's gray whales are an iconic, beloved species. Our scientists have been concerned about the Eastern North Pacific gray whale after a recent increase in strandings and deaths. Posted on 21 Feb
Top must-read Pacific Islands stories of 2024
Take a look at some of the most important and inspiring stories We've shared many great stories throughout 2024. Among these stories are our staff favorite reads of 2024. Posted on 8 Feb
Hawai‘i Coral Reef assessments complete for 2024
3-month mission assessing coral reef health and ocean conditions Kanaka Oiwi knowledge systems, values, and practices inform a 3-month mission assessing coral reef health and ocean conditions in Hawai'i as part of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program. Posted on 10 Dec 2024
Ocean gliders listen for whales off Oregon
Passive acoustic monitoring by “gliders” may better detect some species Three small autonomous underwater gliders called Seagliders crisscrossed the ocean off the Oregon Coast in recent months. Posted on 8 Dec 2024
Monitoring endangered North Atlantic right whales
NOAA Fisheries uses the latest technologies such as passive acoustic monitoring The annual North Atlantic right whale calving season, which begins in mid-November and runs through mid-April, is almost here once again. Posted on 15 Nov 2024
Gray Whale Calf count remains low in 2024
As population slowly emerges from multi-year decline The number of gray whale calves migrating with their mothers along the California Coast this year was one of the lowest on record. Posted on 2 Nov 2024
Tagging Humpbacks
Where Biology, Conservation, and Engineering meet "Alright, this is gonna be the one!" The 22-foot inflatable research vessel Balena speeds up and approaches a group of four humpback whales along the edge of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary offshore Provincetown, Massachusetts. Posted on 29 Sep 2024
From past patients to new moms
Two Hawaiian monk seals who were previously rescued are now new mothers! Two Hawaiian monk seals who were previously rescued and rehabilitated are now new mothers! Posted on 27 Sep 2024
Marine Products Direct 2023 - Calypso FOOTERHenri-Lloyd Dynamic RangeCure Marine - Cure 55 - Footer