WETPAPER announces marine education resources

Good friends at publishers, Wetpaper, have announced new teacher resources that will be of interest to teachers in Australia.

____________________________________________

FOUR NEW resources for 2014 Marine Science 

Marine Research Skills (Text book)

SEE TABLE 1 BELOW

Snorkelling transects, inexpensive sampling devices and oceanographic equipment, locate position GPS, safety, risk assessment PLUS how to snorkel or sample data from a surfboard or boat, drive a small research dingy and moor at a buoy to study tidal flows, locate sampling sites positions on a chart, plot a course and work out time for daily research activities, send a radio message back to a research station, analyse weather and tidal information for research projects and much more. 

REF: Workbooks and Project Books

http://www.wetpaper.com.au/

Marine Science Exercises (Homework book)   

SEE TABLE 2 BELOW

Combines ALL the exercises and worksheets from existing 25 years of Wet Paper curriculum development into one resource. Separate Year 11 and 12 sections to allow concept to be repeated and become more complex (a la Syllabus requirements). Great for new or replacement teachers as a survival guide. 

REF: Oceanography Exercises

http://www.wetpaper.com.au/products/StudentWorkbooks/oceanographyexer.html

REF: Marine Biology Exercises

http://www.wetpaper.com.au/products/StudentWorkbooks/mbexcercise.html

Research Bay (Practice Chart)   

Based on Pages 32-33 Navigation Workbook 2^nd Edition, Research Bay takes in all the exercises on the soon to be out of copyright Hillsborough Channel (1964) chart.  Charts are A3 and available in bundles of 100 at low cost

Marine Science Flipbooks (Homework web based books)   

Find out more at http://www.wetpaper.com.au/fliptrial/

Feedback or questions

Bob Moffatt

Mobile 0418 769 790

bmoffatt@wetpaper.com.au

 www.ausmepa.org.au

Recycled Orchestra; reducing landfill and turning it into music

Out of a landfill has sprung a remarkable recycling phenomenon - an entire orchestra made from waste. "Los Reciclados" (the Recycled Orchestra) is the brainchild of Favio Chavez here and the setting is the town of Cateura, Paraguay. 

What a brilliant testimonial of the spirit and adaptability of human kind. Another step forward in the battle against waste pollution with flair!

You can follow the effort on Facebook here

Marine Educators; you and your students might be interested to begin your discussion of marine pollution by creating a seaside soundscape from recycled materials. If you are feeling a little out of your depth it would be wise to see if you can collaborate with your music and art teachers.

However, an easy start is to find a flat container like an old drawer. Add a cup of beach sand to swish around. The result is much like the sound of a gentle wave on the seashore. Try other small articles to see how the sound changes. Using the Landfill Harmonics as inspiration you can begin to think outside the box a bit further incorporating hollow objects for percussion sounds or modifying them further for stringed instruments. 

The resulting soundscape may well satisfy a range of curriculum requirements and provide a great accompaniment for marine studies and your stories of the sea.


www.ausmepa.org.au

Lynchpin; Art meets science on polward shift of biota

Telling the story about changing seas through art...

Lynchpin Scholars for 2012

TTasmanian East coast waters as a global ocean warming ‘hot spot’

Forests of the Sea – the animation aims to give an overview of a local science story: a visual narrative with simple and short word cues to aide the story-line

Telling the story of how the artwork came to be...




Great work!





www.ausmepa.org.au

AUSMEPA ship members; SUN ENTERPRISES

Atlantic Hero

Hosting quality ships as members who promote high environmental and safety standards on the sea is a source of great pride to the Australian Marine Environment Protection Association (AUSMEPA) a not for profit founded in July 2000. 

AUSMEPA uses the following guidelines to determine ship quality and assess potential ships for AUSMEPA membership, any one will qualify a ship for consideration:

• Two continuous years free of detention under Australia's port State control regime;

• A US Coast Guard QUALSHIP 21 Certificate;

• A Green Award certificate;

• Any other internationally recognised certificate or record providing evidence of the ships' quality and safety record, e.g. from a ship vetting company

For many years Sun Enterprises Ltd has been one of the international companies whose ships are entitled to fly the AUSMEPA flag as a message to their peers of their commitment to "an uncompromising pursuit quality". 


When Captain Michael Fragias of Sun Enterprises was asked what he liked about the AUSMEPA program he replied, "Sun Enterprises was among the early supporters of the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA) initiatives launched in 1982 in Greece. A great number of shore and sea-going personnel are members of HELMEPA."

"AUSMEPA was one of the first followers of the worldwide effort to protect our seas from any source of pollutants."


"In appreciation of AUSMEPA objectives, aiming to protect the earth's natural systems and as some of our managed vessels are regularly trading in Australia, the management of Sun Enterprises, always acting on behalf of the Owners, decided for some dry-cargo vessels to participate in the AUSMEPA ship membership."


"For all of us in Sun Enterprises Ltd, protection of the sea and marine environment is absolutely vital for the sustainable development of mankind and in general in preserving all living species in this unique blue planet, our earth."

AUSMEPA would like to thank Captain Fragias and Sun Enterprises Ltd. for their commitment to clean seas and a healthy planet. 

You can view all participating ship members on the AUSMEPA website here

www.ausmepa.org.au

CoralWatch - Guide for Education and Awareness

2nd Edition

AUSMEPA friends, CoralWatch, would like to announce that they have just released the second edition of their book "Coral Reefs and Climate Change - the Guide for Education and Awareness".  The second edition has been fully updated to include the latest scientific findings and new sections. All books come with a coral health chart.

The highly regarded book is beautifully illustrated bringing coral reef science to students and general public. It is 262 pages and has chapters on oceanography, coral reef biology and ecology, climate change and approaches to conservation.   

The book can be purchased alone or as a set with an educational DVD series. The DVDs contain 22 short videos (3-8 minutes each) covering key topics from the book, and incorporates interviews with scientists and animated diagrams to bring the science to life.

2012 prices will hold through to the end of February. Find the link to the current book and DVD order form here.   

A great compliment to AUSMEPA's unit of work The Effects of Climate Change on Coral Bleaching here


www.ausmepa.org.au

SEA FOAM: BUBBLES AT THE BEACH

Newscasts all over Australia and off shore aired footage of an extreme example of sea foam in  Queensland's Sunshine Coast at the end of January. Here is one broadcast that told the story.




As a great follow up CSIRO's Science by Email features a classroom activity and information on sea foam. Students and teachers can sign up for Science by Email here

And there is a great article by NOAA available online here that explains some of the more interesting facts around sea foam. 

"Seawater contains dissolved salts, proteins, fats, dead algae, and a bunch of other bits and pieces of organic matter. If you shake this glass of ocean water vigorously, small bubbles will form on the surface of the liquid. Sea foam forms in this way — but on a much grander scale — when the ocean is agitated by wind and waves. Each coastal region has differing conditions governing the formation of sea foams."  






A first hand experience with storm surf and storm foam is something to remember!











www.ausmepa.org.au

MUSEUM BOXES ON LOAN TO HELP TEACHERS

Australia is blessed with a wealth of wonderful Museums for students to visit however not every school has the capacity for an excursion to the city. 

Queensland Museum and Museum of Tropical Queensland are providing outreach materials to bridge that gap. They have a terrific teacher resource in their Loan and Specimen Kits including artefacts and information for classroom or for library use. 

Click here to view search Kits and Specimens with a marine focus and be sure to scroll down a bit to see the list.

If your students are in outlying areas special arrangements can be made for your school. They have several Loan Boxes and Kits that compliment AUSMEPA online units of work too, click here.

For more information contact 

Janelle Byrne  email: janelle.byrne@qm.qld.gov.au 

Learning Activities and Public Programs Officer
museum of tropical queensland | queensland museum70 – 102 flinders street | townsville | queensland 4810 | australia






www.ausmepa.org.au