Subject: WhaleNet Article
mike williamson (williams@www1.wheelock.edu)
Tue, 11 Feb 1997 14:38:39 -0500 (EST)
Using Research Data to Enhance Your Curriculum--
WhaleNet, Whale Research, and Education
http://whale.wheelock.edu
by
J. Michael Williamson
Associate Professor of Science
Principal Investigator-WhaleNet
WhaleNet offers trans-disciplinary educational resources, access to
the Satellite Tagging
Observation Program, the A.S.K. a Scientist Program, the WhaleNetPal
Program, The "Link of the
Week", educational resources, and diverse professional development
programs for educators.
Students and teachers can access research data and information on
actual whale research,
information from field researchers, related research, environmental
links, and educational and
professional development activities (Ed 654: Field Studies in Marine
Science) through WhaleNet
(http://whale.wheelock.edu) on the internet.
WhaleNet became an international educational resource accessed by as
many as 120,000
transfers a day from participants in over 70 countries. It began an
EnviroNet's
(http://whale.simmons.edu/environet)regional monitoring project.
WhaleNet's initial purpose was to
use data collected by students on whale watches in New England to monitor
the populations and
movements of whales in the Gulf of Maine.
WhaleNet Trans-disciplinary Activities and Use of Data
Educational Resources section includes transdisciplinary start-up
activities which can be down
loaded and used in K-12 classrooms. In addition to marine studies, these
activities address important
skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and data analysis.
WhaleNet activities are used in
geography, science, math, reading, writing and other subject areas.
In Earth Science for example, bathymetric profiles can be
constructed using whale watch
observation data downloaded from a WhaleNet listserv
(http://whale.simmons.edu/archives/). In this
activity, students learn how to construct bathymetric (topographic)
profiles and how whale
observations might be related to specific geologic features.
Some questions posed in this activity can initiate a wide range of
learning activities. Examples of
study questions include:
Why do specific prey species inhabit a particular location?
In what depth of water are most whale observations made? Why?
What is the primary sediment composition (bottom material) in this
area? Why?
How might the water depth influence the whale's feeding?
Mathematically, students and teachers may use whale observation data
downloaded from
http://whale.simmons.edu/archives/(Figure 1) collected on whale watch
trips to generate questions and
study topics, such as:
On a perticular trip, how many sightings are observed per hour? per
mile?
How does this data compare to other areas? to other days? to last year?
Is the data similar? different? Why?
Are the sightings related to water temperature? sea state? cloud cover?
The following entry, submitted to the WhaleNet data base, gives you
an idea of the scope of
information students and teachers can query.
====================================================
To: whalenet@whale.simmons.edu
cc:
Subject: Data/JL/Jul 31 95/MICS/Capt. Red/ED 654
-------------------------------------------
Vessel-Capt.. Red
Location - Newburyport, MA. USA
Date-Jul 31 95
Sea State -1
Wave ht. - <1 ft.
Wind- <10 knots , Dir- S
Air temp.- 85' F
Water temp- 66' F
Cloud cover-0 %
Visibility-~20+ nm
Research-ED 654/MICS/NEWW
School-Wheelock College/Newburyport Middle School
Recorder-J. Halloran
Time,NLat,Wlong,Depth,Sp,No.,Grouping,Behavior,Name,Wtemp('F)
922,42 51,70 37,350,s,n,g,b,n,68.5
954,42 51,70 21,d,Bp,1,1,b,n,66.
1000,42 51,70 20,d,Ba,1,1,b,n,67.9
1004,42 51,70 18,381,Ba,1,1,b,n,,67.7
1005,42.50,70.18,383,Mn,1,1,Dive,Marvel,68
1008,42.50,70.18,514,Mn,1,1,b,Marvel,67.5
1018,42.50,70.18,372,Bp,1,1,b,n.66.9
1020,42.50,70.18,384,Mn1,1,Feed,Marvel,64.9
1036,42.49,70.15,297,La,12+,2,Feed,66
1106,42.52,70.19,551,Bp,2,1,b,n,66.5
1133,42.51,70.16,189,Ba,1,1,b,n,66.5
1156,42.51,70.28,d,Bp1,1,b,n,66.6
Day Totals: Hrs-2.5 hr, La-12 , Bp-4, Mn-3, Ba-3, Cm-0
===================================================
Figure 1: Sample WhaleNet Data Entry
Creative writing, song writing, and environmental games are among
the many and varied
activities that have been developed with WhaleNet data and information.
EDUCATIONAL & RESEARCH RESOURCES
Satellite Tagging Observation Program
The Satellite Tagging Observation Program gives students and
educators access to actual and
unique research data. Satellite tags, in conjunction with established
research groups and the New
England Aquarium's Pelagic Research Lab, will be placed on various
species of marine organisms to
monitor their movements and to seek answers to questions never before solved.
Where do he Atlantic blues whales go in the winter months? Do they
calve there?
What route do the humpbacks follow on their migrations?
Where do the right whales go?
What is the habitat range for these animals?
Where do seals go when released from a stranding?
The answers to these questions are important to gaining a better
understanding of the natural
historythese organisms.
Participants can access the same data and fixes that the scientists
receive from the satellite tags to
plot and follow the movements of the organisms. The new data can be
analyzed by the students, and
questions on the organism's rate of travel, migration route, feeding and
calving areas can be addressed.
Map of "Metompkin's" Movements.
Why would this organism inhabit a particular area?
What is available there to benefit the animal?
Why is the prey species abundant in that area?
What is the water temperature and current structure in that particular
area?
The first satellite tag was placed on a Right Whale, "Metompkin",
off of the Florida/Georgia
border on January 6, 1996 and the tag remained operational until the
batteries ran out on July 4, 1996.
Students can correlate the right whale tag fixes with other information
for research such as Gulf
Stream data or sea surface temperatures also available on the internet.
Metompkin was observed in the
Bay of Funday in August healthy and clear of any fishing gear.
Many NASA and oceanographic internet sites have information on
oceanographic and current
data. Many of these sites are available on the WhaleNet 's Educational
Resources page.
Over the next two years, WhaleNet plans to collaborate on and share
data on different satellite
tagging projects: blue whales, to monitor the use of their summer feeding
areas and then to try to
discover where they travel during the winter months. This is part of an
effort to eventually assess their
recruitment rate. Humpback whales and bowhead whales will be tagged in
order to discover their route
of migration and habitat use. Arctic seals will be monitored to access
their movements and habitat use.
And, the very rare right whales will be tracked to determine their range
of movement in the western
North Atlantic Ocean.
A.S.K. (Acquiring Scientific Knowledge) a Scientist
The A.S.K. programs gives the students the opportunity to personally
contact researchers for
information via email. WhaleNet has scheduled practicing scientists and
naturalists from many
geographic locations who are active in whale research, manatee research,
and oceanographic research,
etc. to be on-line to respond to student inquiries.
WhaleNet also has researchers from the Western North Atlantic
Humpback Whale Catalogue at
Allied Whale, College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine scheduled to
assist and respond to research
queries on specific humpback whales.
WhaleNet Educational Listservs
WhaleNet Listservs have been established for educational purposes
and include WhaleNet Pals
(http://whale.simmons.edu/archives/netpal), WhaleNet Educational
Resources and teaching units
(http://whale.simmons.edu/archives/wncurriculum), and WhaleNet data and
information
(http://whale.simmons.edu/archives/whalenet).
These listservs offer two methods of access. One may subscribe to
the listservs and receive all of
the contributed information automatically via email, or one can access
the listservs on the WhaleNet
server at the URL's listed above to read and download the files as is
convenient at
http://whale.simmons.edu/archives.
* WhaleNet Pals (http://whale.simmons.edu/archives/netpal)
The WhaleNet Pals program establishes a directory of classes which
wish to contact and
collaborate with other classes on common points of interest. This
directory on the WhaleNet site
enables students to locate and collaborate with distant students via
email on common research and
educational projects.
* WhaleNet Curriculum Units
(http://whale.simmons.edu/archives/wncurriculum)
The wncurriculum listserv lists a variety of teaching activities
that can be downloaded,
personalized and used. This listserv also affords educators an
opportunity to upload and share
successful teaching units with other educators.
* WhaleNet Listserv (http://whale.simmons.edu/archives/whalenet)
The WhaleNet listserv distributes all of the data and information
files that are contributed to the
listserv by the students, scientists, and other participants.
The primary goals of WhaleNet are to provide high-interest resources
to facilitate learning;
enhance interest in science; develop problem-solving and other critical
thinking skills; and increase
understanding using telecommunications.
WhaleNet is administered through by J. Michael Williamson through
Wheelock College in
association with Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and the
program is funded by a NIE grant
from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
For more information log-on to WhaleNet at
http://whale.wheelock.edu; email:
williams@whale.wheelock.edu; or write J. Michael Williamson,
WhaleNet/Wheelock College, 200 The
Riverway, Boston, MA 02215-4176 or call 617/734-5200, ext. 256.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
J. Michael Williamson
Principal Investigator-WhaleNet <http://whale.wheelock.edu>
Associate Professor-Science
Wheelock College, 200 The Riverway, Boston, MA 02215
voice: 617.734.5200, ext. 256
fax: 617.734.8666, or 508.468.0073
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^