Flagler County Creates Manatee Curriculum
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| On a recent field trip to Blue Spring State Park, Dr. Ruth Francis-Floyd (at right), an aquatic veterinarian at the University of Florida, answers questions about manatees from Flagler County third graders. (Photo courtesy Dr. Maia McGuire) |
By Dr. Maia McGuire,
University of Florida Marine Extension Agent, Flagler County
In the summer of 2009, Dr. Ruth Francis-Floyd, an aquatic veterinarian at the University of Florida, approached the Flagler County School District with an idea. She understood that elementary school teachers were having difficulty finding time to teach science because of the emphasis placed on reading and math skills. She proposed developing a curriculum based around Florida’s endangered marine species that could be used to teach science standards while also addressing language arts, math and social science standards. Unknown to Ruth, I had used this same idea to develop a manatee program that had been taught by volunteers to kindergarten through 5th grade classes in the county.
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| The Flagler curriculum uses the popular book Sam the Sea Cow to introduce students to manatees as well as threats to their survival. |
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Once we learned of our similar interests, we decided to work together, along with graduate student Alexis Morris, to expand my program into a 20+ lesson curriculum for 3rd grade classes. At the suggestion of Flagler County School District staff, the curriculum is being pilot-tested at Bunnell and Rymfire Elementary Schools. Funding for the program is being provided by a training grant which originates from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and is jointly administered by the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience. This funding has enabled the purchase of supplies for all lessons and a trip to take all 400 3rd grade students from the two schools to Blue Spring State Park in December to see manatees.
Flagler Students Are Introduced to Manatees
The Flagler curriculum uses the book “Sam the Sea Cow” to introduce students to manatees and to give them an overview of manatee biology and threats facing manatees. Other lessons teach about adaptations, characteristics of mammals, what manatees need to survive, and marine pollution. In the spring, the 3rd grade classes will collaborate to help sponsor a school marine science night. The products that they have developed during the year (including video podcasts, posters, and written works) will be showcased at this event. In addition to the lessons developed, classes have received workbooks, posters and stickers from Save the Manatee Club and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Some of the lessons are being adapted from curricula developed by Sea World. The lessons are provided to the teachers in kits; some of the lessons will be demonstrated in the schools.
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At the Blue Spring field trip, Amanda Burnett, a volunteer tour leader and student at the University of Florida, took the above photo of a manatee surfacing to breathe.
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The curriculum is a work in progress — to date, six of the classroom lessons have been finalized and distributed to the schools. Additionally, the field study at Blue Spring State Park (100 students per day over 4 days) was conducted in December. At the park, students watched a video and met with a park volunteer to learn more about the park and about manatees. Additionally, each class toured the park with a leader (volunteers from Flagler County and from the University of Florida) and completed a data sheet that included counts and observations of behavior for fish and manatees as well as water temperature. For most students, this was their first opportunity to see wild manatees, even though they live in a county bordered by the St Johns River, the Intracoastal Waterway, and the Atlantic Ocean.
Developing Better Environmental Stewards
The teachers have appreciated having lesson kits that require little or no preparation on their part, and the students are enjoying learning about manatees. Some of the students were outraged to see a drink can in the water at the state park! They were surprised at the size of the manatees, as well as the proportion of manatees that they saw that had scars on their backs. We are hoping that these students will become better stewards of the coastal environment now that they have a better appreciation for and understanding about manatees. We also hope that these lessons will help show teachers (and administrators) that they can incorporate math, language arts and social studies skills into their science teaching.
Teachers have expressed strong support for the program and have also suggested spreading the planned 20+ lesson curriculum over two years so that both 3rd and 4th grade students could benefit. We look forward to continued work with teachers and students in Flagler County to bring marine science into the classroom.
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This was the first opportunity to see manatees in the wild for most of the Flagler students. (Photo courtesy Dr. Maia McGuire)
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