MDCPS Classroom Lesson Series with Henry E.S. Reeves K-8 Center

Westview, Florida
January 23 - 31, 2025

Overview

From January 23rd through January 31st, 2025, The International SeaKeepers Society led our inaugural 4-lesson series with 30 7th and 8th grade students of Henry E.S. Reeves K-8 Center in Westview. As part of our cooperation with Miami Dade County Public Schools, our Education Director, Toni Lohroff, developed a condensed, marine conservation biology-based curriculum to be shared with students over the course of four separate lessons, culminating in the students completing a PSA through our Ocean Hero Challenge art project on a relevant marine issue. For our first lesson, students were introduced to the E&O Team, took a pretest on their familiarity with concepts we would be covering as well as SeaKeepers as an organization before participating in an interactive discussion and presentation on South Floridian ecology and biodiversity. For the second lesson, we began with a Kahoot to test how well students remembered the key topics of our first talk which also gave us the chance to review any concepts they struggled with. We then discussed functional anatomy and physiology, with students learning to differentiate habitat, trophic level, swimming speed, and other assorted behavior based on key external morphology of marine creatures. For our third lesson, we again began with a review quiz for our students to get warmed up and test their memory of covered material thus far. From there, we split the class in two groups to take turns participating in two activities: Sink or Float, led by our Community Engagement Associate, Lillian, where students got a chance to learn about the intricacies of plastic pollution as well as differentiate between the six major types of plastic, and modeling the dynamics of pollution through utilizing our Enviroscapes Dynamic Watershed Table in a demonstration led by our Educational Outreach Associate, Jack. Both groups enjoyed the chance to get their hands dirty and step outside the classroom to put what they had learned to good use, asking several good questions and getting the chance to flex their knowledge on the types of pollution. For our fourth and final visit, the students got a chance to teach us through presentations of marine issue-based PSAs in our Ocean Hero Challenge. Our students tackled a wide range of topics we covered, and even extended into ones that interested them outside our curriculum. Following their presentations, students took a closing survey similar to their pretest and showed that they enjoyed the lessons and learned a great deal about our oceans. We give a huge thanks to the students and faculty of Henry E.S. Reeves, and we hope to work with them again at future events!

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