Available Resources
Alaska Coastal Ecology Teacher’s Guide
Grades 4-12
Background information of the
Kachemak
Bay environment, the factors that create diversity and abundance, prehistoric
use of the Bay, intertidal ecology, forest ecology, and stewardship of the Bay. + pre-trip and post-trip activity suggestions
for field trips to Peterson Bay Field Station. Field trip teaching concepts are cross-referenced to Alaska Science Standards.
$15. Provided free to teachers participating in CACS Alaska Coastal Ecology field trips.
Available from: Center for Alaskan Coastal
Studies
Alaska Native Cultures
~ K-8 with videos
Available from: Pratt Museum
Arctic Nesting Shorebirds
Curriculum
Available from: Alaska Maritime National
Wildlife Refuge
Birds
Identification and natural history
information (habitat use, behavior, nesting, range) about birds found at Wynn
Nature Center.
Available from: Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
K-12 with videos
Available from: Pratt Museum
Learn About Seabirds Curriculum
Available from: AK Natural History Association
Kachemak Bay Onboard Oceanography Program Teacher
Manual.
Grades 4-12
Background for the CACS Onboard
Oceanography field trip, educational objectives of the program, Alaska Science Standards addressed, descriptions of field
trip activities, and pre- and post-field trip activities. Sent free of charge to teachers participating in the field trip
along with a trip checklist, background information on oysters, oyster farming, and plankton; information for chaperones,
and data sheet masters.
Available from: Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies
FOCUS science skills discovery
with bear and seabird content with videos
Available from: Pratt Museum
Mammals
Compilation of Alaska Department
of Fish and Game Wildlife Notebook series and teaching activities about mammals found in the Lutz spruce (hybrid White Spruce
X Sitka Spruce), black cottonwood, willow and alder shrub thickets, and stream habitats of at Wynn Nature Center.
Available from: Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies
Sea Otter
Grades K-5
Available from: Pratt Museum
Tlingit Moon and Tides
Combines Native ways of knowing
with Western science exploring the coastal ecosystem
Available from: SeaGrant
Who’s Who in the Intertidal
Zone?
Grades 4-12
Great resource for student reports
and field trips. Atlas of 50 intertidal animals and seaweeds commonly observed in Peterson and China
Poot Bay and other rocky beach habitats
in Kachemak Bay.
Fact sheets and illustrations for each species, including what it looks like, adaptations (how it stays wet, how it gets food,
how it avoids being food, how it moves, how it reproduces), what eats it, and here it is found in the intertidal zone. Illustrations
match those on the Beachcomber’s Guide to Intertidal Marine Invertebrates of
Southcentral Alaska. $15. Provided free to teachers
participating in CACS Alaska Coastal Ecology field trips.
Available from: Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies
Wynn Nature Center teacher resource series.
Grades 1-12
All are free of charge to teachers.
1. Teacher’s
Handbook with Lessons and Suggestions for Learning More about Forest Ecology and Making your WNC Field Trip More Meaningful
Sample lessons from Project
Learning Tree, Alaska Wildlife Curriculum’s Alaska Ecology unit, and The Role of Fire in Alaska, and relevant Alaska Science Standards.
2. Forest Ecology, emphasizing Plants, Fungi, Soils, and Maps
Background information on plant
and fungus species that can be observed at Wynn Nature
Center and effects of the spruce bark beetle epidemic on Kachemak Bay forests. Learning activities are about trees, forests, forest succession, and forest management issues related to
the beetle epidemic.
Available from: Center for Alaskan Coastal
Studies
Sea Ducks of Alaska Activity Guide
Grades 4-6
Hands-on activity guide offers
activities that explore the unique adaptations of sea ducks (eiders, scoters,
mergansers, bufflehead, goldeneyes, and harlequin and long-tailed ducks) and their role in the marine and fresh water food
webs; provides an opportunity to research 15 species found in Alaska, and looks at some conservation
issues surrounding the health of sea duck populations in Alaska.
Includes 8 color species identification cards and 12 color “Sea Duck Trading Cards”. Downloadable as .pdf files from CACS website.
Available from: Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies
Alaska Endangered
Species Activity Guide
Grades K-8
Hands on activities with a focus
on plant and animal population dynamics, the factors that lead to population declines and extinctions, and the role of people
in restoring threatened or endangered species. The Aleutian Canada goose, sea otters, Steller’s and spectacled eiders,
and the Pribilof rock sandpiper are featured species. A kit is available for loan from the AK Maritime Wildlife Refuge.
The activity guide is downloadable as a .pdf file from CACS website. Available from: Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies
Gulf
of Alaska CoastWatch Curriculum Guide
Grades 5-12
An inquiry-based curriculum
focused on the activity of environmental monitoring in the intertidal zone. Pre-field beach trip learning activities introduce
students to the process of using scientific protocols and collecting, entering, and analyzing data; and provide skill-building
in the identification and classification of marine invertebrates and seaweeds and and introduce environmental issues relevant
to beaches. Field trip activities provide a range of involvement in environmental monitoring, from discovery hikes to data
collection suitable for entire classes or for smaller groups interested in more intensive data collection. The curriculum
program will be linked to collaborative regional monitoring efforts (Kachemak Bay CoastWalk) and intenational efforts (GLOBE)
and may be linked in the future to the Gulf of Alaska Ecosystem Monitoring and Research Program (GEM). Downloadable as a .pdf
file from CACS website.
Available from: Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies
Kachemak Bay Ecological Characterization (KBEC)
CD ROM
Grades
6-12 & adult
This
CD is an encyclopedia of information about the Kachemak Bay region. IT covers the ecological, physical and human/socail components. The CD includes
photos, short film clips, and maps along with its searchable narrative. Also included is a geographic information system (GIS)
database that may be used with ArcExplorer (included) or ArcView GIS programs. An updated KBEC program is also available on-line
at Kachemak Bay Research Reserve's website.
Available from: Kachemak Bay Research
Reserve
Kachemak Bay Research Reserve:
Wetland Function Assessment Tool.
Grades 9-12 & adult
An educational CD ROM tool that
brings the state of scientific understanding of wetland functions into a landscape setting to provide a context for planning.
This CD ROM is a planning tool for portions of the for the Anchor River of the Kenai Peninsula lowlands. Although designed for land
use planners, managers and property owners, it is also useful for educators providing a means for understanding wetland functions
from the watershed perspective. An ArcView project with hot-linked reference notes and field images is included giving the
user a perspective of how wetlands function in the landscape setting, and how to plan to avoid impacts to wetlands. This project
shows how integration of biological field data, wetland function models, digital imagery, topographic data, and infrastructure
information can be combined within in a GIS to create a planning tool for sustaining wetland functions in the landscape.
Available from: Kachemak Bay Research
Reserve
Life at the Beach: among friends and anemones
Twenty-minute video with accompanying
Teacher Guide introduces intertidal ecology and beach etiquette with a storyline about kids making a beach field trip with
a naturalists. Human role message includes use of beach resources as traditional foods. Shot in Kachemak
Bay, Kodiak, and other areas of the Pacific Northwest.
$20. Alaska Sea
Grant.
Available from: Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies
Living in Harmony with Bears
Free
Available from: Pratt Museum
