Best of all, students are interactive partners with scientists. The Estuary-Net Project Web site is excellent for teachers who want to use guided inquiries in their classroom. The goal is to solve estuarine and watershed pollution problems that do not arise from a single source. Comprehensive information is included on estuaries' characteristics and ecology, as well as on issues to maintaining, monitoring, and ensuring water quality standards. All Estuary-Net activities indicate the time needed for class participation and show objectives, assessments, materials, procedures, and hypotheses.
Viewers can interact with scientists and control live-feed video cameras in real time.
Teachers who participate in the project receive a multidisciplinary curriculum early in the school year to ensure that their students will understand the scientific principles encountered during the broadcasts. As part of the curriculum, students are encouraged to do their own local field investigations using the same scientific methods as the scientists at the expedition sites. WhaleNet WhaleNet is a collaborative project between the biology departments of Wheelock and Simmons Colleges in Boston. Teachers can download many of these tracking maps for classroom use. Curricular lesson plans are also available for guiding the study whale migration.