supplemental materials HELLO EDUCATOR! Youth Series is pleased to be able to provide you with this assessment to gauge your students progress as they prepare for and complete their Y.E.S. experience. To encourage creative thinking, open-mindedness, and generate excitement, we suggest that you use the ideas on page 2-3 to help your students prepare for Exploring Careers in the Marine Sciences. Upon your return to school, you might find the ideas on page 4-5 useful to assess student learning. These tools are sure to get your students moving in the right direction and help ensure a learning experience that is relevant, inspiring, and thought-provoking! We look forward to hosting you at the Walt World Resort where iconic settings, imagination, and storytelling come together to create a unique learning environment and life-long memories. See you soon! Start planning your field study today! Call 877-FIELDTRIP (877-343-5387) Visit YES.com Youth 1
1. Have students research the following: Select two universities that specialize in a field of their choice and create a compare/contrast poster using the following information (encourage the students to be creative and have fun with the poster design): pre-trip coursework Ethology and ethograms Animal quarantine University acceptance requirements and degrees that are offered Careers pursued by those who have graduated with these degrees Also include what these careers entail (work locations, job responsibilities, compensation, perks, challenges, etc.) Operant conditioning with an emphasis on positive reinforcement Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums (AMMPA) Start planning your field study today! Call 877-FIELDTRIP (877-343-5387) Visit YES.com Youth 2
2. Activity: Who Works at the Aquarium? pre-trip coursework Have the students break into 4 (or 5) teams. Give each team 5 minutes to list as many careers that they can think of which can be found in an aquarium. Inform the teams as they are recording their careers that they need to decide which of two categories it fits into careers directly involving animals or careers not directly involving animals. At the end of 5 minutes, have the teams total the number of careers they came up with for both categories. Each career listed will earn the team a certain number of points, depending on which category the career falls under (see below). The team with the most points wins! Careers involving animals 1 point Examples: Animal Keeper, Aquarist, Marine Mammal Trainer, Veterinarian, Animal Educator, Animal Researcher, Veterinary Technician, Animal Nutritionist, Docent, Animal Care Intern, etc Careers not directly involving animals 2 points Examples: Customer Service Representative, Administrator, Marketing Representative, Legal Department Representative, Retail Manager, Landscaping, Event Planner, Security Officer, Medical Technician, etc Once the teams have tallied their points and a winner has been established, have the teams present their lists to the class. As a class, decide what someone with that career would do at an aquarium and what kind of education background or experience they would need to obtain this position. During the discussion, inform students that careers in the not directly involving animals category get 2 points because most people don t realize that these careers are also needed to keep an aquarium operating successfully. In fact, most people who work at an aquarium are not directly involved with the animals there. This category will showcase that even people who might not have an interest in marine science can still have a very successful career in the aquarium/zoo industry! Start planning your field study today! Call 877-FIELDTRIP (877-343-5387) Visit YES.com Youth 3
post-trip assessment At the conclusion of the Youth Exploring Careers in the Marine Sciences experience, have each student do the following: 1. Explain what an Aquarist does and how someone can become one. 2. Articulate the importance of gaining experience through internship programs and how that can give a competitive edge when looking for a career. 3. Explain what an Ethologist does and why they must have good observational skills. 4. Identify challenges Veterinarians might face that human doctors would not. 5. Express why Marine Mammal Trainers could choose between degrees in psychology or biology. Start planning your field study today! Call 877-FIELDTRIP (877-343-5387) Visit YES.com Youth 4
post-trip coursework Optional Class Project: Regardless of what careers your students choose, every career can be environmentally friendly. To help illustrate the importance of being environmentally friendly, use this project to demonstrate how simple changes in usage of plastics can have a big impact on our planet s oceans. As a class, have students collect every plastic grocery bag their family uses for two weeks. At the end of two weeks, have the students bring in their bags and count the total number collected. Combine the totals to find out how many bags the entire class has used during that time. Lead a discussion with the students regarding what could happen to these plastic bags if they are not disposed of properly, and brainstorm ways students could reduce the amount of plastic bags their family uses. After discussing how students could reduce their use of plastic bags, have them collect again for another two weeks, but this time implementing their ideas of how to reduce their usage of plastic bags. As before, at the end of the second week of collection, have the students bring in and total their usage. After they have totaled, have them compare their results to their first collection. Do the results vary? If so, decide as a class what caused the results to be different and what kind of impact this has on the environment. For even more information on how plastic pollution could be harmful to marine environments, and ways your students can help, go to: http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/plastic.html. Plastic bag recycling can typically be found at local grocery stores, schools and community recycling centers. Before recycling, take a group picture of your students with the bags they collected and send it to WDWYES@disney.com or post it to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/. We would love to share your story with other student groups and inspire them to help wildlife and wild places too! To further enhance this project, have the students create their own reusable bags! Have the students bring a bag from home or purchase a new one, then give the students creative freedom to decorate their own personal reusable bag. This will give the students a sense of ownership and encourage them to use these bags instead of plastic ones. Start planning your field study today! Call 877-FIELDTRIP (877-343-5387) Visit YES.com Youth 5