3rd Grade Manatee Curriculum

A survey of K-12 teachers in northeast Florida revealed that elementary teachers feel that they do not have sufficient time to teach science because of pressure to teach reading and math. Fifth grade science teachers feel that teachers at the lower grades are not spending enough time on science (science is assessed in the fifth grade with statewide tests). We wanted to give elementary teachers a way to use a common theme to teach a variety of subject areas/state standards. We designed an 18-lesson curriculum about manatees to address Florida state standards for language arts, math, social studies and science. The curriculum contains a combination of written activities, PowerPoint presentations (with scripts), visual arts activities and a field-study at a park where manatees spend the winter months. Many of the lessons include online activities or incorporate technology, as this was a specific request from the Flagler County, FL school district. The lessons and supporting materials can be viewed/downloaded from http://stjohns.ifas.ufl.edu/Sea/3rd_grade_curriculum.html.

The lessons were written by Maia McGuire (Florida Sea Grant Extension Agent), Ruth Francis-Floyd (University of Florida Aquatic Animal Health extension specialist), Maxine Floyd (UF undergraduate student) and Alexis Morris (UF graduate student).

Some of the lessons in the curriculum were pilot-tested in two elementary schools in Flagler County, FL in early 2010. Feedback from the teachers was generally positive--they did suggest modifying one of the math-based lessons to simplify it somewhat. The complete curriculum (containing the revised math activity) was pilot-tested in the 2010-11 school year by 12 teachers at Rymfire Elementary School in Flagler County, FL.

Funds for the program came from grant money awarded to the University of Florida's school for veterinary medicine by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. These funds allowed us to provide the teachers with all materials needed for the activities, as well as to pay for the school buses for the field trip. Volunteers from the vet school and the Flagler County Extension program (some Master Gardeners, some students, some faculty) served as class leaders for the field trip.

Preliminary evaluation data (from 6 teachers) are available. 100% of the teachers plan to use the curriculum again in the next school year, stated that students enjoyed the lessons, and felt that the lessons helped them teach science. Most of the teachers (five out of six) felt that the lessons helped them teach math, language arts and social studies. All felt that the field trip was an essential component of the curriculum because it helped the students better understand about manatees, and made them more excited about the other lessons. For the coming school year, we plan to expand our evaluation to include an assessment of knowledge gain and behavior changes in the students.