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Camp Internet Science Briefing - The
Kelp Forests
Marine Life and the Kelp Forest
This week we begin moving off shore to study marine habitats in deeper waters in the Channel. The kelp forests are a magnificent habitat teaming with sea life, and we will be exploring the kelp from a diver's-eye view, and will be working closely with resources from both the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and the Catalina Island Conservancy. Dr. William Bushing, one of our great Camp Trail Guides, who is the Director for the Conservancy on Catalina, is an expert on the kelp forest habitat.
You will be seeing spectacular underwater photographs and have access to a full range of information on the kelp thanks to his electronic learning center. If you have a question for him after viewing the materials, please write to drbill@rain.org and we will draw his attention to your questions.
Live Chat and Video
This week we are also visiting an aquarium for LIVE VIDEO explorations of tidal and deeper water marine life. The Cabrillo High School Aquarium, founded by student and faculty at the high school in Lompoc, is an excellent example of learning experience-driven accomplishments at the local level. Our Camp students will be able to interact - LIVE - with the young curators at the Aquarium this week, who will be offering virtual tours by moving their video camera to different tanks, and then fielding questions and answers about what your students are seeing and asking online. Learn about their submersible mouse aquanaut !
To help a wider range of classrooms participate, we are scheduling both a morning and an afternoon live chat with the Trail Guides this week. Please let us know which one you can attend : Tuesday morning 10:30-noon, or Thursday afternoon 2:30-3:30pm. You will head to the chatroom, and there will be links inside the dialogue leading out to the live video cameras.
Class Artwork Online
Keep those hands-on projects coming !! We now have work from Oak View, Maple, Mt. Baldy, Lake Arrowhead, Valley View and Guadalupe going into the Camp Website. Teachers report it is a great motivator for the kids -and their parents - to see their work posted as a resource in the Camp, and we are happy to provide this service. Contributions can include science, art, creative writing, and field trip reports - be creative - and send us your!
Volunteers for CUE Conference
If any of you are planning on attending the CUE Conference in Palm Springs May 6-8, please let us know. We would like to invite teachers to stop by and spend some time at the Camp Internet booth to share anecdotes of their classes activities with fellow teachers who travel from around the world to attend this conference. We will have Camp materials -and selections of student projects - on display. Let us know at camp@rain.org if you plan to go to CUE.
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