What is it?
Explore the Salish Sea is a place- and project-based science curriculum built on our popular kids’ book, Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids .
Each unit expands on a theme from one chapter of our book. Each presents students with a sea-related mystery or problem to figure out. Students become Nature Detectives and work in Explore Teams to gather clues. Clue-gathering occurs through games, songs, scientific articles, Coast Salish stories, guest experts, and more and leads students to develop a research question. Then, with the support of marine, estuarine, and watershed experts in your own community (find them in the map!), students follow their question through an authentic process of western science and/or traditional knowledge research to solve the mystery. Finally, they use their research results to make evidence-based recommendations for improving a local habitat.
Select all or just a few units to explore each year. Unit selection will depend both on which standards you aim to meet and the resources available to support research projects. At the least, implement the Introduction Unit, Taskforce, to set the overarching essential question (How can we help the southern resident killer whales?), select one of Units 1-7, including its research opportunity, and conduct your evidence-based, culminating project in Unit 8 “Be a Salish Sea Hero.” It is in Unit 8 that students review each of their evidence-based recommendations for action, select the most important and feasible one, and then, with community partner support, plan and carry out the habitat improvement project, becoming Salish Sea Heroes themselves.
Each unit is customizable to support connecting kids with ecosystems in your own community. Feel free to reach out for help to select and customize a path that works well for your goals.
Units are also aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and BC’s Science Curriculum. Units contain all of the necessary tools needed to guide your students through place-based and hands-on exploration and discovery.
We will continue to improve and revise this curriculum with the generous input of Marine Educators and Classroom Teachers like you. Please share suggestions and resources with Pacific Education Institute at info@pacificeducationinstitute.org. A real person will get back to you right away!
Each unit bridges Western and Indigenous Science and elevates Coast Salish ways of knowing. Image by Mira Lutz, Fidalgo Bay, WA, with Samish elder, Rosie Cayou
Click the Map to find Community Partners near You
Click on this map to find community partners, schools using Explore the Salish Sea, and Salish Sea Heroes near you.
Links to both Next Generation Science Standards in each unit Link to BC’s Curriculum map here.
Before you launch:
1) read the Curriculum Overview to get the big picture and tips for science and traditional knowledge.
2) Register for the curriculum units (see form below).
3) Take your pre-curriculum teacher survey (online) and administer your pre-curriculum student survey to your class (print or online).
Choose the print version if you want to track overall student growth for your class. Choosing the online version helps SeaDoc Society track impacts of the curriculum overall. Responses in the online version go only to Seadoc anonymously; you won’t have access to responses. You are welcome to make an online-accessible version from the print version below in your school’s learning management system.
After you finish:
Take your post-curriculum teacher survey (online)
administer your post-curriculum student survey to your class
Choose the print version to track post-curriculum student growth for your class. Again, responses in the online version go only to Seadoc anonymously; you won’t have access to responses. You are welcome to make an online-accessible version from the print version below in your school’s learning management system
Students from Laura Tidwell’s 6th grade class. Orcas Island, 2018
Curriculum Units
Select desired units. Open the Unit Plan, Student Journal, and Slideshow in each.
Modify each of these to reflect your local community and your unique learning goals.
*We are currently improving unit format for ease of use and more clear standards alignment. Enjoy the upgrades.
Photo courtesy of NOAA
Introduction
Southern Resident Killer Whale Task Force
*Upgrade complete - enjoy the improvements!
No matter which units you decide to implement, start here
This unit introduces the overall phenomenon for the curriculum-the endangered status of the Southern Resident Killer Whales - and puts students in the roles of working group members in the Governor-appointed taskforce to identify the biggest threats and recommend solutions to save the whales.
Photo courtesy of Jess Newley
Chapter 1
Ocean Motion
Make a map of the Salish Sea to build on in each subsequent unit then explore physical, chemical, and biological oceanography that scaffolds further learning with foundational concepts of density, circulation, and buoyancy.
Photo courtesy of Christopher Teren/Salish Sea in Focus
Chapter 2
Stormwater
Review the water cycle, learn the parts of a watershed and the effects of erosion and pollution, then learn ways of purifying these waters before they enter our streams and estuaries to safeguard these ecosystems for marine life and people.
Photo courtesy of Matt Castle
Chapter 3
Salish Sea Rocks
*Upgrade complete - enjoy the improvements!
Wonder at tiny forage fish eggs and consider the beach characteristics they need to survive. Model a forage fish spawning beach and improve upon the model as clues are gathered about how geology (erosion, sediment transport) and hydrology (glaciation, rain, rivers, waves, and currents) affect biology (forage fish eggs). Use gathered clues to conduct an authentic forage fish spawning survey at a beach.
Photo courtesy of Jan Kocian/Salish Sea in Focus
Chapter 4
Tide Out, Table Set
*Unit under revision. Thank you for your patience!
Intertidal life is adapted to harsh conditions caused by the interplay of the Earth, moon, and sun. Learn about food webs, food pyramids, ecosystem interactions, and adaptations to survive the tough, intertidal life caused by tides, and this interplay of heavenly bodies.
Chapter 5
*Upgrade complete - enjoy the improvements!
Ocean Tech
Explore the amazing life that exists underwater. How? Experience the process of engineering to design and build a remotely operated vehicle (R.O.V.)!
Photo courtesy of David Hicks/Salish Sea in Focus
Chapter 6
Dive!
Discover how diving birds and mammals utilize physical, behavioral, and physiological adaptations to withstand the extreme conditions of diving and still return to the surface with oxygen reserves (and a meal!).
Photo courtesy of Florian Graner/Salish Sea in Focus
Chapter 7
*Upgrade complete. Enjoy the improvements!
Migration
Explore the extraordinary routes, distances, and purposes of wildlife migration with a special focus on the Pacific salmon lifecycle, the interdependence between salmon, the sea, and forest streams of the Salish Sea, and its role in saving the endangered southern resident killer whales.
Photo by Julie Picardi/Salish Sea in Focus
Chapter 8
Salish Sea Heroes
The culmination of the Explore the Salish Sea Curriculum is improving the environment in and for your own community. Students will review the science and traditional ecological knowledge-based recommendations they have made throughout their explorations, then put these into action in your own community. Raingardens, beach clean-ups, schoolyard wildlife habitats, and salmon and forage fish habitat restoration projects are all examples of how students became Salish Sea Heroes so far.
Photo by Jon Cornforth, Salish Sea In Focus
Salish Sea Splash
A 12-15 day, student-guided exploration of Explore the Salish Sea
Try this shorter option of Explore the Salish Sea to get students’ toes wet in place-based science. Unlike the full curriculum, here the students take the helm and teach one another (learning a whole lot in the process!) while the teacher is the guide on the side.
“ One look at the beautiful book Explore the Salish Sea and I was sold! We are always looking for ways to integrate science and ELA, embedding science experiences with local environment is always at the top of our priority list. We are excited to embed more learning experiences through the lens of the Salish Sea to help our students understand their local watershed and how it plays a critical role for all plants and animals.”
- Ryan Patterson, Tacoma Public Schools Elementary Science Instructional Facilitator