Teacher Resources

Teacher training programs are designed to increase learners’ knowledge of coastal ecology and the impacts of human actions on coastal areas, and to promote ecologically sustainable behaviors. Participants learn to access and utilize environmental data while preparing math and science lessons that are exciting for students, meet prescribed education standards, and teach communication and analytical skills using real world scenarios. The Reserve currently offers a variety of teacher training opportunities, including graduate credit courses and presentations at regional, state, and national conferences. The programs highlight topics such as renewable energy, climate change, coastal processes, eutrophication, and estuarine ecology. Contact the Reserve’s Education Coordinator for more information or to schedule one-to-one consulting on how to infuse estuarine education into the curriculum.

Teachers on the Estuary: Focus on Water Quality & Climate Change
Target Audience: Middle & High School Teachers
July 2023
Syllabus & Printable Flyer

Teachers on the Estuary: Wastewater in Watersheds
Target Audience: Teachers Grades 4-12
April 2023
Participants visited pond and estuary habitats, the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center, New Alchemy Institute (Falmouth), oyster aquaculture and permeable reactive barrier sites.  Click here for full description and syllabus.

Virtual Workshops 2020

Teachers on the Estuary and Wampanoag Circle of Life
Multi-Session Webinar Series Designed for Elementary Teachers-Grades 3-5
September 1-3, 2020
This multi session course introduced elementary school teachers to flexible activities that can be used with their students during this period of uncertainty.  Activities included both on-line and hands-on activities that students can do in classrooms and school yards, as well as their own backyards or homes.
Click here for full description.

Teachers on the Estuary (TOTE) – Investigating a Changing Environment
May, June & November 2020
(Middle/High School Teachers) This multi-session course introduced middle and high school teachers to activities that can be used with their students during this period of virtual learning. Activities focused on research conducted locally about sea level rise in salt marshes. Click here for full description.

Step Away From the Screen! Helping Students do Real Science in their own Backyards
April 2020
(K-12 Teachers) This webinar explored ways to get students outside using the practices of science while still conforming to social distancing guidelines. The activities can also be adapted for those students who are unable to get outside. Click here for a full description.

Here are two write ups from teachers who have already been practicing this with their students.
Backyard Environmental Study
Julia West, high school teacher who has been teaching students across the world in Oak Meadow an accredited K-12 distance learning school

Arrival of Spring Backyard Observation Activity
Lucinda Keith, second grade teacher from Bournedale Elementary

Engaging your Students’ Minds with Authentic Water Quality Monitoring Data
April 2020
(Middle/High School Teachers) This course showed how students can virtually check out water quality locally in Waquoit Bay on Cape Cod and across the nation. Teachers learned how students can easily make graphs online to analyze water quality changes over time or compare geographic areas from Alaska to Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Click here for full description.

Oysters: Place-based learning with local research (for teachers grades 3-12)

August 8 & November 12, 2019
Oysters serve as a vehicle to explore adaptations, life cycles, food webs, estuary ecology, human uses and impact, and science practices.

• Oysters Flyer
• Oysters Syllabus

Teachers on the Estuary and the Wampanoag Circle of Life  (grades 3-5)

June 25-27, 2019 and November 2, 2019
Teachers on the Estuary (TOTE) is a program of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) that offers field-based professional development for teachers on watershed and estuary topics at Research Reserves. In this program, Reserves use local research and habitats as a context for introducing teachers to coastal science and issues.

This course will introduce teachers of grades 3-5 to salt marsh and estuary ecology (specifically life cycles, food webs, and adaptations) through the lens of Cape Cod Wampanoag culture as well as research scientists and experienced coastal educators.

• 2019 Elementary-Wampanoag Circle of Life Flyer
• 2019 Elementary-Wampanoag Circle of Life Syllabus