Marine Science Series – Live

Manatee Lagoon has teamed up with The Reef Institute to offer this free educational series for fifth grade students and classes! The Marine Science Series features ten weekly engaging lessons aligned with Next Generation Sunshine State Standards, providing the opportunity for students to take a deep dive into marine science and understand how living organisms, such as manatees and coral reefs, are connected. The lessons are offered in a live, virtual format and led by educators from Manatee Lagoon or The Reef Institute. As an alternative, a package of recorded lessons is also available here. The goal of the program is to educate students about the importance of marine conservation and inspire the next generation to preserve and protect the environment for future generations.

Dates: Stay tuned for Fall 2022 details. Lessons will be offered once a week during the timeslot selected during registration. Each lesson will be approximately 20 minutes long with an additional 10 minutes for questions.
Audience: This program is designed for fifth grade students. Classes with a minimum of 10 to a maximum of 30 participating students may register for any timeslot. Individuals or groups of any size (up to our system’s capacity) may register for the Tuesdays @ 1 p.m. shared timeslot which can accommodate multiple bookings and will be hosted on the WebEx Events platform (additional details on WebEx Events can be found below under “Additional Information”).
Cost: The program is free with an option to make a donation to support The Reef Institute’s mission.
Registration: Space is limited. Advance registration is required to reserve a weekly timeslot for the 10-week live series. Late registration will be accommodated based on availability and will enable participation in the remaining lessons beginning the week after registration is completed*.
Topics: Below are the standards-based lessons that will be covered each week.

• Week 1: What is Marine Science?
• Week 2: What is a Hypothesis?
• Week 3: Crustaceans
• Week 4: Erosion
• Week 5: Tidal Pools and What Lives in Them
• Week 6: What is a Marine Ecosystem?
• Week 7: What is Coral?
• Week 8: How is it All Connected?
• Week 9: Virtual Field Trip to The Reef Institute or Manatee Lagoon
• Week 10: Virtual Field Trip to The Reef Institute or Manatee Lagoon

*Please note, the start date for late registrations may change depending on staffing availability. After registering online, late registrants will be contacted by the Manatee Lagoon team directly to confirm the date of their first live lesson.

Additional Information:

• To register, teachers will select the day of the week and timeslot for their weekly lessons. The lessons will be held on the same day and time each week. 
• Live lessons can be presented on the Google Meet or Zoom platform (up to 30 participants maximum) by sharing a link for our educators to join (links will need to be provided at least 1 hour in advance to the Manatee Lagoon team), or on the WebEx Events platform hosted by the series partners, unless otherwise requested in the registration process. Our team will review platform requests outside of Google Meet, Zoom or WebEx Events on a case by case basis and determine if we are able to accommodate. Registrations are subject to cancellation if we are unable to accommodate the alternative platform request. 
• Live lessons presented on Google Meet or Zoom will allow students to interact with our educators via web cam, chat and microphone as facilitated by their teacher. For live lessons hosted on WebEx Events, students will interact with our educators by asking questions only through a Q&A chat box. Student and teacher web cams and microphones will be set to off/mute.
• Teachers selecting Google Meet or Zoom are responsible for sending the link each week to the designated email address listed in their registration confirmation/receipt at least 1 hour before the start of their weekly lesson for the presenter to join at the scheduled time. If the link is not received on time, the lesson may be missed and cannot be rescheduled. 
• Teachers selecting WebEx Events will be sent a link to join each weekly lesson by the Manatee Lagoon team by the Friday before each weekly lesson begins. We kindly ask that you check your school’s network policies to ensure you are able to access WebEx Events in advance of the first session. 
• If any of the live lessons fall on a day where school is out of session, if a lesson is missed due to connectivity issues, or if severe weather or another unforeseen issue prevents our educators from presenting, lessons cannot be rescheduled for an alternate day. For private timeslot bookings, teachers will be provided with a recorded version of the week’s lesson in place of a live lesson.
• Although each live lesson is led by an educator from Manatee Lagoon or The Reef Institute, teachers must remain present throughout the duration of the live lesson to assist with monitoring questions for our educators.