Natural Europe Educational PathwaysSofoklis SotiriouEllinogermaniki Agogi

Example of Educational PathwayThe Loggerhead Sea Turtle (caretta caretta) scenario

Preparatory PhaseThe teacher is visiting the Natural Europe portal and collects information about the loggerhead sea turtles (worldwide distribution, path of their travel, Life history, creation of the nest, length of incubation, dependence of the gender of the hatchling to the temperature of the sand)The teacher plans a visit to the Cret@quarium and to the Natural History Museum of Crete. 4 loggerhead sea turtles leave there. Teacher contacts the museum staff and explores the different possibilities and the demonstration opportunities. The information is available on the Natural Europe PortalThe teacher contacts Archelon, an organization that aims to the protection of loggerhead sea turtles and is located on Zakynthos Island. They are locating satellite transmitters on the turtles and they follow their route for a long period of time. The data are available on the Natural Europe Portal.

Teachers scenario for the educational visit and the different sources of information

Pre-Visit PhaseTeaching Phase 1: Question Eliciting Activities

Provoke curiosity: The teacher tries to attract the students attention by presenting/showing to them appropriate material from the Natural Europe Portal.Define questions from current knowledge: Students are engaged by scientifically oriented questions imposed by the teacher.

Teaching Phase 2: Active Investigation

Propose preliminary explanations or hypotheses: Students propose some possible explanations to the questions that emerged from the previous activity. The teacher identifies possible misconceptions.Plan and conduct simple investigation: Students give priority to evidence, which allows them to develop explanations that address scientifically oriented questions. The teacher facilitates the process.

Digital Content to facilitate the teaching process Anatomy of the Loggerhead sea turtle (hint legs, paddle-like front arms, arrangement of scutes etc.)

Worldwide distribution of Loggerhead sea turtles and the path they travelMigratory Route of Florida Loggerhead Sea Turtles Migratory routes: the red lines indicate some possible migratory paths that different individuals may take

Atlantic Loggerhead Sea Turtle Recovery Plan The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, www.fws.gov

The ecology and life history of sea turtles

(creation of the nest, length of incubation, dependence of the gender of the hatchling to the temperature of the sand etc)Annual Total Nest Counts for Loggerhead Sea Turtles on 27 Florida Index Beaches, 19892007

Taxonomy and classification (Loggerhead sea turtles in Greece)

Sea turtle orientation and navigation (magnetic field of Earth)How do hatchling sea turtles find the sea? How do turtles navigate to specific locations? The Earths magnetic field A recent study demonstrated that, if juvenile turtles are captured in their feeding sites and transported to a distant site, the turtles will attempt to swim in the direction of home even if placed into an arena where they cannot make progress toward the goal (Avens and Lohmann, 2004).

Fragile ecosystems Sea turtles play key roles in two ecosystems that are critical to them as well as to humansthe oceans and beaches/dunes. If sea turtles were to become extinct, the negative impact on beaches and the oceans would potentially be significant.

Wave detection by turtles(orientation to ocean waves)How can turtles detect wave direction? Hatchlings can evidently determine the direction of wave movement by monitoring the sequence of accelerations that occur as waves move through the ocean. Such an ability is presumably useful for animals that enter the ocean at night and must guide themselves seaward in almost total darkness. Although sea turtles are the only animals known to detect wave direction in this way, a similar ability may exist in other migratory ocean animals such as fishes.

Visit PhaseTeaching Phase 3: Observation and experimentation Gather evidence from observation: During the visit teacher divides students in groups. Each group of students formulates and evaluates explanations from evidence to address scientifically oriented questions.

Teaching Phase 4: DiscussionExplanation based on evidence: The museum educator gives the correct explanation for the specific research topic.Consider other explanations: Each group of students evaluates its explanations in light of alternative explanations, particularly those reflecting scientific understanding.

Satellite tracking of sea turtles (in Greece, Cyprus and the Mediterranean)Projects of the Marine Turtle Research Grouphttp://www.seaturtle.org/mtrg/ARCHELONs turtles from Greece Loggerhead turtles from Cyprus 2006-08

Satellite tracking of Eleonoras path (302 days of travel)

Travel path of asea turtleA project of the Islameta Group, Dept. of Biology University of PisaReal image of the sea turtle Eleonora How does a global satellite-based location and data collection system work?Transmitter

Conservation of sea turtles Threats of survival

At Sea subsistence and commercial exploitation fishing pollution boat collisions Nesting beaches sea defences quarrying/mining pollution noise - general beach Noise-airport disturbance lightroads and illegal buildings beach obstacles food (eggs eaten by man) sand compaction drainage

Natural Threats Human induced impacts Hatchlings predated by fox This sea turtle has lost a flipper to a shark, and cannot dig a nest to lay its eggs.

Post-visit PhaseCommunicate explanation: Each group of students produces a report with its findings, presents and justifies its proposed explanations to other groups and the teacher.Consolidation - Exploration: The teacher is making questions and assigning tasks aiming at consolidation of the acquired knowledge. Students are discussing further issues.

Human induced impacts at seaF I S H I N GFishing lines kill sea turtles (not hooks!) It is estimated that at least 6000-8000 Mediterranean sea turtles are caught by fishing activities every year (Demetropoulos) Radiograph D/V of a juvenile green turtle that had been caught on a fishing line. Note the distance between the hook and swivel associated with the line.

Human induced impacts at seaMARINE DEBRISSea basedLand based

Human induced impacts at seaPOLLUTIONBEACH ACTIVITIESARTIFICIAL LIGHTS

Human induced impacts at seaNOISE AIRPORT DISTURBANCETimes Daily Mail20-06-1995Zakynthos airport location & runaway

Human induced impacts at seaCOASTAL ARMORING & SAND MININGZAKYNTHOSK E F A L O N I A

Latest News & Research Update (endangerment, upcoming events, activities etc)Chinese fishing boat arrested with 400 sea turtles on boardMay 8, 2007 - KALIMANTAN, INDONESIA www.wildlifeextra.comFishing Technology Letting Turtles Off the Hookhttp://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=144081In the United States, the federal government worked with the commercial shrimp trawl industry to develop Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs).Loggerhead escaping through a TED

Entertainment (activities, tutorials, fun facts etc)How to draw a loggerhead turtle (caretta caretta) in 8 easy steps!Sea turtle paintings, art