Education: Program Objectives

One of the main goals of the Sea Turtle Program is to involve schoolteachers and pre-service education majors in active conservation and management activities in order to:

  1. Teach scientific methodology, scientific process skills, scientific documentation, and educational techniques,
  2. Provide a suite of classroom teaching resources, and
  3. Build a regional citizen advocacy group for conservation of sea turtles and other endangered species.

Program Goals
Specific educational objectives of the St. Catherines Island Sea Turtle Conservation Program were established to integrate with conservation and research goals in the Program to allow a series of educational outcomes:

  1. To provide a holistic, interdisciplinary, hands-on, field experience in which pre-service and in-service teachers may actively participate to enhance their scientific literacy and serve a real societal need.
  2. To model a scientific method of inquiry and replicate the processes of contingency in science, notetaking and scientific writing using real-world applications of threatened and endangered species.
  3. To revise and illustrate "Sea Turtle Intern's Handbook,' and beginning work on Handbook for Natural History Researchers," a manual which will be usable at all educational levels in Georgia.
  4. To provide content and supporting materials enabling teachers to transmit information and motivate school children in science and mathematics.
  5. To evaluate the transference of scientific, mathematics, and cognate content in classroom curricula.

The implementation of the program involved establishment of measurable objectives, establishing funding partners, defining expectations through the use of a syllabus, advertising and selecting participants, and evaluating the outcomes of the program. Specific program objectives have been developed for "Conservation, Research, and Education," in The St. Catherines Island Sea Turtle Conservation Program.

Project Objectives

    Georgia Department of Natural Resources Monitoring Objectives [Mandated]
  1. Monitor beaches on a daily basis to locate new nests; validate by digging; document.
  2. Cover and mark all nests within a twelve hours of their deposition.
  3. Assess potential success of each nest site and relocate low probability nests.
  4. Survey the position of each nest with GPS.
  5. Monitor, document, and control daily events and predation of all sea turtle nests.
  6. Assess hatching success for each nest by post-emergence digging.
  7. Patrol daily for beached sea turtles or marine mammals; and document them.
  8. Develop a management plan for nests deposited on St. Catherines’ beaches.

    9. St. Catherines Program Research Objectives
  9. Select nests for daily monitoring and observation to develop nest histories.
  10. Develop research projects supporting sea turtle conservation and paleontology.
  11. Document stratigraphic and sedimentological parameters of sea turtle nests.
  12. Develop strong and robust undergraduate and graduate research and educational outreach programs.

    13. Educational Objectives linked to Georgia Standards & Learning Framework
  13. Provide a holistic, interdisciplinary, hands-on, networked field experience in which pre-service and in-service teachers can actively participate to enhance their scientific literacy while serving a real societal need and building a learning community.
  14. Model a scientific method of inquiry and replicate the processes of contingency in science through note taking, critical thinking, scientific writing using real-world applications of threatened and endangered species.
  15. Model the Learning Cycle and networking within a Learning Community.
  16. Provide content and supporting materials enabling teachers to transmit information and motivate school children in science, mathematics, and other cognate areas.
  17. Develop a strategy for delivery of content-rich, field-based science education via electronic technologies.
  18. Evaluate the facilitation of scientific, mathematical, and cognate content in classroom curricula.
  19. Integrate experiential learning, book learning, and content provided by scientists, educators, and veterinarians into a comprehensive knowledge base for teaching.

These objectives and outcomes are evaluated on an annual basis by direct feedback from teacher-interns using a 59-question evaluative instrument with affective and cognitive components. Input is used to modify the program on an annual basis.