Monterey Bay Aquarium
I have been very inspired lately by virtual museums. Throughout this blog, I have focused mostly on virtual versions of brick and mortar museums. This post will focus on a museum of sorts, the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has numerous live cams that focus on living habitats of sharks, otters, penguins, even a kelp forest, and much more.
There are many opportunities to watch aquatic wildlife while also learning about said wildlife. The website has an entire area with learning activities that can be led by parents or teachers. Many of the activities span a week or more, some less. There is even an area that has ideas for project based science. Those projects are conservation based and lend great ideas on how people everywhere can get involved with ocean conservation.
Apart from the lesson plans there is another area that is strictly about beach and aquatic habitats and the inhabitants of those areas. You can find more information here the detail on the habitats is worth taking a look at. I hope you have enjoyed a different aspect of virtual museums. After you take a look at the Monterey Bay Aquarium links I think you will agree that their program has a great deal of value and material that can be incorporated into instructional design.
-Mandy
Now I just spent the last 30 minutes watching all the live cams at the Monterey Bay Aquarium! But for real, thanks you for all the tips on these virtual museums and zoos! You have made my family happy. I had to tell my son to go away because I have school work to do! Your posts have brought a new out of the box way to spark his curiosity and love of animals. The Zoo here in El Paso is opening back up soon, he is extremely excited! I have a feeling I will be keeping these websites for a long time! Thank you for your posts!
ReplyDeleteAndy D.
Andy, I spent a couple hours on there the other day. The Otters are hilarious! I am glad you guys are having fun with this. It is a great way to escape from zoom for a little while :)
Delete-Mandy
Mandy,
ReplyDeleteLike Andy my daughter and I just spent a ton of time watching sharks and penguins. We have just scheduled a trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore as a result, because you can’t tough the sting rays in the live videos. I combined the live cams with some play using an augmented coral reef on Jig Space (Thanks Tammy). I added a few flash cards that I built in PowerPoint to help my little angel expand her mental schema for fish and birds. A great time was had by all! Thank you for another fantastic museum experience!
Mike W.
Mike, I love the National Aquarium. I have not been in about 10 years but the one time I did go they had a Beluga Whale with its Calve. I thought that was the most amazing thing. My daughters have grown up listening to me sing the Baby Beluga song to them and to actually see one in person was awesome. Your family will love it :)
Delete-Mandy
Mandy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the excellent links and information about this very cool technology. Now that I have spent an hour watching live cams of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I am probably behind in my studies. It was worth it though as I really enjoyed this website. I cannot believe how far technology has come over the years. This technology is relevant with the current pandemic situation we face in society. I feel like for our high-risk population to COVID this is an excellent way to experience something that they might not be able to do in person. All jokes aside I am beginning to think this might certainly be the way of the future for all of society. A society where we never have to leave the house. Groceries and restaurants to your door and now you can save money, and see things like aquariums without leaving your house. The future will be much different as we move forward with these kinds of capabilities. Great post and thanks again! Have a great day!
Kevin
Thank you Kevin :) sometimes we have to get that break away from the books. I tend to agree with you, for our high risk COVID populations there is nothing better than to still be able to learn without having to physically be in the place of learning.
Delete-Mandy
Mandy,
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome link...I am easily distracted with lights let alone aquatic animals. I am curious if funding has dropped significantly for these museums due to the pandemic? I noticed each link you provide there is donation link. I think normal funding comes from state and federal agencies but with all these different websites and alternative means to watch and learn what a museum can provide do they still receive contributions and if they do...is it more or less?
v/r
Andy E.
Andy, from what I understand funding had dropped off so to keep the animal cams going they have been asking for donations. It has been that way for zoos and other aquariums right now as well. I only found one virtual museum that was having people pay for virtual classes and that was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You pose an interesting question. An article came out in April about some museums not being capable of staying open when all of this is over. The link is here https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/arts/design/how-do-you-close-a-museum.html
Deletenot all museums receive the same funding and state funding can fluctuate drastically from year to year.
-Mandy
Mandy,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post and information, very interesting stuff. When you start to think about the educational opportunities this kind of technology could afford us as educators, it is exciting. Taking this technology out of the static museums to places like the aquarium or zoo give a dynamic spin on educational opportunities. I know I have seen situations where classrooms can interact from their desks with scientists in labs and even ISS astronauts in a “virtual guest speaker” type of format. Maybe a blending of these ideas could be beneficial for students in science classrooms to visit with professionals while also exploring laboratories and such. Great post Mandy, thank you.
-Donny
Mandy
ReplyDeleteI love it besides the fact that teachers can get free lesson plans to educate their students its very soothing. I already bookmarked the page so I can leave the live cam on for a calming effect. Its amazing how much content is available I already perused the offerings to see what is available . So many of your posts are great. It provides an outlet to sitting in front of the computer 24/7 doing school work. I can watch a few minutes of touring a museum, a country, or now an aquarium. These videos provide a distraction from COVID, the election, and student pressures. Thanks for your post.
Tammy
Tammy, these have been a break for me as well. I did not realize how much I would miss traveling or physically going into museums. I think the animals are my favorite though :)
Delete-Mandy
Mandy,
ReplyDeleteThis was an awesome find. I really enjoy looking at ocean life but don't want the hassle of taking care of a tank in my house. Plus I live in a desert so no chance I will see any thing around here. Once I had the chance to swim with whale sharks of the coast of Djibouti, Africa. It was an amazing experience, but the travel was long, I'm talking days to get there. The experience only lasted one hour but with something like this you can travel all over the world looking and things from the comfort of your home and for free is the best part. Thank you for sharing.
Mandy,
ReplyDeleteGreat Post. This is yet another interesting way to learn and expand our children’s knowledge during these challenging times. I especially liked the videos about policing up our oceans and the devastating effects that plastic can have on the environment. These videos are very informative and a great way to raise consciousness about ocean conservation. Thanks for another great post.
Alex
Mandy,
ReplyDeleteThese are great finds. I enjoyed watching a few of the live cams. This is a great resource for parents, teachers, and even instructional designers. I visited the "for educators" portion of the website and found the lesson plans they share are perfect for implementing instructional strategies like mediated learning for the appropriate age group. It's as if they do a good portion of the job of an instructional designer for them. An instructional designer would just need to determine where the lessons can fit into the overall lesson plan to meet the learning objectives and they would be well on their way to providing quality instruction. This is also a perfect website for parents that homeschool and teachers to provide science lessons to children. Great find.
Anthony