Dear all, My name is Kara Johnson and I am a graduate student at College of the Atlantic. I have written a marine science curriculum that developed out of my thesis project about marine mammal distribution and oceanographic processes. I am seeking high school teachers around the Gulf of Maine that would be willing to pilot and evaluate my curriculum this coming winter. The project is designed for grades 9-12 but can easily be applied to marine education camps or other informal education venues where the instructor has extended time with the students; it is composed of six parts and is expected to take approximately one week. This project is an on-line curriculum for high school students around the Gulf of Maine that uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to teach about oceanography and whale distribution. Within the curriculum, students role-play different people that would be involved with issues regarding whale threats in the Gulf of Maine. In the first four sections, students use the Internet to read and research answers to questions in a logbook. The four sections cover the Gulf of Maine's physical shape and important features, the plants and animals in the Gulf, data collection techniques for oceanographers and whale biologists, and GIS technology. The students then use an on-line GIS in the last two sections where they analyze whale and oceanography data to create maps that support their solution to a scenario regarding whale threats in the Gulf (the teacher selects a scenario from a few options). I have mapped the lesson plans to State (of Maine) and National Teaching Standards and included numerous marine resources regarding the Gulf of Maine. In addition, there are extensions throughout the lesson plans for teachers who would like to go more in-depth on certain topics. I would greatly appreciate your participation in this pilot program. I have more detailed information about the project for those interested; please contact me via email kjohnson@coa.edu. The curriculum would be on a CD (the website is not yet functional). The teacher and class must have Internet access, and the teacher must be willing to fill out an evaluation form that I will use to revise the curriculum. If you are around Downeast Maine, I would also like to come to the classroom and observe the lesson plans in action. Thank you for your interest, and I look forward to hearing from you. Kara Johnson Graduate Student Allied Whale/College of the Atlantic kjohnson@coa.edu 203-535-7652