International Ocean Day at the German Oceanographic Museum
The German Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund initiated a number od activities, indoors and outdoors, to celebrate the International Ocean Day, 8 June. The main focus was the "Year of the Dolphin". The museum research team on Harbour Porpoises in the Baltic gave visitors an insight into its work. Activities for children such as making models of dolphins or checking out some hands-on biology to experience the difference of specific catacean species were well received.
The “Info-Workshop on Dolphins”, based on the multilingual educational guide “All about Dolphins” published by the CMS Secretariat, was a major attraction. The idea of this workshop was to look at a few aspects of the original manual and to create some practical tools so the children could learn not only by reading but also by getting actively involved. Under the supervision of the museum’s staff the children developed four “tools”, which they could then use to answer some follow-up questions and a test with questions that could be easily answered when using the tools.
The first tool was a two-dimensional model of the fin-flipper-fluke quiz. The second was about the Orca and Hector’s dolphin. The Orca and Hector’s dolphin displays had a scale, which indicated their maximum length, so the children could calculate how much bigger the Orca was. Furthermore, they could compare the species by putting the displays next to each other. The third tool consisted of ten cards with a dolphin species on one side and on its common name and characteristics on the other. The fourth tool was a book explaining the process of sending and receiving an echo.
In most cases, parents were so interested that they fully participated and worked together with their children on the test making the workshop to a complete success. The children who were doing the tests also took part in a drawing competition.
Click here to view pictures of the workshop
