• created free classroom activities on marine debris and seabird migrations
  
• provided albatross boluses to 15,000 students from 8 U.S. states, Guam and New Zealand
  
• created formal curriculum using marine animal tracking to teach math and science

Partners with Oikonos

- Kure Atoll Conservancy
- Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary
- Papahunaumokuakea National Marine Monument
- Hawai'i Pacific University
- State of Hawaii, DLNR
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Meghan Marerro
- Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center
- David Liittschwager
- Benica School District, CA
- Barbara Mayer
- U.S. Satellite, Inc.
- C-MORE
- California Coastal Commission

- Over 50 participating schools - elementry through college

- Over 15 participating aquariums and institutions

Announcing the improved classroom activity package:

"Ocean Literacy through the Eyes of an Albatross"

Release Date December 2011

Lesson 1 - Meet the Albatross

Lesson 2 - Migration Connections

Lesson 3 - Protecting Ocean Hotspots

Lesson 4 - Virtual Bolus dissection

Lesson 5 - Campus Debris Survey

These lessons, funded by NOAA, comprise new and modified activities, using inquiry-based science instruction, aligned to CA and HI State standards for grades 5 - 8. They also contain extensions for grades 9 - 12.

Black-footed Albatross on the water over Cordell Bank, Photo Sophie Webb

How are albatross tracked?

To protect albatross, we need to understand how they make a living in the ocean. Yet, they travel too fast and too far to follow them by boat. A small transmitter is taped on a few back feathers. This tag sends a signal to orbiting satellites, which relay the data back to scientists. Basically, the birds email us their location.