Aloha MARMAM Community, The upcoming 2024 Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals (SMM) in Perth, Australia (Nov 11-15, 2024) will be hosting a full-day workshop on Saturday, November 9th entitled, *“SMMILE Toolbox: Building Inclusive Science Education Opportunities”*. See workshop description below:
Science education is an excellent way to communicate science efforts, inspire the next generation of scientists and/or engage with the local community. In an effort to bridge the gap between laboratory-based science efforts and the local community, the Marine Mammal Research Program developed the Summer Marine Mammal Intensive Learning Experience (SMMILE). SMMILE is a 10-day immersive program which provides high school students from Hawaiʻi and American Samoa a unique opportunity to learn about marine mammal research, conservation, and marine protected areas within the framework of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in Hawaiʻi. SMMILE was developed to increase representation of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the field of marine mammal science. The purpose of this marine mammal education workshop will be to provide a “SMMILE toolbox” for scientists, professionals, and graduate students to implement programs in their community. During this workshop, we plan to discuss the following topics: curriculum development, incorporating TEK and place-based learning, funding, and advertising. Education program coordinators from around the world will be invited to present about their respective outreach and teaching opportunities to provide diverse examples of successful programs. Workshop coordinators and invited speakers will lead demonstrations of the hands-on activities included in their education programs. Ultimately, this workshop aims to provide attendees with opportunities to better integrate marine mammal outreach and educational opportunities within their communities. We are seeking educators from across the globe that have led marine mammal-focused programs (for ages K-12) to participate in a panel discussion during the workshop. Ideally, we are seeking representatives from programs focused on engaging participants from historically marginalized communities. The panelist would speak about their program for 10-15 minutes and answer questions from the audience. We aim to have 3-4 panelists for this segment of the workshop. Please reach out to the workshop organizers, Brijonnay Madrigal ( [email protected]) and Kirby Parnell ([email protected]), if you are interested in participating and representing your program at this upcoming SMM workshop. Mahalo, Brijonnay Madrigal & Kirby Parnell SMMILE Toolbox Workshop Organizers -- *Brijonnay Madrigal, *M.Sc. | she/her NOAA Dr. Nancy Foster Scholar Ph.D. Candidate, Marine Biology Graduate Program Marine Mammal Research Program University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa [email protected]
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