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From:TheBahamasWeekly.com Community
While schools are closed and everyone is embarking on social distancing, the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) has put together a selection of educational resources that can keep kids engaged and learning about the waters around us. Utilizing its digital platform, BREEF is sharing these fundamental school programmes to help students, teachers, and parents as they adjust to learning from home. The Virtual Coral Reef Field Trip (VCRFT) is a multimedia kit developed by BREEF to teach Bahamian students about the coral reefs that can be found around every Bahamian island. This virtual field trip covers the content that students need to learn for BGCSEs and BJCs. BREEF produced the film and Educators Guide in response to Bahamian teachers requesting educational resources that would assist them with overcoming the challenges they faced, teaching about life beneath the waters. Taking students out to observe a real coral reef requires students to know how to swim, or at least be comfortable in the water. This is something not very many Bahamian students know how to do yet.
“The virtual coral reef film is awesome! It kept the kids engaged and effectively delivers the message. This is a fun and exciting way to help kids learn about the ocean around them.” - Cheng Bee Selim, Bishop Michael Eldon School, Grand Bahama. “I like that movie. I felt like I was in the water with the fish.” - Kamryn Morris, age 6, Gambier Primary School “BREEF has created handy virtual tours of our marine environment that we can all learn from and enjoy...So please, as we sit out our 24-hour curfew these next few days and weeks, do capitalize on this opportunity to explore our Bahamian underwater ecosystems from the comfort of our homes.” - Sonia Neely, South Andros High School “Thank you so much for sharing your online resources. We really enjoyed watching them. We are meeting with the Eco Club today to see what we can do with the students online at this time… these are certainly great options.” - Viviane Proffitt, Lyford Cay International School. The VCRFT has also been used by schools that have either been impacted by hurricanes or are unable to participate in the two-month hands-on field studies block that BREEF hosts every spring and fall. The VCRFT toolkit consists of a 25-min short film, a “Life on the Bahamian Coral Reef” poster and a teacher’s guide with Interactive extras and student worksheets. To access the VCRFT, one can visit www.breef.com. Once on the homepage, click on the ‘What We Do’ tab and then click on the ‘Virtual Coral Reef Field Trip’ tab. "The Virtual Coral Reef Field Trip is a fantastic resource to introduce young people to the beautiful Bahamian coral reefs- without leaving their houses. It's a great introduction to life beneath the waves and is designed to inspire curiosity and an interest in learning more about coral reefs that provide us with so many benefits." - Casuarina McKinney-Lambert, Executive Director, BREEF. The Virtual Coral Reef Field Trip was created by BREEF with a grant from the Atlantis Blue Project Foundation. Additional support from the Lyford Cay Foundation, Moore Bahamas Foundation, and individual BREEF donors has enabled BREEF to use this resource to reach even more students around the Bahamian archipelago. The VCRFT toolkit along with other educational tools are readily available at www.breef.org. “During these challenging times students, teachers and parents throughout The Bahamas are invited to utilize BREEF’s free curriculum-based online resources which are updated frequently with new and engaging programmes”
- Kevin Glinton, Education Coordinator, BREEF
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