National Park Service "Views" the Chesapeake Bay with a New, Online Education Tool
The National Park Service (NPS) features the Chesapeake Bay for its latest edition of Views of the National Parks, an online educational resource. Views is a great resource for anyone looking to learn more about the Chesapeake Bay, and is a valuable tool teachers can use in their classrooms!
The Chesapeake edition of Views of the National Parks is a joint project of the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office in Annapolis, Maryland, and the NPS Natural Resource Stewardship & Science program in Fort Collins, Colorado. This resource provides readers with a background in the natural world of the Chesapeake, its geologic formation as an estuary and its diverse ecosystems and species, as well as an understanding of the human history and cultural environment of the Bay watershed. Chesapeake Views also describes how the Bay environment has changed over time and how individuals can become involved in restoring and protecting the Bay.
With such a wide range of topics covered, the Chesapeake edition of Views can be used by environmental science, earth science, geology, biology, history, and social studies teachers alike! Teachers can use Views as an education module by developing questions for their students to answer as they explore the sites content. Views is also a great resource to send students to for independent research projects.
A “Visit” section highlights some of the many places to experience the Bay and to learn more. This section can help teachers identify locations for possible Chesapeake Bay field trips. Numerous photographs, pop-up sidebar text, maps, a glossary, and links to additional resources are among a variety of teaching tools that are available on the website.
“Partners in the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network, together with the Captain John Smith Chesapeake and Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trails, offer educators, students, and visitors meaningful avenues for learning about the Chesapeake”, said John Maounis, NPS Chesapeake Bay superintendent. “Now, supplemented with the Chesapeake module of Views of the National Parks, citizens have the tools they need to better understand and participate in the protection of this vital resource.”