This "Theme Page" has links to two types of resources related to the study of Whales. Students and teachers will find curricular resources (information, content...) to help them learn about this topic. In addition, there are also links to instructional materials (lesson plans) which will help teachers provide instruction in this theme. Please read our disclaimer.

California Gray Whale Tutorial

Lessons include: What is a California Gray Whale? Migration; Feeding; Whaling; Whale Behaviour; and Calving.

Create a Whale of a Lesson

From Education World, this lesson is tied to the September 98 release of Keiko however there are over a dozen cross curricular activities that would be appropriate at any time. Subjects covered include geography, science, language arts, math, and history.

Sea World/Busch Gardens

Information about whales can be found in a number of places within this site, including several sections under "Animal Resources" and "Educational Resources."

TrackStar

TrackStar is an online interface which allows instructors to create lessons for students by sequencing existing instructional content in various web sites within a lesson. Students explore one topic at a particular location within one web site then move on to the next topic at another web site. The list of topics remains visible throughout the lesson so that students can remain on track. Explorations of the web sites beyond the designated instructional content are also possible.

This link is to their search page from where a keyword search on "whales" will produce numerous hits. Caution #1: Many of the web sites that these lessons access may already be on this CLN page - it's the creation of lesson objectives and the sequencing of the tours through the sites that make the lesson potentially useful to your students. Caution #2: The quality of the lessons (e.g., definining objectives, finding web sites, sequencing the tours) will vary widely within the TrackStar collection.

Virtual Whales

Animation and sound clips (plus information) on the feeding behaviour of the Pacific Humpback Whale.

Whale Information Network

Read about whales through history, whale facts, and whale watching guidelines (and more) in their information section. There's also a resources section where you can access a whale sightings database and a whale sightings report.

WhaleNet

"WhaleNet offers, students and teachers, curriculum resources and support, a source of data for interdisciplinary classroom activities, and interactive informational support through WhaleNet/EnviroNet utilizing telecommunications."

Whales and Our Oceans

Here are a set of learning explorations for intermediate students. The site has a series of links to web sites organized under a variety of topics (e.g. whale migration, gray whales). A "task card" will guide the students through their explorations so that there is a purpose for their research.

Whales: A Thematic Web Unit

This web document provides a thematic unit on whales for co-operative learning across an integrated curriculum. This site is an interactive resource for teachers, students and parents. Lesson plans have been developed in Whale Research, Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Critical Thinking.

Whale Songs

The goal of the developers of this site is so that "instructors and students will learn about cetaceans, gain a better understanding of marine research, and hopefully, find ways that they, too, can help save these great creatures so dangerously close to extinction." Included are a number of lesson plans as well as basic cetacean information.

Whales: A Web Directory

A meta list of whale information and research websites.

WhaleTimes Seabed

Find out more about whales in their sections on "Fishin' for Facts" or "Ask SeaDog". There's also a special section just for kids.

World Wide Web Virtual Library: Whale-Watching

A meta-list of links to WWW sites that focus on whales.

Note: The sites listed above will serve as a source of curricular content on Whales. For other resources in Science (e.g., curricular content in Earth Science, General Science, Life Science, or Physical Science), or for lesson plans and theme pages, click the "previous screen" button below. Or, click here if you wish to return directly to the CLN menu which will give you access to educational resources in all of our subjects.