{"id":255,"date":"2002-12-15T14:36:00","date_gmt":"2002-12-15T19:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=255"},"modified":"2024-06-24T19:46:46","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T23:46:46","slug":"sea-view-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/sea-view-teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea-View: Teachers’ Window into Barrier Island Processes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
It’s early in the morning as East Carolina University professor Stan Riggs stands on a wooden platform and surveys the towering sand dune at Jockey’s Ridge State Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before trekking up the beige dune imprinted with shadows and hundreds of footprints, Riggs encourages a group of teachers and students to “envision how much sand they will push down.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A lot of people go up this hill each day,” says Riggs, a North Carolina Sea Grant researcher. “When you climb the dunes, think of the process and envision the volume of sand you are pushing down. If you put 10,000 people on the hill and each one goes up and down five times, the human force becomes a significant part of the dune dynamics. We are pushing down the dune.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the years, Riggs says, the dune system at Nags Head has shrunk in size from 156 feet in the 1950s to 90 feet today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The erosion of Jockey’s Ridge is just one lesson that Riggs imparts to North Carolina high school science teachers and students during a North Carolina Sea Grant workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During an eight-day visit to the Outer Banks, Riggs takes 10 teachers and eight of their students from across the state to view barrier island processes and conflicts, including the severely eroding shoreline at South Nags Head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was fascinating going to South Nags Head,” says Flo Gullickson, a Southwest Guilford High School science teacher. “We found a home with an exposed septic system. You could smell the raw sewage. There were lots of sand bags. Some of the homes at South Nags Head are falling in the ocean.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teachers and students will incorporate the lessons into earth science materials for North Carolina high school teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Funded by North Carolina Sea Grant, the “Sea-View” materials will relate to the curriculum goals set in the N.C. Standard Course of Study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the 2000-2001 school year, every entering freshman has been required to complete a course in earth\/environmental science for graduation. This makes North Carolina one of only two states in the country to have an earth science graduation requirement, according to Bill Tucci, high school science consultant at the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“North Carolina has become a model for the whole country,” adds Tucci.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, there is not a good textbook available for earth science teachers, according to the project’s principal investigator Karen Dawkins. “Earth science books focus primarily on principles of geology with little attention to environmental topics,” she adds. “There are probably few issues more critical than those related to our marine and coastal resources.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A team of high school teachers and students, university faculty, and experts from various state agencies will develop Sea-View earth science lessons that will be in print, on CD-ROM and the Web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To learn about barrier island dynamics, teachers and students investigated issues at five coastal sites: the stabilization at Oregon Inlet, overwash on N.C. 12 between Avon and Buxton, estuarine shoreline erosion at Nags Head Woods, ocean shoreline erosion and urban development at South Nags Head, and dune migration at Jockey’s Ridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n