ShoreZone in the Classrooms: Education and Outreach Applications

ShoreZone images can help elicit a conversation about a place and help share observations, place names, and traditional knowledge. The imagery and mapped data can also be used in the classrooms to support geography, science and social science courses. Two case studies from the North Slope of Alaska will exemplify those uses. A film workshop took place in Kaktovik and Point Lay on the North Slope of Alaska in 2012. The 'Sense of Place' project connected youth and elders using film as a tool to document traditional knowledge of the coast. Along with the BOEM North Slope ShoreZone imaging and mapping project, a one-week film workshop took place to engage students and support them to make a film about their coast. In 2013, the ShoreZone team visited the North Slope Borough School District (NSBSD) in Barrow, who were implementing changes to the curriculum to include the Iñupiaq Learning Framework. A Coastal Ecosystems Unit has been developed for the NSBSD Middle School Science Teachers for students to explore the interdependency between animals, their food, and the environment. ShoreZone provides a great tool to engage communities in a conversation about their coast and to support teachers with their education activities.