PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON SEA TURTLE BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION. Mazatlan, MEXICO. March 1998

«TELEMATICS FOR TEACHER TRAINING - SCIENCE AND EDUCATION: “EUROTURTLE” - A MEDITERRANEAN SEA TURTLE BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION WEB SITE FOR SCIENCE AND EDUCATION»

Roger HC. Poland1, Linda Baggott2, Lily Venizelos3

1Biology Department, King‘s College, Taunton, Somerset, UK TA13DX. 2School of Education, University of Exeter, Heavitree Road, UK. 3Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles - MEDASSET, c/o 24 Park Towers, 2 Brick Street, London, W1Y 7DF, UK.

ABSTRACT

This paper shows how a wealth of material on the biology and conservation problems of Mediterranean sea turtles can be made easily accessible and fully cross linked, and so be used effectively to teach in an interesting and interactive way via the Internet.

The site, called “EuroTurtle”, presents valuable information in a variety of different formats and there is a strong emphasis on education and learning. There are overviews of all sea turtle species, sections on the threats to turtles in the Mediterranean, identification keys and even an adventure game involving a loggerhead turtle trying to lay her eggs on a popular Greek island frequented by tourists. Two of these sections have been validated by trials with children and graduate students.

The “EuroTurtle” Web Site could act as a model for other environmental groups who wish to use the Internet for their awareness programmes.

Keywords: WWW; Internet; conservation; “EuroTurtle”; education; T3; initial teacher training; turtle; MEDASSET; environment; web design

INTRODUCTION

The concept of a database for Mediterranean Sea Turtles arose when the Biology Department at King’s College carried out two large scale conservation expeditions involving pupils aged 17-18 to the Mediterranean (Poland, R., Hall, G. & Smith, M. 1996). Work carried out during these field trips illuminated the difficulty of finding and co-ordinating information about turtle conservation. The “EuroTurtle” web site came into existence in 1996 and is a joint project between the University of Exeter’s School of Education, the Biology Department of King’s College, Taunton (Somerset UK) and MEDASSET - Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles. The site resides on the information server of the University of Exeter and can be accessed at http://www.exeter.ac.uk/MEDASSET. “EuroTurtle” has a strong emphasis on Environmental Education and has been included as part of the EU funded Telematics for Teacher Training (T3) project directed by Prof. Niki Davis. Through the T3 project, teachers across the European Union will be able to adopt telecommunications and new technologies in schools and universities. It is establishing courses for teachers within a growing consortium of universities and commercial services, and these will continue to develop beyond the millennium.

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND AWARENESS

As far back as 1968 at the Biosphere Conference (UNESCO, Paris) the basic outlines for Environmental Education were formulated using all local, national and international experience and expertise available at that time. Since then, environmental education has developed significantly but has not yet resulted in its expected final goal, which is a general change of attitude and practice toward the environment (Cerovsky 1996). Cerovsky has suggested that this partial failure has been due to the rather abstract appeal of some educational programmes. The Internet has a major role to play in making environmental education less abstract and more exciting and the “EuroTurtle” approach aims to achieve awareness through interest, excitement and communication.

AIMS

The aims of “EuroTurtle” are to: ⇒ provide accurate and wide ranging scientific information for serious scientific projects and to educational groups at all levels. ⇒ promote environmental awareness and education via the Internet. ⇒ provide a cheap and effective information site with the emphasis on easy and exciting information retrieval. ⇒ to keep close links with conservation groups, universities and involved inter- governmental bodies. ⇒ to enhance information flow between conservation groups, individuals, education and other scientific bodies.

DESIGN OF THE “EuroTurtle” WEB SITE

From the outset, the material was designed for use via the Internet and not simply transferred text from traditional sources of information. Many of the earlier web sites were largely composed of text files adapted to run via the web, with very little interaction or interest. Sampling the Internet has been likened to drinking from a high pressure hose - lots of water but difficult to swallow! Well designed web sites should make good use of the available technology yet ensure that access to the information is simple and intuitive (DO-IT Brochure Guidelines, 1997; Guide to good practices for the WWW author, 1997). Links between pages should be comprehensive, allowing for a high degree of cross-linking and referencing.

CONTENT

With these design principles in mind, the aim was to make the pages of “EuroTurtle” interactive and dynamic and to give the user the feeling that information and feedback are readily communicated. The site therefore presents valuable information in a variety of different formats designed for learning. The Department of Biology at Glasgow University, monitor the quality of the scientific data and all pages are proof read and corrected accordingly for accuracy and content.

Information is presented in the form of high quality graphics, animation, sound clips, photographs, work sheets, diagrams and a keyword search engine. Data has been provided by a recent King’s College Expedition to four Mediterranean nesting sites (July, 1996) and much of the scientific information has been provided by MEDASSET, an international non-governmental organisation whose ultimate goal is to stop and eventually reverse the decline of the Mediterranean Sea Turtles through

research, publicity, political liaison, public awareness and environmental education. Within the web site is a special Education section designed to help teachers use “EuroTurtle” in the classroom. Work continues on a comprehensive scientific reference section and plans are in hand to translate the web site into the major European languages. As a pilot Environmental program for “EuroTurtle”, the students of The Fourth Alimos High School in Athens have translated the Adventure game into Greek. The “EuroTurtle” web site is being trialed with students from the Old Malthouse School in Dorset, UK., Hale School in Perth, Australia, School of Education, Exeter University, UK., and the American Community Schools in Athens, Greece.

1) ADVENTURE GAME: One section of the “EuroTurtle” web site contains an exercise in the form of an interactive “snakes and ladders” type game in which participants take the part of a female Loggerhead turtle chancing all the threats and hazards of modern turtle life in the Mediterranean in trying to get to a nesting site to lay her eggs. Use of graphics, sound and animation enhance the overall experience of playing the game (Thornton , 1996).

2) IDENTIFICATION KEY: One section of this major database contains identification keys which enable students and scientists to identify the 8 endangered species of sea turtle. The aims of this key exercise are to - ⇒ learn to identify sea turtle species from photographs, descriptions and diagrams; ⇒ teach the principles of dichotomous keys and biological classification in a meaningful way- thus stimulating an interest in Ecology and Conservation; ⇒ learn to use the information-gathering opportunities of the Internet as a teaching, learning and scientific resource; ⇒ learn to use the communications opportunities of the Internet (email) and its value as a device for information transmission in a rapidly expanding world community.

3) SPECIES OUTLINES: This section attempts to give an overview of the world’s sea turtles with an emphasis on the three endangered Mediterranean species.

4) BONE KIT: Here users can see detailed drawings of the sea turtle skeleton.

SUMMARY AGAINST AIMS/ACHIEVEMENTS

“EuroTurtle” has been trialed and evaluated in a number of schools and Universities. Initial results clearly indicate the value of the site in environmental education and awareness (Poland, R., Baggott, L.M.1997, Poland, R., Lee, H., Baggott, L.M. 1997). An account of a trial and evaluation of the “EuroTurtle” Adventure Game and Identification Key can be seen in Poland and Baggott, 1997 and Poland, Lee and Baggott, 1997, respectively.

Close links have been developed between “EuroTurtle” and key conservation groups, Universities, teachers and students from all over Europe and the World with significant contributions from MEDASSET, Exeter, Glasgow and Utrecht Universities, the KMTP (Kefalonian Marine Turtle Project) and conservationists in Italy, Greece and the USA. Work will continue on construction and evaluation of “EuroTurtle” well into the next millennium.

LITERATURE CITED AND INTERNET REFERENCES

Cerovsky, J., President, ECOPOINT Foundation, Czech IUCN(1997), Raising Environmental Awareness through Education. URL: http://www.hol.gr (then use keyword turtle in search engine).

DFE. (1995) Science in the National Curriculum. Department for Education, Welsh Office. Pages 18, 30 and 42.

DO-IT Brochures: Universal Design of World Wide Web Pages (1997). URL: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~doit/Brochures/universal.design.html

“EuroTurtle” Web Site. (1996) Educational page for Adventure Game. URL: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/telematics/EuroTurtle/eduav.htm

Glasgow University - Cyprus project. URL: http://www.gla.ac.uk/Acad/IBLS/DEEB/cyprus/turtle.html

Guide to good practices for WWW authors. (1996). URL: http://www.man.ac.uk/MVC//SIMA/Isaccs/toc.html

MEDASSET. URL: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/telematics/EuroTurtle/medas.htm or http://www.hol.gr/greece/medasset

Poland, R., Baggott, L.M. (1997) Use of an Educational and research Internet database (EuroTurtle) in Initial Teacher Training. CAL97 International Conference Superhighways, Super CAL, Super Learning. Conference Proceedings Abstract No.175a p30-37. ISBN 85068 188X.

Poland, R.H.C., Lee, H. and Baggott, L.M. (1997) EuroTurtle - use with school pupils of an interactive key for biological identification. CAL97 International Conference Superhighways, Super CAL, Super Learning. Conference Proceedings Abstract No.175a p420-421. ISBN 85068 188X. Prize for Best Poster Presentation.

Poland, R., Hall G. & Smith, M. (1996) Turtles and Tourists: A hands-on Experience of Conservation for 6th Formers from King’s College, Taunton on the Ionian Island of Zakynthos. Journal of Biological Education, Vol. 30, No.2 pages 120-128.

Telematics for Teacher Training Project (T3) (1996) Details on the WWW. URL: http:// www.exeter.ac.uk/telematics/T3/

Thornton, P. (1996) Technical Considerations for Interactive Web Pages. Available on request to P.Thornton, School of Education, Exeter University, Heavitree Road, Exeter. EX1 2LU, UK. ( this paper will be available on the WWW later this year). email: [email protected]