Students participate in NOAA Federal Oral History Grant for third consecutive year
In our continuing partnership with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Federal, the Upper School science classes at Admiral Farragut Academy recently participated in the NOAA Federal “Fishermen of the Greater Tampa Bay” Oral History Grant for the second time this year (and the third consecutive year).
This past Saturday, April 8th, 20 students from the Science Department interviewed four local fishermen and gathered information to benefit the Voices from the Fisheries Database, which attempts to document the human experience with the marine, coastal, and Great Lakes environments and living marine resources.
Upper School Department Chair and science instructor, Sari Deitche, is happy with the growth of the NOAA program on campus and how it includes all of the marine science classes as well as allows for other science students to participate. Mrs. Deitche reported that this past Saturday, students from her Bio Honors, AP Bio and Marine Science classes all participated in the program, as well as fellow science teacher, Mr. Barnes and his Marine Science classes.
“The students enjoy hearing about the history of Tampa Bay and will come back to tell me about what they learned,” Mrs. Deitche explains.
“Storytelling is still an important part of our classroom learning, as it connects the students to the stories through emotions in a way they cannot always feel through textbooks and slideshows.”
“It is important for the students to still learn the skills needed to ask open-ended questions needed for interviews,” Mrs. Deitche continues. “They become too comfortable with texting and emails. This grant gives them the opportunity to practice interviewing someone they do not know and keeping that conversation going for 30 minutes. That is a long time for these students when they cannot look anything up on Google, and they do a great job!”
