Distance Learning Program: Marine Mammal Training
National Standards met:
- Content Standard C– Organisms and Their Environment
- Content Standard C– Regulation and Behavior
- Content Standard F - Populations, Resources, and Environments
- Content Standard F - Science and Technology in Society
FL. Next Generation Standards met:
- (The Practice of Science) SC.912.N.1.1
- Common Core Standards (Vocabulary) acquisition and use 6-12 4 a, b, c, d 5 a, b, c and 6
Ocean Literacy Principles met:
- OLP 1.a, c, d, e, f, g, h
- OLP 5.a, b, c, d,e, f
- OLP 6.a, c, e, f, g
- OLP 7.a, b, c, d, e, f, g
(Other state standards upon request)
Content:
An experienced marine mammal trainer/educator will lead students through a fun and informative demonstration and discussion of the following with the help of some of DRC’s amazing dolphins
- Discover a dolphin’s unique personality and explore and understand the concepts of how and why we train animals and the importance of building strong, trusting relationships
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Discover principles behind Operant Conditioning and how we use it with our dolphins
- What is operant conditioning?
- Positive stimulus: conditioned and unconditioned reinforcers
- Non reinforcement
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Observe & Review Training Techniques/Tools and Applications
- Bridging
- Behavior Chains
- Symbols
- Target poles/targeting
- Pinger
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Observe & Discuss Methods of Training
- Direct Manipulation
- Opportunistic Training
- Modeling
- Shaping (approximations)
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Discover Careers with Marine Mammals
- What are the typical pathways for a career in training
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Marine Mammal Conservation
- Why understanding animal training helps us better understand dolphins in the wild
- Natural & human caused threats in the wild
- Conservation efforts you can do at home to help dolphins and your environment
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Participate in a question and answer session at the end to get at those “always wanted to know” questions.
