Introduction

Operation Pathfinder Institutes took place in the Pacific region between 1994 and 1999. These institutes – collaborative undertakings of the University of Hawaii Sea Grant Pacific Program, the Pacific Mathematics and Science Regional Consortium at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, and the region's departments and ministries of education were intended to provide upper elementary and middle school science teachers with an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the marine environment and to develop strategies for effectively utilizing the oceans and coastal environment as a teaching tool. Each institute was an exciting and intense two weeks of laboratory and field experiences and related classroom activities. Participants had opportunities to develop lessons, share ideas with other teacher participants, and receive resource materials to take back to their classrooms.

A major goal of the institutes was participants' increased awareness and understanding of oceanography and coastal processes. This was achieved by building the institutes around six major themes:

• physical processes that shape our island coasts – wind, wave action, currents, tides, and water quality;
• habitats – reef flats, tide pools, sandy beaches, lagoons, and coastal plant ecosystems;
• plate tectonics – the dynamics of the Pacific plate that affect all of us, deep sea trenches, and the hot spot theory;
• deep ocean resources – current research and technology to look at open ocean fisheries and deep ocean geology;
• marine pollution – point and non-point sources in the coastal and open ocean areas;
• living marine resources of the Pacific islands – larger marine animals through tide pool invertebrates, predator/prey relationships, and regional fisheries.

Participants in all five institutes took part in laboratory activities and fieldwork to increase their knowledge in these areas. They also had an opportunity to interact with scientists conducting island rainforest and marine research in the Pacific.

The adaptation and development of instructional materials was the second major component of the Pathfinder Institutes. Participants, working with science education specialists, developed materials for use in their classrooms upon returning home. These materials were built around the Pacific Standards for Excellence in Science (Pacific Mathematics and Science Leadership Team, 1995), and reflect important science presented in a context appropriate for and of interest to Pacific island communities. The units found in this publication are a selection from the materials developed during the institutes. It is hoped that they will be used in classrooms in the region and elsewhere, as well as serve as examples that demonstrate the development of instructional units that build upon the Pacific context to further standards-based teaching and learning in science.

The Pathfinder Teaching and Learning Units and the institutes themselves would not have been possible without the enthusiastic support of numerous agencies and individuals across the region including scientists and other resource people, departments and ministries of education, and the participants themselves. The institutes would also not have taken place without assistance from the Department of Interior's Office of Insular Affairs, the National Ocean Partnership Program grant to the University of Southern Mississippi from the Office of Naval Research, the University of Hawaii Sea Grant Pacific Program, and the U.S. Department of Education's support through Pacific Resources for Education and Learning. This support enabled more than 200 teachers to participate in the program, leading to an increased use of the marine environment as a tool for teaching science and to this publication.