1979 Snorkelling classroom notes

The pedagogy was original

The idea of combining snorkelling with the new Qld Multistrand Scince Syllabus was an original idea by Bob Moffattm however the content was based on ideas from a great book called the Joy of Snorkeling, An Illustrated Guide Paperback – by Herb Blount and Steve Taylor (Author)   - you can still buy it on Amazon now.

For example, Bob used the concept of snorkelling to 

• Teach pressure and its affect on human physiology by getting students to feel it in the ears in a pool first and then teach the science concept or
• Teach microorganisms (infection), circulation and core body temperature, from the pain of a coral cut infection or shivering when all the students got out of the water.

The less academic kids of Gladstone responsed well but it was difficult to get the ideas down on paper. 

The 2020 snorkelling set of notes evolved from these very rough ideas but the concept of combining science with human feelings seems to be lost in the modern curriculum - probably cause you can't feel it on a smart phone tick toc video!!!

Publication was a nightmare

The notes were run off on a gestner machine.   

A set of masters was typed onto a waxed sheet which was positioned onto the machine.  Ink was then squeezed thru the wax paper and into foolscap (!) sheets of paper.

You can see how the difficult it was to draw with the stylus on pages 3 and 4!!

Acknowledgements

GOSP stood for the Gladstone Oceanographic Studies Program and was the brainchild of David Kopelke and Bob Moffatt in the late 1970's.  

Funding before GOSP came from the Gladstone SHS P and C associaiton who supplied funds for masks, snorkels and fins.