Education - Resources
Project STEAR

BACKGROUND
Project STEAR (Shipwreck Training Education Archaeology Research) is an educational program developed as part of the Pennsylvania Lake Erie Underwater Preserve project whose mission is to identify, interpret, and protect our underwater cultural resources.

The educational component of this project consists of an activity guide including hands-on learning opportunities designed to promote math and science skills, environmental awareness and stewardship, and to motivate and inspire you through scientific exploration.

The project is a cooperative effort of the Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies, Mercyhurst College, Pennsylvania Sea Grant, Divers' World, Lakeshore Towing, and Texas A&M Institute of Nautical Archaeology.

INTERACTIVE FLASH PROGRAM - Project STEAR
(Please be patient, this is a large file and will take some time to launch.)
Dive into Lake Erie History! Throughout this fun interactive program you can learn about Lake Erie's maritime history from a ship's last voyage to the present day efforts to preserve and protect these valuable underwater cultural resources.

EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
Educators! Give your students the chance to play the role of a 19th century sailor on an high seas adventure or allow them to investigate the wrecks lost to the rough seas of Lake Erie as an underwater archaeologist. Using the Ship's Log and the Research Log, which can be downloaded below, your students can take on these exciting roles as they interact with the STEAR CD.

• Ship's Log
  
  

  Ship's Log Teacher's Guide to Ship's Log

  
  
• Research Log
  
  

  Research Log Teacher's Guide to Research Log

The following lesson plans will help you give your students great hands-on opportunities to further explore the concepts introduced in the Project STEAR CD Program. Each lesson plan corresponds with a different section within the program.

• Lake Erie: Weather Woes
  Your students will learn how to tell the direction of the wind, wind speed using the Beaufort scale, and how they influenced sailors' lives on board ship.
  
  
• Diving: Under Where? Underwater!
  Your students will learn about scuba diving and demonstrate the properties of buoyancy by creating their own Cartesian Diver.
  
  
• Shipwrecks: Lost Ships!
  Your students will learn about the Dean Richmond shipwreck by researching and retelling the story of the ship and crew through constructing a shipwreck mobile.
  
  
• Research: Shipwreck Sleuth!
  Your students will learn about the research and preservation of a shipwreck by mapping their own debris field like underwater archeologists do.
  
  
• Shipping: Skills of a Sailor
  Your students will learn about navigation at sea as well as how a compass works by building their own with simple materials in the "Where am I?" activity.

PROGRESS TO DATE

• Created Project STEAR (Shipwreck Training Education Archeology Research) and educational outreach program for school aged youth
  
• Established a US Coast Guard approved mooring system on six popular shipwreck sites near Erie, PA
  
• Completed part one of a systematic survey of the Lake Erie Floor using side scan sonar, directed by the Institute of Nautical Archeology at Texas A&M. Two wrecks were located.
  
• A teacher training workshop was held in June 2003 to introduce ten teachers to scuba diving and create lesson plans for their classrooms relating to the underwater cultural resources in Lake Erie.