Dear Educators,
The main focus of Ben Lecomte’s swim across the Pacific Ocean is one of education and understanding. Ben hopes to inspire the next generation to cut down on their plastic usage, have a better understanding of the impacts our actions have on the environment, and understand why he is swimming across the Pacific Ocean.
This educational project is based on the scientific protocols the citizen scientist crew are conducting on this expedition. The lesson plans follow the same basic principals scientists are using to understand oceans health and the effects the intense physical exercise has on Ben’s body during The Swim.
Each Lesson Pack centers around a unique and fun scientific part of the Swim and are targeted towards middle school students. While the lesson plans are middle school levels, they contain a range of discussion questions and activities that can be applied to different levels and grades throughout k-12.
With these lessons students will be able to:
- Better understand the impact plastic has in the ocean
- Understand the many ways water can be analyzed and how these results can be interpreted when thinking about scientific and environmental protocols
- Understand the day-to-day activities of running an expedition like The Swim.
- Better understand the heart and the medical protocols in the swim.
We hope your classroom enjoys these lessons and is inspired by Ben and the Swim. We had fun compiling them and hope that you have fun in turn!
Enjoy!
Pamela Perrimon
Science Communications and Educational Coordinator