For teachers: teaching resources

This page brings together educational resources on cetaceans for teachers in primary schools, in the collège (lower secondary) and in the lycée (upper secondary). The cetace.info site is designed as a scientific encyclopaedia for a general readership, but its contents lend themselves well to teaching sequences in SVT (life and earth sciences), in French, in history and geography, in visual arts and in EMC (moral and civic education). Here are a few ways of using them.

Cycle 3 (CM1, CM2, 6^e), understanding the living world

A sequence in SVT

Cetaceans are an excellent way into the fundamental concepts of the curriculum:

• Mammals or fish?: an observation session: why is the whale a mammal despite its appearance? Cross-checking with the characteristics of mammals (warm blood, lactation, lung breathing).
• The classification of living things: placing cetaceans in the tree of life. Possible use of our page The land ancestor of cetaceans.
• Adaptation to an environment: how did a land mammal become marine? A case study in evolution over 50 million years. See our Evolution page with its interactive timeline.
• Food chains: cetaceans as predators at the top. The “whale pump” and the regulation of ecosystems (see the video devoted to it).

Cycle 4 (5^e, 4^e, 3^e), science and society

SVT and EMC combined

• Biodiversity and anthropogenic threats: case studies of the vaquita, the extinct baiji and the right whales. The role of human activities (bycatch, noise pollution, microplastics). See Microplastics, Military sonar, Vaquita, Baiji.
• Animal communication and intelligence: a debate on the ethics of captivity. The cases of Tilikum and of J35 Tahlequah. Links to our pages on cetacean intelligence and signature whistles.
• Human pressure on the oceans: a study of the development of whaling (see our page) and of the 1986 moratorium. How did science contribute to changing policy?

Lycée: cross-disciplinary topics

SVT / SVT-EAT specialism

• Macroevolution: the land to sea transition of cetaceans, one of the best documented cases. Work based on the publications of Gingerich and Thewissen.
• Physiology of adaptation: dive bradycardia, rete mirabile, muscle myoglobin. See our pages Sperm whale diving and Rete mirabile.
• Animal communication and cognition: the work of Diana Reiss, Vincent Janik and Hal Whitehead. See our encyclopaedia of researchers.

French / literature

• A study of the literary imagination: Moby Dick, Jonah, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. How have cetaceans marked literature? See our page Cetaceans and human culture.
• Creative writing: an account of a day in the skin of a sperm whale, a letter to a whale, the logbook of a 19^th century whaler.

History and geography

• The history of whaling: the whaling ports (Nantucket, Bayonne, Sandefjord), the Basque fleets, industrialisation in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. A history of the world maritime economy.
• Marine geography: the sanctuaries (Pelagos, AGOA), the watching areas, international regulation. A good way into the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Suggested activities

Educational outings

• A supervised trip at sea: operators certified HQWW (High Quality Whale Watching) in the Mediterranean, to watch fin whales and striped dolphins. Best between June and September. See our page on the labels.
• Educational museums and aquariums: Océanopolis (Brest), Nausicaá (Boulogne-sur-Mer), Musée Océanographique de Monaco, Cité de la Mer (Cherbourg). All offer school programmes.
• Rescue centres and associations: visits are possible with Souffleurs d’Écume (Var), Pelagis (La Rochelle) and the Aquarium de La Rochelle.

Class projects

• “Symbolic adoption” project: the class sponsors a whale or a dolphin through photo-identification programmes (WDC, Cape Cod Center). Regular follow-up of the individual.
• Citizen science: collective use of OBSenMER or Happywhale. How can pupils contribute to science?
• “Let us cut down our plastics” project: an audit of the class’s plastic consumption, concrete measures, follow-up over a term.
• Audiovisual production: pupils create a short documentary on their favourite cetacean, drawing on the contents of the site.

Resources ready for classroom use

Contact for school sessions

If you would like to organise a scientific session in class, several French associations offer sessions led by specialists, sometimes free of charge for schools. The most active are:

• Souffleurs d’Écume (Var), sessions in Provence and online talks.
• Miraceti (Marseille), sessions in the Mediterranean.
• Réseau Cétacés (national), awareness raising, exhibitions, teaching kits.
• Observatoire Pelagis (CNRS, La Rochelle), school programmes with RNE correspondents.

---

Further reading