Title of the resource
Title of the resource in english
Publisher
Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute
According to the publisher, "the webpage for the Curricular Resources of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute allows users to search for thousands of curriculum units in STEM and the humanities. These units were written by Institute Fellows in local seminars in New Haven led by Yale University faculty members between 1978, the year the Institute was founded, and 2019. These units are readily adaptable for use throughout pre-college grades.
Users can browse and search for these units using keywords, our topical index, and our listings of units by year and by volume. The topical index might be especially useful to audiences of your project interested in curriculum units about mythology, Ancient Greece, and other subjects related to Antiquity.
URL: https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/
For similar content, see also the Yale National Initiative
URL: https://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/search/start "
Original language
Target and Age Group
High school
Link to resource
Dolphins and Whales In Mythology
Accessed on 3 August, 2020
Author of the Entry:
Ayelet Peer, Bar- Ilan University, ayelet.peer@biu.ac.il
Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Lisa Maurice, Bar-Ilan University, lisa.maurice@biu.ac.il
Second Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Susan Deacy, University of Roehampton, s.deacy@roehampton.ac.uk
Deborah Lynn Turnbull
Deborah Lynn Turnbull is part of a group of seventy-nine teachers from New Haven, who organised seminars on topics related to curriculum developments between March and August 1983, including one on The seminar entitled “Greek and Roman Mythology”, led by William G. Thalmann, Associate Professor of Classics from USC
Contents & Purpose
This unit focuses on myths related to dolphins and whales. The lessons involve reading of the texts, with accompanying ancient pictorial representations of whales and dolphins. The unit explains the ancient (and modern) navigation by stars.
The unit develops critical thinking on natural and ecological issues as well. The creator provides introduction to cetacean from different aspects, biological and cultural.
The activities involve mainly reading and discussion. Amongst the ancient texts are: the Homeric hymn to Dionysus, myth of Arion from Herodotus, Poseidon and the dolphin.
The unit provides 3 lesson plans samples, bibliography and teacher resources (local libraries, the Connecticut Cetacean Society and more)
Further comments
This unit connects the ancient myths and culture with current ecological themes, especially connected with sea creatures. It shows students that marine life was well known in ancient times. This unit stresses the importance of dolphins and whales and bridges between the past and the present by examining these creatures from myth to modern biology. It focuses on appreciation the natural world, the seas and the stars and connects human and nature.
