Group projects provide meaningful opportunities for students to develop social skills, strengthen critical thinking, and reinforce reading, writing, and math concepts. Floreo can serve as the basis for group projects, whether they are conducted in a classroom, summer camp or other learning environment. Here are a few ideas that will help you use one or more of the many nature videos in Floreo as the foundation for a week-long project. The project outlined below is designed for elementary-aged students, but the same concepts could be adapted for older Learners.

Start by telling the class they are going to use Floreo to help them become ocean scientists. Let them know that in the video they are about to watch, they will see: penguins, seals, sharks, dolphins, turtles, fish, octopuses, and rays.

Port the Coach view over to a larger screen, such as an Interactive White Board or a computer monitor. In this project, all the Learners will watch Wild Seashores in the VR headset and on the larger screen while other Learners are using the VR. (This video is about 7 minutes long, so you may want to break the group into groups of 2-3 students so that the waiting time to wear the VR headset is not unreasonable.)

After all the Learners have had a chance to watch the video, assign each Learner to a team: Team Penguin, Team Seal, Team Shark, Team Dolphin, Team Turtle, Team Surgeonfish, Team Octopus, and Team Ray. If you have fewer than 8 people in your group, you can combine animals into one team or omit some animals from the project.

Ask your Learners to make guesses about which animal swims the fastest, which animal hides the best, and which animal travels the farthest. Each team will research its animal. (Knowing how to formulate a question and input it into a search engine is an important skill! Make sure your Learners are as independent as possible when formulating those questions.)

In addition to the questions listed above, ask your Learners to research and record the habitat of their animal, what body features this animal has, how that body feature helps in their survival, how that animal moves, and any special behavior that that animal exhibits. While they are researching, each team might find some of the other nature videos informative.

Penguins: While there are no other Floreo videos that feature penguins, there are a few that feature other birds. You might have your Learners on Team Penguin watch Flight With Animals or Enter A World Of Birds. Discuss how penguins are like or unlike other birds.

Fur seals: There are other types of seals featured in Facing Winter and in Arcadia.

Sharks: Sharks are one of the animals your Learners will find in Giants Of The Sea. They are also mentioned in Reptiles and Marsupials.

Dolphins: The Floreo lesson Dolphin is rather short, but dolphins can also be found in Giants Of The Sea, Beaches, and Flight Over Animals.

Turtles: Your learners will find turtle information in Shells & Skins, Beaches, Arcadia, Flight Over Animals. and Wild Tropics.

Surgeonfish: At this time, the only place Surgeonfish are featured is in Wild Seashores, yet there are plenty of other fish in Giants Of The Sea and Cold-Blooded Creatures.

Octopus: Similarly, the octopus is only featured in Wild Seashores, but your Learners might also be interested in exploring Giants Of The Sea.

Mobular Rays: Arcadia discusses Stingrays. Mobular Rays and Stingrays are both cartilaginous fish.

Have your group come together and compare and contrast habitats, features, movement styles, and special behaviors. You might consider making graphs and using visuals to display the animals on the graphs.

Your final activity might include some animal riddles, such as the following:

• I waddle on land and swim like a rocket underwater, wearing a black-and-white suit wherever I go. (Penguin)
• I rest on rocks, have fur and whiskers, and love to splash, swim, and dive in the sea. (Seal)
• I glide through the water with sharp teeth and a powerful tail, and some of my kind can swim in rivers too. (Shark)
• I use clicks and whistles to talk with my friends and work together to find food. (Dolphin)
• I carry my home on my back, travel long distances, and glide slowly through the ocean. (Turtle)
• I swim in schools, dart through the water, and sometimes hide among reefs and rocks. (Fish)
• I have eight arms, can squeeze into tiny spaces, and am an expert at hiding. (Octopus)
• I flap my fins like wings and glide so smoothly that it looks like I’m flying underwater. (Ray)

By observing animals up close in virtual reality and experiencing their habitats in an immersive way, students can build deeper connections to the content and retain what they learn more effectively. Moreover, the social interaction opportunities that can be gained from these types of group activities are truly invaluable.