Soundscapes

Dive below the surface of the water with your students and discover the secrets of underwater marine soundscapes! Through this innovative program built from Marine Mammal Foundation’s world-leading acoustics research, students will learn about the importance of marine soundscapes, and how this knowledge can be used to inform our understanding and conservation of threatened environments. Students will explore the biophony, geophony, and athropophony of local marine environments, and what this can tell us about the health of marine ecosystems. Through a one-of-a-kind practical activity, students will listen to real marine soundscape acoustic recordings to identify the presence and absence of Burrunan dolphins across a series of locations, the sounds which may threaten this critically endangered species, and collate and interpret data to understand how soundscapes can be used to protect marine environments.

This program provides assessment opportunities for students, with all assessment data provided to teachers upon completion of the practical activity.

This program requires the use of digital technology, 

*This program is suited for Level 5-6, Level 7-8, Level 9-10

*This program is suitable for delivery as

• Classroom incursion

• Online webinar

• Define and develop an understanding of marine soundscapes including the biophony, geophony, and anthropophony.

• Describe and demonstrate the methods used by marine mammologists to study marine soundscapes.

• Work collaboratively or independently to collect, record and interpret marine soundscape acoustic data, and collate and graph data following provided methods.

• Develop critical thinking skills by interpreting data and making conclusions about the collated data.

• Communicate and present findings on the marine soundscapes using scientific language, highlighting biophony, geophony, and anthropophony, and how this information can be used for evidence-based conservation.

View Curriculum Links

Download Program PDF

MMF’s Soundscapes program is a classroom incursion delivered as an interactive lecture-style presentation with hands-on practical activity. Following an approx. 30-minute introductory presentation, students will be tasked with completing a practical activity where they will be provided with a marine soundscapes data set. Students will work collaboratively to complete the practical activity, listening to soundscapes recordings and collecting and collating data, and once completed a closing consolidation will allow students to share findings and demonstrate knowledge. 

Digital technology, including laptop/tablet and headphones are required for this program. A practical assessment activity is included in this program, and can be completed during the incursion session, or as a follow-up activity.

This incursion can be delivered in a classroom or presentation space. MMF requires an interactive SmartBoard or projector/screen to deliver this incursion.

MMF can tailor program content to meet your curriculum learning needs, so please speak with an MMF Educator if you require specific content development.

For further information, please see the MMF Policies page.

Additional learning resources are available for purchase for this program to enhance your student learning experience.

Please contact MMF to purchase.