The whale school

The Whale School is a project designed to educate students from kindergarten to university about whales and their habitat in Iceland.  

Each student is expected to visit the Whale School three times during their kindergarten and primary school years: once during the pre-school stage, and twice in primary school, in 2nd grade and 5th grade. 

This approach ensures that students receive tasks tailored to their abilities and developmental stages, gradually building their knowledge at the Whale School over time. 

The youngest students get
simple tasks are designed around learning through play and observing the environment, while the same students are later given more complex tasks.  as they get older, based on the knowledge they have acquired previously in the whale school.

In the first stage For the oldest kindergarten students, the Whale School includes a visit to the Whale Museum and related activities in the classroom. Teachers prepare for the visit by providing basic education about whales, sometimes taking the students for a walk to look over the bay, the home of the whales, and showing pictures of the main whale species. At the museum, the education is light and fun, with the goal of making learning enjoyable. Students encounter memorable facts, such as how a tiny newborn baby can fit into one nostril of a blue whale's blowhole. 

In the second stage For 2nd grade primary school students, the Whale School includes a visit to the Whale Museum, a beach trip with the museum's educational representative, and classroom activities. Teachers prepare by providing introductory education about whales, sometimes taking students for a walk to view the bay where whales live and showing pictures of the main whale species.

At the museum, education is primarily light and fun, and the goal is to learn in a fun way. Students get to know something that is hard to forget, such as that the heart of the blue whale is as big as a small car. Projects are then completed after the visit in collaboration with art and crafts teachers, who in addition to the supervising teacher are in charge of the projects. 

In the third stage For 5th grade elementary school students, the Whale School program spans three days, similar to previous years. On the first day, students receive education at the museum. The second day involves a whale-watching trip. On the third day, students work on processing the information they’ve learned, possibly in a dedicated workspace at the Whale Museum, and continue their work at school as needed. Preparation for the field study begins in advance, often integrated into English and natural science classes, where students learn about the main whale species in Iceland, their diet, and feeding behaviors.

Fifth level: In the middle of January 2013, the Húsavík Secondary School started spring lessons in Science English inside the museum, where students work on group projects related to whales.