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salinity, water colour, water and air flow, whether the tank has been fed and any other observations that they think are important (for example, the behaviour of the animals).


Before we know it, links to nearly all areas of study, including


science, language arts, social studies, math and personal planning, begin to emerge. As students meticulously log information each day, their observational skills are honed and they begin to notice


4. Community Connections The students primed by the Seaquaria are exceptional


resources for contributing to environmental awareness in the community and even community planning. As one example, I received a phone call from the manager of our local Community Center who informed me that the center was planning its first neighborhood celebration. Since some of their daycare students were on the Seaquarium Marine Team at the local school, he won- dered if we could set up a display at their event. In short order, students, staff, parents and community


educators worked together to refurbish and set up a Seaquarium at the Community Centre. Grade six and seven students then introduced several hundred visitors to the weird and wonderful creatures they had been studying all year. Our youth were the centre of attention. At the end of the day, one of the students com- mented, “I didn’t know how much I knew, until I realized that I could answer a lot of questions from adults who didn’t know as much as I did”. Since then, Seaquaria displays hosted by university, high


school and public school students have continued to draw enthu- siastic crowds not only at Vic West Fest, but also at conferences and other public venues throughout Victoria. A second example is the development of important links be-


Thinking like an ocean. oject by grade 6 students, Lansdowne Middle School, Victoria, B.C.


connections. Soon they begin to submit articles to the school newsletter, make announcements on the PA system, offer guided tours to teachers and younger students and start training the next teams, so that the entire school community becomes aware of the exciting events happening in the aquarium.


anxious elementary school student greets me. Their on their lumbering but lovable Sea Cucumber. What


d Joseph”, a younger, but experienced student who act in times of emergency. They say that they will


k.


2. A Picture Book Project Picture book projects have been very successful and power-


d rinse their hands well, so that they don’t introduce reach into the tank, and gently remove the cucumber


e cucumber is safe. Joseph has gently rescued their ll and compassion, placed the anemone into a bucket


wonder if they should send their anemone to the too big and aggressive to live in their Seaquarium.


one, a high level predator with stinging tentacles, em in their tank.


ful learning tools at all grade levels, because they allow students time to carefully observe, gently touch, and get to know animals and plants from their seaquarium, in a very personal and respect- ful way. Only after doing their own observations do they begin their research about the natural history of the creature they have chosen. They quickly realize that it’s not always easy to find answers to their questions, and that they might actually be the one to discover something that’s seldom, if ever, been seen before. This particular project was especially powerful because stu-


dents used their self-published books to teach others about what they had learned. In this way, the Seaquaria program also helped develop students’ leadership and reading skills. We still use these books as classroom resources, and can’t begin to count the num- ber of adults who have read them when they are on display at public events. The most common comment is “I had no idea....”


3. Liaison with field trips The fit between Seaquaria and complimentary field pro-


grams of the “Living Watersheds” was a natural one, and the two have worked together ever since. New networks of community partners have provided innovative expertise and resources that make the classroom presentations and field studies relevant and exciting. The connections between the classroom and the outside


world have parallels with the connections between the aquarium and the ocean, and bringing the enhanced sensitivity and knowl- edge of the Seaquarium teams into established field programs has remarkable synergistic effects.


CLEARING 2010


tween schools and their neighbourhoods, which often extend into the global community. We had been working with local teachers to develop a simplified mapping project which would help our students become better acquainted with their neighbourhood and to share this knowledge through their maps. As they walked the shoreline in their community, they recorded observations about features ranging from the temperature, salinity and turbidity (sus- pended particles) of the seawater at various locations, to aspects of Indigenous cultures and natural history along the waterway, and determining compass direction based on local land features and the position of the sun. At the same time, the local community centre was embark-


ing on a “Community Mapping Project”, in which local residents identified assets and areas of concern in their neighborhood as a basis to determine a long term vision for their community. They wanted to involve students at the local elementary school in the process, and get their input. After talking to the teacher and see- ing the high quality work the students had done, the community association invited students to a community mapping workshop to teach adults about the important work they had been doing.


The result: on a beautiful spring day potentially full of other


fun activities, several students presented their work to a gym full of adults from their community, proudly led them on a guided tour of their shoreline community, and highlighted the important features they had discovered on their journey that year. Some of their work has been incorporated into the “Victoria


West Visions Map,” now prominently on display throughout the neighbourhood, and published by Ground Works (www.lifecy- clesproject.ca/reso urces/map_vic_west.php). It is a glowing ex- ample of the networks that open up as we offer opportunities for our youth to become engaged in the natural world around them.


Assessment of Seaquaria in Schools


When we began our journey, our basic premise was that the simple learning of facts does not necessarily translate into knowl-


(continued) www.clearingmagazine.org/online Page 15


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