By Theresa-Marie Wilson
Something fishy was going on in the Grover Beach Elementary School library last week. Third grade students were shouting about sharks, whether something felt soft and gooey or rough and hard, and other sea life. They weren’t flipping through pages of a book or watching a movie about local marine life, they were getting their hands wet, touching live sea creatures, and peering at specimens through microscopes.
The experience was a result of PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant and the Central Coast Aquarium partnership that launched Tide Pools on Tour. The program is an on-the-go marine biology educational experience that focuses on the various ecosystems and habitats that exist off our coastline. It was funded by a $30,000 grant from PG&E, which allows schools to bring the ocean to the classroom for a less expensive rate than bussing children to the Aquarium in Avila Beach.
“This is a really great experience,” said Central Coast Aquarium Executive Director Tara Malzone. “We are super excited to be here. The Central Coast Aquarium has a great marine science education center in Avila Beach, but not all the schools have the budget to afford a field trip. PG&E made it possible for us to bring our animals to the schools. We were able to purchase mobile tanks that stay the right temperature and everything for the perfect environment for the animals.”
The state-of-the-art, mobile touch tanks contain sea life – ranging from hermit crabs to sea snails to mussels to spiny king crab to a small swell shark – that live off of the coast.
“I’ve haven’t seen those kind of spikey things (spiny king crab) up close before,” said 3rd grader Maggie Donato. “I’ve seen them from a far distance, but never touched them. This is a very good opportunity to see these creatures, to learn about them and their life.”
Donato’s classmate concurred.
“I’ve never seen one of those squishy things (sea cucumber) before,” said 3rd grader Molly Gurrola. “I’ve never seen a spiny king crab either. I think it is really cool to be able to see, feel and learn about all of the animals. This is something we don’t usually do at school. This is stuff you wouldn’t usually see out in the wild.
It’s not an everyday thing.”
Grover Beach Elementary School was the first tour experience. The school is an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School. Every IB curriculum throughout the world is focused around six trans-disciplinary themes: Who We Are, Where We Are in Place and Time, How We Express Ourselves, How the World Works, How We Organize Ourselves, and Sharing the Planet. Every grade level explores aspects of every theme, every year. Each theme has a central idea designed to encourage the students to think critically and ask questions.
The Tide Pools on Tour was part of the Sharing the Planet unit of study that has the central idea that humans share a responsibility to maintain the balance of organisms and their environment.
“It allows for the study of organisms in our own backyard, such as the creatures from the aquarium visit today, ladybugs on our playground, and the butterflies in Pismo, but also organisms throughout the world,” said IB Coordinator for Grover Beach Elementary Petra Reynolds. “It speaks to the idea that it is our responsibility as global citizens to help all living organisms maintain a balance with their environment.”
Educational information for Tide Pools on Tour is provided to the students by Aquarium staff and is specific to grade levels and areas of study or interest pertaining to sea life, marine biology, and a deeper appreciation of our ocean environment.
“We bring the live animals and artifacts to the school and they get to have a hands-on experience,” said Central Coast Aquarium’s Director of Programs and Husbandry Lesley Stein, who also holds a master’s degree in marine biology from Cal Poly. “When they get to touch a live animal it is kind of engrained into their mind, and they remember an experience like that. I want them to be little ocean stewards, to be interested in the ocean, educated about the ocean, and be mesmerized and passionate about it.”
The lessons learned go beyond ecosystems and habitats in a way that encourages care and conservation for marine life and resources. The students said they would think about sea life differently from now on.
“I never knew most of this stuff before,” said Gurrola. “You shouldn’t touch them or take them out of the water because it could hurt them.”
“I will think about the creatures that I saw in school,” said Donato. “I’m not going to bother them or poke at them because I might hurt them.”
Central Coast Aquarium is located at 50 San Juan St. in Avila Beach. The Tide Pools on Tour experience starts at $250 for an hour of hands-on education. For more information, visit www.centralcoastaquarium.com or give them a call at 595-7280.