SBMM’s Marine Science Education Program Partners with Coral Sea
For the fifth year in a row, SBMM will partner with a local sport-fishing vessel (Coral Sea) this winter (2020) to offer 30 interactive Marine Science classes to Santa Barbara County students. SBMM created this Marine Science Education program to allow predominantly Title 1 schools and underserved youth organizations access to our marine environment. Activities and curriculum for this program are aligned with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) curriculum standards, and they seek to instill in students a love of the ocean and show how care and respect for the Santa Barbara Channel is important for everyone’s future.
During this two-hour class, students explore the Santa Barbara Channel, enjoy a brief voyage out to sea, discuss charting and navigation, observe local sea life in their natural habitat, and work together in groups to https://findventolin.com/ experience coastal California as hands-on scientists. Back at the dock, they sample water quality, tally species collected in an otter trawl, and study micro-organisms and plankton. In addition, they learn about weather/climate and general oceanographic issue. This program is both interactive and engaging so that students not only participate actively, but also feel a connection with science and the ocean that they may never have experienced before.
The Marine Science Program immerses students in hands-on inquiry and involves students in productive teamwork. Providing students with activities utilizing their science and math skills helps motivate them to learn because they understand how this knowledge is useful. It also brings students from varying backgrounds together to achieve common goals and exposes youth from challenged socio-economic backgrounds to an experience they might never have otherwise.
In January/February 2019, the program served 27 classes and over 500 students; 13 classes were from Title I schools and 6 groups were from underserved after-school youth organizations. Students who participated in the program came from Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Santa Ynez, Orcutt, and Santa Maria.