The Seattle Aquarium
Student Ocean Conference
Students' Comments | Field Trips | More Conference Photos!

Introduction

The first-ever Student Ocean Conference was a terrific success, and paved the way for other interactive, educational, and exciting conferences to follow in its footsteps! On November 6th and 7th, 55 high school students, and teachers, chaperones, and federal employees gathered at the Seattle to participate in the pilot conference. Highlights of the conference included field trips involving boat trips, use of a Remotely Operated Vehicle, and a role-playing session with NGS Explorer in Residence Dr. Sylvia Earle; a sleep-over with night education programs at the aquarium, and an up-close Q&A session with Dr. Earle.

An evening session around the touch tank.

Evening Activities

The 1½ -day conference was kicked off with a pizza party and an evening of interactive demonstrations led by the aquarium's staff and Battelle Memorial Institute staff. Students engaged in 30-minute sessions including: 1) experiments testing the effects of burying CO2 in the deep sea - a potential technique for reducing the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere (the students found that leaked CO2 would significantly alter the pH of the surrounding ocean water); 2) gathering water samples to investigate and identify the types of plankton in the local water column; and 3) observing as Battelle divers conducted a quadrant sample, an important technique in marine management, on the floor of the aquarium's giant fish tank. In addition, the students made fish-print painted shirts, with all materials and staff time donated by Battelle, and ended the evening's activities by gathering around the marine mammal exhibit for a behind-the-scenes viewing of the sea otters' nighttime feeding.

Sunrise and Thereafter

Shortly after breakfast on Tuesday morning the students were welcomed by the Executive Director of The Seattle Aquarium, Mr. Bill Arntz. Mr. Arntz highlighted the three-faceted role of aquaria in our communities: 1) they're fun, and 'hook' people into learning, 2) they provide a unique dimension of education - for an entire range of age groups, and 3) they inspire folks to ask questions. Mr. Arntz challenged the students to be inquisitive during their field trips and their afternoon session with Dr. Sylvia Earle. These questions, he said, stimulate students, researchers, and coastal managers to examine perspectives that otherwise might not be considered.

Field Trips (Top)

The students divided into six field trips (see descriptions), led by Coastal America's federal partners, the City of Seattle, and National Geographic Society:

1. Marine Protected Areas discussion and role playing - sponsored by the Olympic Coast NMS
2. Preventing and Responding to Oil Spills - sponsored by District 13, US Coast Guard
3. Protecting and Restoring Wetlands, sponsored by US Army Corps of Engineers
4. Protecting and Restoring Salmon, Chittenden Locks, City of Seattle
5. Restoring the Duwamish, sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency
6. Exploring the Ocean, sponsored by the National Geographic Society and NOAA.

Session with Dr. Sylvia Earle

The students reconvened at the aquarium for an afternoon session with Dr. Sylvia Earle, Ocean Explorer and one of National Geographic's seven Explorers in Residence. Dr. Earle's address was inspiring and powerful, and covered a range of conservation and ocean-related topics. Students had the opportunity not only to hear her tales, but also to engage her with questions and opinions of their own.

In 1991, Dr. Earle had the opportunity to visit Kuwait directly following the conflict in that country. The world in Kuwait was literally ablaze, and everything appeared to be destroyed. But at the side of the road, Dr. Earle told the students, was a functioning, thriving anthill. This, she said, was a real cause for optimism. In the midst of a worldly inferno, nature was alive. Dr. Earle thus began her talk with a note of celebration about the resilience of nature. On the one hand, this gives her hope, but on the other hand she warned that we can't be casual about the enormous impact of human influences. It's time, she said, to give the natural systems a break, a chance to recover. From her perspective, it will not be conservation that causes a collapse of an economy, but rather the failure to start conserving before it's too late.

Dr. Earle then invited students to ask questions or contribute perspectives of their own:

Q: Where is her favorite place to dive?
A: Everywhere - there is something intriguing, exciting, or amazing to be seen everywhere in the underwater environment.

Q: How did she get involved in ocean exploration?
A: At the age of three she was knocked over by a small wave in NJ; that wave made a lasting impression.

Q: There's so much bureaucracy right now, how does she see that we can make a difference?
A: First, we have to be hopeful, and next we each have to do our part. In the end, it comes down to the individual.

Follow-up

Based on the tremendous feedback of this first Student Ocean Conference, the Seattle Aquarium intends to integrate the Student Ocean Conference into their overall Coastal Ecosystem Learning Center education program. The conference provides a unique and exciting opportunity for students to interact with, and learn first hand from, the professionals that they themselves might someday become. The conference provided the students an opportunity to meet peers who are interested in marine science and conservation, to interact with the professionals who are making conservation happen, and to meet one of the most renowned marine figures of their era. It is likely that they will remember this experience for years to come, and it is hoped that they will draw inspiration from what they learned as they become the new leaders of our nation.

Top

Students' Comments | Field Trips | More Conference Photos!