Sharing our science
A pilot coastal science outreach program in Moncton, New Brunswick
By Anne Veniot, Senior Science Advisor, Atlantic Science Enterprise Centre
How does a lobster become big enough for a person to eat? How do sunlight and depth affect marine plants and animals? These are the types of questions a scientist would ask. Answering questions about our coasts and estuaries and the animals that live there is an important part of the work DFO scientists do for Canadians. So as part of the new Atlantic Science Enterprise Centre in Moncton, we’ve started a pilot outreach program to share what we know with junior high students.
We are using animal displays and technology-based activities to give students an opportunity to learn about ecosystems. Students get to observe both preserved and live animals to identify shallow-water species. They also learn about food webs by figuring out who eats who. And we ask students to test water parameters and explore how these affect lobsters.
We can’t bring the ocean into our building, so we use ipads and 360 degree videos to explore other parts of our coast. The ipad program allows the user to learn about food webs in deeper water. The virtual reality headsets you see in the photo below-right allow you to feel completely immersed in the 360 degree underwater videos, and if you are using them, you’d better hold on! You need to look all around if you don’t want to miss seeing the North Atlantic right whale!
After they’ve gone through the four activities, the students, working in groups, get to showcase what they’ve learned by creating an ecosystem and presenting it to their class. At the end of the session, we hope that the students have gained a deeper knowledge of coastal science, and that some might one day pursue a career that takes advantage of our great coast.
There are many careers paths you can choose to help answer questions about the ocean. What would you like to do? There are choices in science, like becoming a technician, a computer programmer or a research project leader. Scientists also need help from other experts, such as educators, photographers and fish harvesters. People need to come together to study our coasts and explore what the ocean has to offer!
We’d like to give a big Thank You to the DFO scientists and our partners at Ocean School, Homarus and Ingenium. Thank you to students from Beaverbrook School in Moncton, Riverview East Middle School and Abbey-Landry School in Memramcook, New Brunswick for sharing this experience with us and making it better for future visitors!
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