The Marine Biological Association’s (MBA) Dr Susie Wharam, Belle Heaton and Dave Conway joined 120 local primary school teachers for an Ocean Science training day on the 31st October at the National Marine Aquarium (NMA).
Alongside NMA and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), the MBA ran numerous activities demonstrating the diversity of our ocean, focusing primarily on the importance of microscopic plankton for all marine life. These included teachers watching zooplankton from Plymouth Sound under the microscope, investigating how diverse organism control their buoyancy and designing zooplankton models to see how different adaptations affect sinking rates. There were even some very competitive “plankton races”; demonstrating vertical movement through the water column; the daily movement of zooplankton (hiding in the deep from predators by day and feeding at the surface by night) is the greatest migration on Earth!
The Connect Academy’s Ocean Conservation Curriculum is being developed in partnership with the MBA, NMA, PML and the Ocean Conservation Trust. To find out more about the Connect Academy’s Ocean Conservation Curriculum, click here.
We would like to thank all the Connect Academy Trust teacher for diving into the activities with such enthusiasm. We wish you every success in using your new found knowledge to inspire the next generation of ocean scientists!
Know an aspiring ocean defender? The theme of this’s year Young Marine Biologist Summit is Hidden Ocean. Click here for more information on how to sign up.
