Cool kids. Cool speakers. Cool sharks. We may be having a heat wave here in the Pacific Northwest, but it’s been a cool week for our Sharks vs People program. Trista and Sage, shark experts from the Oregon Coast Aquarium shared their expertise with summer camp students at two cool science centers — the St Louis Science Center and the Science Center of Iowa.
Sage, Trista, and the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Thank you!
WhaleTimes announces this year’s summer camp, SHARKS VS PEOPLE. Great whites make headlines. Hammerheads send chills down the spine. Even the prehistoric (and extinct) Megaladon shark has attained legendary status as a monster. The truth is, you’re more likely to become a professional football player, injure yourself fixing the toilet, or get a spider bite than attacked by a shark. More than 500 sharks roam the seas (and some rivers). Some are longer than a school bus. Others swim faster than a killer whale. Some sharks can change color. Many glow in the dark! Sharks’ undeserved fearsome reputation overshadows the real story. The most dangerous animal in the sea is people, not sharks. Many shark species are threatened or endangered. They need our help to save them. Find out how in this fun and exciting class.
WhaleTimes’ Sharks vs People Summer Camp introduces kids to shark adaptations and species. Throughout this program, special guest Ruth A. Musgrave, author of MISSION SHARK RESCUE (National Geographic Children’s Books) and EVERYTHING SHARKS (National Geographic Children’s Books), shares her love of sharks, introduces amazing sharks, the scientists who study them, and empowers kids to help save sharks.
This program offered through museums and science centers throughout the country.
Welcome Teachers. This month we’re posting some of the blogs and activities from our most recent Virtual Research Missions: Celebration of Conservation and Creep into the DEEPEND. We’ll post the email from the Science Team member, plus photos, videos, activities, Explorer mini-posters (bios) or other related information or links. For our programs, teachers pick and choose, mix and match the blogs, photos, activities…etc. in what ever way works best with their class.
Here’s another one from Dave Weller from our Celebration of Conservation: Gray Whales, Elephant Seals, and Vaquita. Enjoy
SEAMAIL™: Meet the Long Distance Traveler from Dr. Weller
Wow, it has been the fastest summer yet! Kindergarten to 8th grade kids from across the country participated in two WhaleTimes’ virtual research missions. They danced to DNA, made vaquita wind socks, and created elephant seal tags. The kids also dazzled the Science Team members with their knowledge and challenged them with thought-provoking questions during the 30+ Skype™ sessions.
Our Creep into the DEEPEND Summer Camp program took kids to the deep sea in the Gulf of Mexico with the DEEPEND Science Team. They met cool animals and even cooler research and researchers while discovering DEEPEND Consortium’s important deep-sea research.
Kids joined Patrick W. Robinson, Dave Weller, Barbara Taylor, Daniel Costa and their Science Teams from the UC-Santa Cruz, Costa Lab, UC Año Nuevo Island Reserve and Southwest Fisheries Science Center/NOAA (vaquita and gray whale research) as part of our Celebration of Conservation: Gray Whales, Elephant Seals, and Vaquita. Summer camp kids learned about the beautiful gray whale, the amazing elephant seal, and the shy vaquita. The kids heard the successful conservation stories of the elephant seal and gray whale. Conservation efforts that saved both species from extinction. Summer campers also learned that the vaquita’s conservation story is still being written. With less than 30 vaquita left, we don’t know if it’ll have a happy ending or not.
Through both WhaleTimes’ programs our summer camp kids learned two important lessons. 1) Everybody makes a difference when it comes to conservation; 2) Everyone can help save ocean animals by only buying and/or eating sustainably caught seafood (when you are hankering for seafood).
Thank you to our Science Team Members, volunteers, and the museums and science centers for making it another amazing summer!
Thank you to our museum and science centers for letting us make a splash at your summer camps!
If you missed your chance to join us at a summer camp near you, the program will be back next year.
NEW! Celebration of Conservation Summer Camps. This summer, museums and science centers throughout the country will offer WhaleTimes’ Celebration of Conservation: Gray Whales, Elephants Seals, and Vaquita Summer Camps.
Our Celebration of Conservation highlights three important marine conservation stories – two successful stories and one still being written. As part of TEAM VAQUITA, students learn about gray whales, elephant seals, and vaquita. Gray whales and elephant seals were once so close extinction it’s amazing either species survived. Due to protection efforts and public awareness, both species are thriving. Both have been delisted (removed) from the endangered species list. Vaquita, a kind of porpoise, needs that same kind of happy ending. It is the most endangered whale in the world. There are only 30 vaquita left in the world.
To register or find out more, check out the list below and contact the museum or science center near you.
| Adventure Science Center | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Catawba Science Center | Hickory, North Carolina |
| Liberty Science Center | Jersey City, New Jersey |
| Maine Discovery Museum | Bangor, Maine |
| Museum of Discovery and Science | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida |
| Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Oceanscape Network | Newport, Oregon |
| Pacific Science Center | Seattle, WA |
| St. Louis Science Center | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Tallahassee Museum | Tallahassee, Florida |
| Univ of Michigan Museum of Natural History | Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| Museum of Discovery and Science | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida |
Creep into the DEEPEND Summer Camps are back! This summer, Creep into the DEEPEND Summer Camps are offered throughout the country for k-8th grade. To register or find out more, check out the list below and contact the museum or science center near you.
| Catawba Science Center | Hickory, North Carolina |
| Liberty Science Center | Jersey City, New Jersey |
| Maine Discovery Museum | Bangor, Maine |
| Museum of Discovery and Science | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida |
| Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Oceanscape Network | Newport, Oregon |
| Pacific Science Center | Seattle, WA |
| St. Louis Science Center, | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Tallahassee Museum | Tallahassee, Florida |
| Univ of Michigan Museum of Natural History | Ann Arbor, Michigan |
For more information, email us: deepend at our website whaletimes.org
