NASA Aquanaut Training Program
Dr. Sea (Michael Childress) and his team of SVF creative inquiry students conducted 45 minute programs where students made four virtual dives in and around the Aquarius Underwater Habitat in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary using Class VR headsets and 360 videos.
The program funded by the NASA SC Space Grant Program and supported by the photos and videos from The Ocean Agency, Florida International University Medina Aquarius Program, and the Childress lab at Clemson University. Our program used Avantis ClassVR goggles from PowerUpEdu purchased on a marine education outreach grant from the SC Sea Grant Consortium.
Stay tuned for a online version of this NASA Aquanaut Training Program to be announced in our January 2023 newsletter.
SVF STEAM Exhibit
Five upstate elementary schools attended our virtual field trip to the Florida Keys to learn about ocean literacy. They visited the Aquarius Underwater Habitat to learn how scientists live underwater while studying the ocean. They visited a coral nursery to learn about warming sea surface temperature, coral bleaching, and coral transplanting. They visited a marine animal hospital to learn about habitat loss and its relationship to invertebrate biodiversity. They visited a sea turtle nesting beach and all the ways that humans impact marine life, especially those that nest on beaches.
The goal of the virtual field trip was to raise awareness of two of the NOAA/NMEA ocean literacy principles (1) the ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems, and (2) the ocean and humans are inextricably linked.
The program was supported by the Clemson University Creative Inquiry program and grants from the SC Arts Commission and the Puffin Foundation. We thank the College of Science - Life Sciences Outreach Center for use of their facilities and Educational Entertainment, LLC for a creative musical theatre program.
