Online Oceanography Merit Badge

A homemade seafloor topography model used in DESG’s oceanography merit badge course.

Delaware Sea Grant offers online programming to Boy Scouts of America

Article by Adam Thomas

Since 2012, the Delaware Sea Grant (DESG) College Program would host members of the Boy Scouts of America on the University of Delaware’s Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes to take them through a day of in-person programming where the scouts could get a hands-on experience to earn their oceanography merit badges.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and that in-person offering was no longer an option, DESG professionals were determined to shift the programming to still be able to offer scouts from across the country the opportunity to earn their oceanography merit badges.

The effort to create an online version of the DESG programming was led by David Christopher, DESG education specialist, and Chris Petrone, director of DESG’s Marine Advisory Service, who are both oceanography merit badge counselors. Christopher said that he viewed this as a great opportunity to engage with students and develop their environmental literacy while allowing them to see the Lewes campus through virtual tours, in addition to having them work towards the completion of their merit badge.

Having led multiple in-person merit badge programs, with groups travelling from as far away as Michigan to take part in the programming, Christopher said the in-person, on-campus merit badge programming is normally a one-day, three-and-a-half-hour experience.

“There’s a classroom section. They do a tour of the buildings. We do a field component, and then they come back and look at plankton in the teaching lab,” said Christopher. “So the biggest challenge was to try and translate that into an online experience.”

They tried to keep all of the content the same but spread the class out by posting videos online that the scouts could watch at their leisure and then had four live Saturday Zoom sessions that ran for about 45 minutes.

The class was given a virtual tour of the campus and had an opportunity to speak with Harrison Smith, a master’s level student in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment (CEOE). Petrone and Christopher also filmed a lot of the in-field components in order to show the students how to test turbidity—the clarity of a fluid based on the  amount of sediment and phytoplankton—and other water quality parameters.

One of the hardest parts of putting the class together for Christopher was trying to keep the lessons interesting and engaging over Zoom.

A water density demonstration using tubes, clips, bottles, and a mason jar

“It forced me to re-examine the content and figure out how to present it in a different way,” said Christopher. “When I talk about density and salinity, for the in-person program, I would talk with slides and I could talk with students about it, and so for the Zoom programming, I had to make it a little more interesting. I bought golf balls and ping pong balls and I showed that one sinks and one floats as a density demonstration.”

For the online programming, Christopher made a seafloor map out of Legos to show the students a 3-D representation of the different topographical elements of the seafloor. He also constructed a mini wave tank out of rubber maid containers in his house to use in future sessions over Zoom. In addition, he encouraged the students to check out the oceanography resources available to them on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research website.

“I tried to do as much as I could so that I wasn’t just talking at them over the computer,” said Christopher.

Petrone said that he was impressed with how Christopher was able to make the content engaging while still conveying the important information associated with oceanography.

“David has done a great job of keeping his live sessions short and to the point, with engaging demonstrations and not just a simple lecture,” said Petrone. “He’s provided online videos that the scouts can access when their schedule allows; when they’re not completely burned out from online learning for school.”

The inaugural class had 10 students from all over the country—Delaware, Maryland, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida, Missouri and Georgia—participate in the online program. Christopher said he was excited to get the opportunity to talk about the research that goes on at CEOE to such a geographically diverse group of students.

“The scouts started out quiet but started asking more questions as the classes progressed,” said Christopher. “This is my first time doing this as well so I have learned a lot about what these scouts need from me.”

To earn their merit badges, the scouts have to complete nine requirements that range from naming the four branches of oceanography to listing the main salts, gases and nutrients in seawater.

Having completed a successful first round with the scouts, Christopher is offering another session from Saturday, June 13 through Saturday, July 11. Registration for both classes filled completely.

Christopher said that while this initial class was designed for scouts, he can envision offering the curriculum to others who are interested in oceanography.

“I think this is a great way, especially with most summer camps cancelled, to give students an opportunity to have something to do and engage with over the summer,” said Christopher. “We’re looking at this as another product that Delaware Sea Grant can offer. I can envision taking this, changing it and being able to offer it to anybody. It gives us another option for how we can engage with scouts and other students.”

Petrone echoed these sentiments and said that having the content online will be a great way for students from across the country to earn their merit badge.

“Nothing is ever going to replace that in-person experience, but for scouts that aren’t anywhere close to the ocean, to be able to do the course, learn about the ocean, and get the merit badge online is of huge value,” said Petrone.