Remotely Educating

David Christopher, Delaware Sea Grant’s marine education specialist, created a homemade water density demonstration for his on-line oceanography merit badge programing for the Boy Scouts of America. In the two containers on the right, the blue water (on the top) is saltwater and the yellow water on the bottom is fresh water. Christopher siphoned water from the saltwater into the freshwater using aquarium airline tubing. The saltwater is denser than the freshwater and therefore sinks to the bottom. On the left side, the red is hot water and the green is cold water. Christopher siphoned the cold water into the hot water to show the cold water is denser and therefore sinks to the bottom.

Delaware Sea Grant specialists reflect on supporting teachers and students during COVID-19

Article by Adam Thomas

The Delaware Sea Grant College Program has been finding creative ways to continue its engagement with stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic. As with UD Cooperative Extension, which enthusiastically embraced remote instruction in the spring, Delaware Sea Grant takes science from the University to the community.

Ed Hale, DESG fisheries and seafood aquaculture specialist, David Christopher, marine education specialist, and Kate Fleming, coastal ecology specialist, used Zoom to give a presentation to high school students at Newark Charter School. The presentation was on derelict fishing gear, aquaculture, and invasive species. They returned on April 27 to answer questions and watched the students’ final presentations on May 1.

Christopher also helped the Boy Scouts of America by creating and offering an on-line oceanography merit badge program.

Christopher Petrone, director of the DESG Marine Advisory Service presented to two classes via Zoom, teaching a third-grade class at Shields Elementary about marine mammals at the north pole and a fourth-grade class at H.O. Brittingham Elementary School about horseshoe crabs.

He also presented a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) “NOAA Live!” webinar for over 100 participants, and is coordinating an online science class with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

Petrone said that he and Delaware Sea Grant as a whole were happy to help teachers during this difficult period.

“As informal educators and university staff, we are trying to do everything that we possibly can to support classroom teachers. They were forced into this remote learning scenario, had a short period of time to turn their entire curriculum around, and so it was incumbent upon us informal educators to support those teachers however we can,” said Petrone. “Whether that’s through live programs like we’ve done or if it’s recordings or videos. If classroom teachers know what they need or want to complement online lessons, they can reach out to us and we can figure out how to help them.”