Aquatic Investigators
Students will be become Aquanauts for the day and join an underwater mission to learn about the ocean and its inhabitants. They will be led by Commander Carpenter, a woman from NOAA who is leading an underwater research crew aboard Seabase Ballard.
- Targeted grades for Aquatic Investigators: Grades 4 & 5
- Number of students: Up to 30
- Price: $150
- Length of Program: Approximately one hour
In addition, a 15-minute pre-mission conference with the instructor and teacher to make sure all technology is ready for the mission.
Simulation
In the Aquatic Investigators Classroom Adventure, students will be become Aquanauts for the day and join an underwater mission to learn about the ocean and its inhabitants. They will be led by Commander Carpenter, a woman from NOAA who is leading an underwater research crew aboard Seabase Ballard. Commander Carpenter will introduce students to their mission and their vehicle for the day – the Makani Kai. Commander Carpenter will need student assistance to track down a Hawaiian Monk Seal named Eric that has gone missing from the Northwest Hawaiian Islands. The students will have two goals for the Adventure: one, search for Eric; and two, understand what is happening to his environment and habitat.
To start the Adventure, Commander Carpenter will inform the students that Eric’s usual home has been overrun with trash. Students will analyze trash to determine where all the trash is coming from and learn how to hopefully prevent the spread of ocean debris in the future. Each group will analyze a different piece of trash: a plastic grocery bag, a plastic food container, a plastic water bottle, and a plastic book. After learning that the trash came from far away by traveling through ocean currents, students will use a research tool to sort different types of trash after learning about trash, recycling, and compost.
Commander Carpenter will thank the students for providing their analysis and starting the beach clean-up process; however, she will inform them Eric is still nowhere to be found. The students will need to research the changing ocean to understand why Eric left his home and where he may have gone.
Each student will individually complete a rotating set of research tools. Every student will engage with research tools that focus on the food chain and ecosystem disruptors such as decreasing phytoplankton population, habitat loss, and rising ocean acidity. At each phase during the rotation, a different team will come together as a group to use a different tracking tool to narrow down where Eric is most likely to be. Each team will help track large boat activity, fish populations, shark populations, and healthy coral.
Halfway through the mission, Commander Carpenter will check-in with the students to see how their research is going and to give them some updates. As she is speaking, a seaquake will hit Seabase Ballard and puts the life of Commander Carpenter and her crew in jeopardy. As the studentwill learn, a NOAA rescue team is too far away to save the crew. However, they and the MOD ROV (pronounced similarly to “pod cove”) on the Makani Kai are close enough to save them. Students will receive information from a programming specialist, Lawson, on Seabase Ballard who will explain to them how to program the different tools on the MOD ROV to help solve this emergency. The entire class will come together at the Engineering Station to select the tools that should be used on the MOD ROV. After selecting the Underwater Repair Toolkit, they will break out into their teams to code the four components: an underwater vacuum that removes sediment, a metal cutter that cuts the fallen tower, a crane that moves the tower, and a welder that seals the oxygen pipe. With their collaboration and quick thinking, the students will save Commander Carpenter and her team.
After the dramatic rescue, Commander Carpenter will encourage students to return to their research to keep searching for Eric. Students will submit more data through their computers until Commander Carpenter lets them know that their research and their work on the Eric Tracker has narrowed the search for Eric to one likely location. As the students will learn, when NOAA sends in a team to search, they will find Eric! Thanks to the students’ hard work, NOAA will learn more about the ocean, Commander Carpenter and her crew will be saved, and Eric will be located. Not bad for a day’s work!