A dozen learning stations lined a breezeway at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. At one station, the lesson was how to measure pH levels. At another, a plushie manatee was used to simulate marine life rescues.
For third grader Makayla Alvarez, who attends Miami's Winston Park K-8 Center, her favorite was the Reef Rescuers station. There, she learned that reefs are the forest of the sea, "that they're houses for fish" and "cool to, like, cool to touch."
Every year, the Rosenstiel School welcomes Miami-Dade students for a day of hands-on learning about marine science and STEM. The field trip is part of the community engagement and outreach program Water Advocates and Visionaries for the Environment and Sea, or WAVES. Founded in 2008, its mission is to improve access to marine science and conservation for K-12 students.
On Friday, WAVES welcomed over 100 third graders at the Rosenstiel School in Virginia Key.
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" A lot of studies show that if students aren't getting access to STEM activities when they're young and in elementary school, they often don't get the opportunity or they don't follow through with STEM careers later on in their life," said Maria Cartolano, director of WAVES and lecturer at the Rosenstiel school.
Kids learned from scientists, university students and faculty volunteers staffing each station.
" Through activities like this it's really emphasizing how important our oceans and corals are and the role they play in their day-to-day lives," said Dalton Hesley, a senior research associate in the school’s Coral Restoration Lab.
Hesley led the Reef Rescuers station, in which students used legos to mimic how lab-grown corals are planted in reefs, an essential part of conservation.
" This is the next generation, whether that is coral champions or marine scientists, it starts young," Hesley said. "Having [the students] on campus, meeting real scientists, scientists that they can relate to, I think resonates."
For students like Sophia Mondragón, it certainly did.
" I think about coming back here because I really like the experience and what we got to do here," she said. "So I would like to visit here again when I'm bigger."
