Bringing the Ocean Home

June 7th @ 1:00pm – I’ve just finished almost three hours of Skyping with my classes back at Brentwood College School in Mill Bay, British Columbia, and managed to chat live with three of my five high school classes, as well as a number of teachers, and the Head of the School.

This experience was something I was really hoping to be able to share like this before my time on the ship is up, and the students had some great questions about everything from life on the ship, to how we explore the ocean depths, to the kinds of creatures we’ve seen both at and below the surface, and much more.

The Chief Scientist, Dr. Kate Morin, Captain John, ROPOS pilots Ian and Reuben, and several members of the science team took the time to chat with the students too as I took them on a partial tour of the ship’s main lab, starboard deck, ROPOS control room and docking station.

 One of the big advantages of live communication aside from the ability to ask and answer questions, it to give the audience back home a real sense of the scale of some of these pieces of equipment (such as the crawler ‘Wally’ and ROPOS) as well as the reality of a pitching ship deck, tight hatchways, etc.

Tomorrow I will be attempting to contact my remaining classes, and also hope to chat with a number of elementary school students that are down at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia as part of World Oceans Day celebrations.

Blog Post by Scott Doehler
Marine Educator