Oceans of WONDER
UCSC'S Long Marine Laboratory has always attracted visitors interested in the ocean and curious about the lab's research activities. They began showing up as soon as the lab opened in 1978, prompting a decision to welcome the public with regular programs and tours that made Long Marine Lab an unusually accessible research facility. By the 1990s, the lab was attracting more than 30,000 visitors per year, offering docent-led tours, special programs for school groups, and training for teachers. Unfortunately, demand for these programs went well beyond the capacity of the modest facilities available.
With the opening of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center in March, Long Marine Lab now has a splendid new center devoted to marine science education, and it has been earning rave reviews. The center gives schoolchildren and the general public an inside look at the workings of a world-class marine research lab. Interactive exhibits feature the work of researchers in UCSC's Institute of Marine Sciences, which operates the lab. A fascinating assortment of marine life is on display in rows of aquariums and at the touch tanks, where visitors can get their hands wet examining the denizens of local tidepools and kelp beds. "We have created a space where people can see how a marine lab works, who the researchers are, and how and why they do their work," says Seymour Center director Julie Barrett Heffington. "It's not a traditional aquarium, or a museum, or a nature center, but it includes features of all three as part of a working marine laboratory." The goal of the center is to educate people about the role scientific research plays in the understanding and conservation of the world's oceans. The center's "people-oriented" approach helps make the science accessible. Researchers themselves are featured as prominently as the subjects they study. (continued on page 16) "We want to introduce visitors to the human side of marine science," Heffington says. Throughout the center there are photos of researchers in the field, videos of them explaining their research, and quotes expressing how they feel about their work (examples, left). IMS researchers regularly present their findings to the public through lectures and discussions held in the center's main conference hall.
The new center has given a tremendous boost to the lab's popular school programs, enabling the education staff to develop new programs for children in all grades, from kindergarten through high school. These programs incorporate the work of UCSC researchers and are based on the latest California Science Content Standards, which specify certain concepts that students should learn at each grade level. The program called "You Otter Know," for example, introduces fourth graders to the importance of sea otters in the coastal kelp forests and to the work of Adjunct Professor James Estes, a leading authority on the topic. Through a series of interactive games, students learn about Estes's findings and absorb key concepts about food webs, ecosystems, and the interdependence of living organisms.
"All of the lessons involve hands-on activities where the kids are fully engaged, figuring things out for themselves," says youth programs manager Kevin Keedy. The new school programs take full advantage of the center's impressive facilities, including two well-equipped teaching labs. One is a wet lab with live specimens and running seawater, just like the research labs. The other teaching lab has cabinets full of equipment and marvelous specimens like shells, fossils, and marine mammal skulls. There are resources for every age group, from jigsaw puzzles and hand puppets to reference books and microscopes. "Because we have access to things like live animals, marine fossils, and other resources, we're able to provide opportunities that students can't have at school," Keedy notes. When the Seymour Center opened in March, its school programs were already booked through the end of the school year. Demand is also high for the other youth programs, such as "Ocean Explorers," a series of weeklong summer day camps, and a special "Marine Science for Girls" program that was offered during spring break.
For casual visitors, tours of the center and the other facilities at Long Marine Lab are offered several times a day. Lisa Borok, visitor programs manager, likes to compare the center to a winery, an analogy first used by the architect who designed the building, Jon Schleuning. "When you tour a winery, you expect to see a working operation, not a polished display, and you come away with an appreciation for winemaking in general," Borok says. "What people learn here about our marine research should give them an appreciation for all of marine science and for the scientific process in general." At the heart of the Seymour Center's operations are dedicated volunteers who do everything from leading tours to maintaining the aquariums. Currently numbering about 170, the volunteer corps has been growing to handle the increase in visitors and the expanded programs. Volunteers receive extensive training, and their own desire to continue learning keeps many of them involved year after year, says volunteer coordinator Sally Real. "We have one volunteer who was in our very first docent class in 1979--she's over 80 years old now, but she says she just can't stay away," Real says. Volunteers not only staff the exhibit hall and lead tours, they work directly with students in school groups and provide the one-on-one interactions essential to all of the center's programs for visitors.
"The volunteers provide the personal touch that really makes the exhibits come alive," Real says. "They are the link between the researchers and the community, using their interpretive skills and personal anecdotes to convey scientific information in such a way that people will really remember it."
The Seymour Center is a self-supported operation, relying on entrance fees, program fees, memberships, gift and book- store sales, grants, and donations to cover expenses. The members organization, Friends of Long Marine Lab, provides funding for the programs and daily operations of the Seymour Center, marine mammal programs, and student research awards. Nearly all of the $6.25 million needed to build the center came from private donations, including a $2 million cornerstone gift from H. Boyd Seymour Jr. of San Francisco. IMS director Gary Griggs shepherded the project through nine years of planning and fundraising. To him, the Seymour Center represents a vital partnership between campus and community. Marine science is one of the most accessible and broadly appreciated research activities at UCSC and elsewhere, and Griggs says the university has a responsibility to capitalize on that natural appeal to educate people about science and the environment. "People are attracted to the Santa Cruz area because of Monterey Bay and the ocean, so there's a natural curiosity about marine science in this community," Griggs says. "With the Seymour Center, we now have a wonderful place to show people all of the fascinating things we're learning about the oceans, and in the process to give something back to the community." --Tim Stephens
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Photo:
Julia Davenport
