Grade School

As part of our commitment to education, the National Marine Mammal Foundation participates in outreach efforts at local San Diego schools and public events. By educating children and the community about our exciting marine mammal discoveries, we hope to inspire future generations for years to come. Science education is incredibly important, and we hope to do our part by exposing students to the unique and rewarding work that we do with the animals.

We will have students(K-6) showcasing their projects that they have completed in our STREAM program. This students are passionate about their work and look forward to sharing their projects showcasing their solutions to real-world issues to a public audience. Our booth will also include an engineering challenge that the students will help guide attendance through. We have participated in this event for the last 3 year and are excited to be back!

Natural History

Our booth will contain preserved marine invertebrates and fish and we will use these to explain how the City uses marine life to monitor the health of the offshore environment. We will also have some of our water quality oceanographic equipment on display, as well as underwater survey videos showing various forms of fish and invertebrates encountered near the sewage outfall pipe as well out in the open water.

We would like to showcase some of the CaSGC sponsored activities within UCSD, including, but no limited to, Near Space Ballooning and Arduino and Micro-Controllers. We will be displaying posters of aerial photography taken from the balloons as well as explanations of the science behind Near Space Ballooning. We will also have Arduino displays which are often used as sensors for climatic data in the payload.

Ever wonder how scientists see inside tiny cells and organisms to study them? Fluorescent, or glowing, proteins are the answer! These useful proteins can light up the insides of cells and tissues. Researchers from UCSD will demonstrate, through simple games, how scientists engineer fluorescent proteins and what kinds of questions they can help to answer. These glowing proteins can also make biological samples into beautiful art, which you will see at our booth.

Our booth will have the same activity as least year, where we have the student make "sling-shot rockets" using paper, straws, tape, rubber bands, and paper clips.

Come explore how your amazing brain and cognition helps you to perceive, remember and navigate your world. Can you trust your perceptions? What do illusions teach us about brain processes? How much information can you hold in your short term memory? If you are fascinated by people, are interested in how we think and why we act the way we do, these activities will inroduce you to the exciting field of Psychological Science.

The research group at the UC San Diego Eating Disorders Center conducts neurocognitive and neuroimaging research studies on adolescents and young adults to better understand eating disorders. We are looking to recruit healthy control volunteers ages 11-17 to participate in a computerized, skill-based learning study. We will be sharing information about our current studies, results from past research studies, and providing informative and fun activities for kids of all ages.

The students of Mr. Rogalski's art & science classes have designed and created an interactive installation called, "The Atomic Dance". It uses dance as a metaphor for chemical reactions and the cycling of elements through our environment. Lipson Lab from SDSU worked with the JCS San Diego Academy to study chemistry through field trips, guest lectures and even brought our atomic experiment to the Arctic Circle to study how elements like carbon and chlorine cycle through the tundra ecosystem.