Field trip to seals!

Photo of Arthur H. Kopelman, Ph.D. President, Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island

Killer Snails and partners Hudson River Park, Wildlife Conservation Society, and The Mount Sinai Transdisciplinary Center on Early Environmental Exposures, have been developing WaterWays, an augmented reality (AR) experience aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards.Elementary school students work in augmented reality (via iPads, Chromebooks, or other tablets) and personalized online science journals to gather data, answer questions, construct models and develop and test hypotheses.

In WaterWays, students get to study organisms like mako sharks and learn more about human impacts on water, and water's impact on humans. While developing knowledge of the connections between ecology and human health, students will also apply that understanding to come up with solutions to problems like plastic pollution.

Photo of the filming of Caitlin Bartlett from the Wildlife Conservation Society who helps harbor seals at the New York Aquarium

One of the more fun parts of our job is when we get to take field trips to film and photograph the seals! Here in New York, you can see the seals up close at the New York Aquarium OR you can go to Long Island and see seals in their natural habitat! We went to both locations to film and photograph the seals to include them in module 3 of WaterWays. Not only did we learn a lot, but we are also super excited to see what the students will think!