Written by Molly Bogeberg, Marine Conservation Coordinator
A few members of the TNC Team and some of our fabulous volunteers participated in three days of energetic children, ocean education, and science fun at Seattle Aquarium’s Discover Science Weekend. The weekend kicked off with an evening of Lightening Talks staring local scientists from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Washington, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Vulcan Inc. Each scientist was given a mere 5 minutes to explain their research. This meant that the scientists had to be creative and quick to get their point across. It was a fun way to dabble in local research and mingle with other science nerds!
For the main Discover Science event, we had a booth to highlight our outreach materials on ocean acidification. Alongside the booth, our new ocean acidification infographic stood tall and provided talking points to help explain the complicated topic of ocean acidification, clearly. In addition to giving out our handy infographic booklets on ocean acidification to adults and coloring sheets to the little ones, we enticed kids to our table with a science experiment! Eager young scientists came with eyes bright and ready to learn.
For our experiment, we added CO2 to seawater using a Soda Streamer and then mixed in a pH indicator solution into normal seawater and the carbonated seawater to demonstrate how the chemistry of the water had been altered by CO2. With the addition of a green pH indicator, the color of the normal seawater retained the color of the pH indicator (green). The carbonated seawater, however, turned a bright orange after just a few drops of green pH indicator. We also used pH test strips to analyze the actual change in pH between the two samples. The changing color of the carbonated seawater elicited "ooos and ahhs" along with nods of understanding. You could really tell that the experiment and dialog helped the kids (and their parents) to grasp the concept of changing ocean conditions. After the experiment, we had kids roll a dice full of ways that they could help combat ocean acidification in their daily life. From civic action to walking to the farmer’s market to get groceries, the kids agreed that there were ways that they could help their favorite sea creatures!
Discover Science Weekend is my favorite outreach event that I get to participate in here at TNC. It really gives me hope to see kids excited about science and I love helping to inspire the next generation of ocean conservationists!
