<bt>Garfield Elementary students who had never been to the ocean before got a taste of the big blue sea on June 4 and 5. That's when the ocean came to them, by way of the Virginia Marine Ecology Science museum and its Ocean in Motion program.
The program featured an interactive and educational assembly, a series of touch tanks and finally a trip through the Ocean in Motion truck, an aquarium on wheels.
“We travel all over Virginia,” said outreach instructor Justine Klinkenberger. “Mostly, we present to kindergarten to fifth grade students, but last week we even performed for a middle school. We were a little worried about that — the show isn’t quite geared for their age range, but they still liked it.”
The show, “P.T. Phylum’s Ocean in Motion Extravaganza,” featured the enthusiastic young Klinkenberger playing Phylum and her equally enthusiastic assistant Joy Harsh playing Phylum’s assistant, Squidley. Highlights included a “Ms. Estuary Contest,” in which students and faculty presented various marine wildlife and the students voted on their favorites, a description of the Chain of Life set to rap music and three segments on the impact of pollution on ecosystems. The presentation ended with a quiz wherein, if lucky student Peter Block correctly answered three questions about pollution solutions, he would make the hapless young Squidley eat slime.
“It’s a part-time job with full-time hours,” said Klinkenberger after the show.
“Typically, we perform four days a week,” said Harsh, during a tour of the truck. “We leave on Monday and get back on Friday. This week, however, we’ll be gone until Sunday. We’ll be at Celebrate Fairfax with the truck and the touch tank.”
None of the Ocean in Motion presentation at Garfield Elementary would have been possible, however, without the efforts of the local PTA and the generosity of local businesses, both of which were coordinated by first-year assistant principal Maureen Marshall.
“The PTA talked to our teachers,” said Marshall. “We all agreed that this program covers many of the fields of learning our kids are covering in science. The local businesses were essential, donating so that the presenters could stay at a local hotel.
OVER 20 area businesses provided direct support to the PTA to defray the costs for the Ocean in Motion program and others like it. The Springfield Holiday Inn Express similarly provided the presenters with free room and board.
Del. Vivian Watts (D-39th) was on hand for the Ocean in Motion program. “I was impressed by how attentive the presenters were in using the real words with the students,” she said.
“Back when I began teaching, teachers would talk down to children," said Judith Thompson, Garfield's principal. "We now have conversations with our kindergarteners.”
“The presentation was especially good for those children who had never seen the ocean,” said Watts. “I came from the Midwest and didn’t see the ocean until after college.”
Watts’ visit to Garfield Elementary was one stop on her tour of schools in Fairfax, Ravensworth and Springfield. “You just pick up bits and pieces of how schools are operating — coming door to door helps. Hearing people talking about schools gives me grounding about these communities.”
The Ocean in Motion program has been active since December 2000, and both Klinkenberger and Harsh have been involved in it since April of this year. Klinkenberger is a Virginia Tech graduate in biology and hopes to go on to become a high school biology teacher. Harsh, who already has teaching licenses in both Texas and Virginia, hopes to continue on into museum education. “But I could also do this for a few years too," Harsh said. "It's fun."