About 18 classes of schoolkids from Carpinteria to Goleta have boarded the Condor Express in a hands-on learning experience this school year about junk in the ocean. Their sponsor, Explore Ecology, invited the Santa Barbara Independent to meet 5th and 6th graders from El Camino Elementary on one of the last immersive boat trips through the Santa Barbara Channel.
“We visit them in the classroom, and then they come visit us at Hendry’s Beach for a field trip,” explained Jenny Davis, the education coordinator at Explore Ecology. “They test the water quality, and then we go back to the classroom where we talk about marine debris, water pollution, and why it’s important that we reduce our impact on the environment.” The classes end in the boat trip, to “pull everything together and really bring everything back to the idea of hands-on, why does this matter, and how does it apply to the real world,” Davis said.
The educational journey one Friday in February started from the Sea Landing in the Santa Barbara Harbor and motored the students off Hendry’s Beach, where they tested the ocean water pH and phosphorous levels. The class had previously done water tests on land, and this gave them the firsthand opportunity to connect the implications of what they did onshore with the marine life offshore. Lessons, field experiences, and beach cleanups are part of Explore Ecology’s Flows to the Ocean program, which are funded in part by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Bay Watershed Education and Training grant.