History of Week of the Oceans

In 1992, Stacey Halboth, one of our teachers, attended a two-week conference given by Marine Activities, Resources & Education (MARE), based at UC Berkeley. We’d heard they had a unique program on ocean habitats that might fit perfectly into our district’s science curriculum.

Using MARE guidelines, we developed our curriculum for a week of hands-on, investigative ocean studies called Week of the Oceans. To make our program as effective as it could be, we consulted with other school districts that were using the MARE curriculum, met with personnel from the San Diego County Office of Education, and studied how science education was being improved nationally. The result has been a big hit with students, parents, and teachers since our first Week of the Oceans in 1993.

This current year marks the first time that some in our eight-grade class have participated in the program each year since they were in kindergarten. These students, like eight-grader Ellen Scott, started as little kids on the Rocky Seashore, learning about high and low tides, and ended up on the frozen tundra of Antarctica, learning about high and low snow.

“When I was little, I was excited every MARE week, and I always looked forward to it,” said Ellen, for whom dissecting a shark in sixth grade will always be a fond memory. “I still really enjoy it. It’s something you look forward to every year.”

Roberta Dean, cofounder of MARE (pronounced mar-ay), and Rick MacPherson, a lead instructor with the program, were on hand to oversee classroom projects, answer questions, and help us all gain a better understanding of the mysteries of the ocean world and our relationship to them.

Children in each grade studied a single marine habitat, such as the wetlands, islands, or coral reefs. They created maps and posters and used the Internet and encyclopedias for research. They handled sea life. They got dirty. They found out how important teamwork is in accomplishing any worthy goal.

Activities that get kids physically involved with their subjects result in better retention and more motivation to learn, said science chair Lindy Delaney.

“Hands-on science brings the information students acquire to life,” Lindy said. “Reading about hermit crabs from books or hearing about them in lectures supplies one kind of learning. But watching a hermit crab or touching a hermit crab brings a much deeper, more meaningful type of learning.”

[Back to Writing Samples Page]