It’s Sea-Floor Science, in Depth

Studying science used to mean trudging through boring, outdated textbooks and gazing at stagnant museum displays from behind thick panes of glass.

But at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, learning about science means grabbing the controls of a robot and simulating the search for life on other planets by driving it through 16 feet of ice.

“I see some sharks up there!” said 4-year-old Christian Blanco as he maneuvered the machine and watched its work on an overhead monitor. “I see a footprint! I see a skeleton’s eye!”

Christian was recently taking part in the Ice Tower, one of the institute’s Sea Floor Science exhibits, an ongoing program that combines ocean research with hands-on learning. The institute has just received a three-year, $863,000 National Science Foundation grant to expand the program.

“It’s fascinating,” said Christian’s father, Philip, 37, of San Diego. “It’s nice to see all the research that’s being done is available to the public. It’s not just scientists in white coats doing experiments.”

In a cove between high bluffs and the ocean near Dana Point Harbor, the institute has never been simply a seaside museum. Founded in 1977, the nonprofit establishment has adopted a philosophy of hands-on student participation and interactive research.

Kids can come to pet sea stars or gawk at leopard sharks, but they can also do research themselves, studying sand types or examining organisms under microscopes.

The sea-floor exhibition, which will ultimately contain 12 interactive exhibits, takes the institute’s philosophy one step further. Students use the same equipment as scientists at the forefront of sea-floor research, while learning topics that meet California’s science education requirements.

Partners such as MIT and Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will provide training, equipment and scientists to give students up-to-date information about ocean floors. The institute has installed video-conferencing, allowing scientists from around the world -- including some doing research at sea -- to speak with visitors at the institute. Students can also join institute scientists as they go out on a vessel and map the ocean floor.

“Sea floors tell us things a lot of people don’t know,” said Harry Helling, the institute’s vice president of research and education. “They tell us about ancient cultures, early climates, how continents move and about the evolution of life itself.”

The sea-floor experience is magnified during the institute’s overnight programs, where middle-school students learn about a subject, design instruments, collect data and then present their research, all in 18 hours. The institute has spent nearly a year testing six of its exhibits with 17 middle schools from throughout the county.

“The typical stay time at a museum exhibit is only a few minutes,” said Helling. “Here, they’re staying overnight; it’s not just a few minutes. It’s a very in-depth exploration.”

Students spend the night on surfboard-shaped mats, in a wooden loft crammed with Dana Point memorabilia. Surf boards drape from the vaulted ceiling and black-and-white photos on the walls depict surfers battling “Killer Dana,” the towering surf break that made the area famous before the harbor was built.

Student exhibits cover a range of sciences, including geology, chemistry and biology. “Slopes, Slides and Tsunamis” teaches students how energy is converted to waves and will allow them to see how the melting of methane ice found in underwater cliffs can lead to tidal waves.

Another exhibit includes a seismometer, courtesy of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Students see how far away they can stand from the equipment and cause its sensors to pick up their movements. They make their own seismometers, which they test in the ocean early the next morning, recording data. They must present their findings to their peers.

“The whole point is to make kids feel like they’re the scientists,” said Kaylee Acuff, 21, an intern at the institute. “The kids ask the same questions we do, so it makes them feel like, ‘Cool, I can do this too,’ and it’s not just some old man in a lab coat.”

With other exhibits, such as the Ice Tower, young scientists are encouraged to go beyond Earth into the solar system. Scientists believe Europa, a satellite of Jupiter, may possess the largest ocean in the solar system, but it is covered with ice 5 kilometers thick. Researchers are trying to develop a “cryobot,” a robot that moves by melting the ice in front of it, taking measurements and sending the data to the surface of the ice. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has provided a prototype of their cryobot with a camera attached. In the 23-foot-tall exhibit, students can drive a robot and look at the surface of the ice as they melt through it, giving them a lesson in remote sensing.

Although the exhibits are largely closed to the public during the week when classes are in session, visitors can take part on the weekends.

“It takes 10 or more years for current research to make it into museums,” said Helling. “We’re intent on bringing only today’s research in -- it’s that immediacy that brings these things to life.”