Oceans In Motion is an outreach programme offered by the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation, with the support of DHL, to bring lessons about marine life to under-resourced schools across the greater Cape Town area. Outreach teacher Thabo Sabeko brings a mobile aquarium to Grades 4 to 6 learners, with exciting CAPS-aligned lessons about the ocean's wonders.
Guest writer Keren Spyker joined outreach teacher Thabo on a visit to Kleinberg Primary School with the Oceans in Motion mobile aquarium classroom. The Oceans in Motion programme brought an assortment of living rock pool-dwelling animals right into the children's classroom, stimulating a fun and informative lesson about life in the ocean.
"I felt that the experience was really good. You could tell that Thabo was a really good teacher in how he was able to get the children to engage and be excited about what they were learning. They really focused a lot, and were so excited that they were able to interact with the animals and you could tell that they were genuinely curious. Thabo could really make them all laugh, while still educating them, and I thought that was really cool!" - Keren Spyker
A strong emphasis in these lessons is on marine custodianship - just as the children are able to touch and feel the armoured skin of a starfish, so too can their actions at home also directly touch the animals in the ocean around Cape Town. It's easy to forget that our homes are directly connected to the ocean, so instilling this knowledge and love of marine animals is a key part of education.
With the support of DHL, the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation is able to visit schools across Cape Town for free with the Oceans in Motion outreach lesson. Teachers planning their school calendar can find out more about the Foundation's school programmes and outreach lessons online, or can contact the team directly on schools@aquariumfoundation.org.za.
