Matt Kansteiner

Ocean Educators - Marine Science Students Teach Local Youth

An environmental studies major, senior Matt Kansteiner fell in love with his marine science classes and developed a passion for the ocean. He also had a secret desire to teach and share his new-found love with others. But Kansteiner figured he'd have to wait several years before he could lead a class, either as a graduate student or by earning a teaching certificate - until last year, when USD marine science lecturer Shara Fisler offered him a chance to teach right away at Aquatic Adventures, a nonprofit science education foundation she created three years ago. "I always had an idea I'd like to teach, and I figured maybe I would do it at some point in my life," says Kansteiner. "But working in the program and getting feedback on my teaching made me realize that I'd like to do this as a career."

Each year, Fisler hires several USD science students to work with her at Aquatic Adventures, which provides hands-on marine science education for nearly 3,000 San Diego school children a year, primarily kids from low-income neighborhoods with little exposure to the sciences. "Most low-income area schools offer no science, because they concentrate on literacy and English," says Fisler, who has taught the Life in the Oceans undergraduate course at USD for six years. "Many of these kids have never seen a microscope before, let alone performed an experiment."

The largest Aquatic Adventures program, Sea Series, brings into local classrooms a curriculum designed to turn pupils into mini-researchers. Kids conduct experiments on water quality, dissect kelp and fish, and learn about improving the environment. A more intensive program, Sea Semester, provides 10 pupils with a semester-long, after-school program of marine science study. The fifth-graders show up at Fisler's Mission Bay classroom four afternoons a week for hands-on research and experiments. The program culminates with a Catalina Island snorkeling trip. "Ninety percent of the kids don't know how to swim, 40 percent have never been to the beach before and 100 percent have never been on a boat," says Fisler. "By the end of our program, they've done it all."

Helping the children learn about the underwater world are USD undergraduate and graduate students, whom Fisler recruits from her class or through other professors' recommendations. The USD students also help Fisler perform research, most recently assisting with a grant application for restoration of a salt marsh at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach. Their work led to a $25,000 City of San Diego grant for the project. "I've learned a lot about the sciences, but I also learned a lot about dealing with children in general," says Kathy Dykes, a marine sciences graduate student. "I wish they had a program like this when I was a kid - to see the enthusiasm when inner-city kids are exposed to the sciences, it's just an amazing thing."

For information on Aquatic Adventures, which also conducts summer marine science camps for kids of all ages, call (619) 665-3861 or e-mail sfisler@sandiego.edu.