Traveling Aquarium Exhibit for Youth Explores the Critical Role of Plankton
The free exhibit takes students and families on a journey that covers hundreds of miles and millions of years of evolution with plankton as the tour guides.
Researchers at foundry10 partnered with graduate students at University of Washington’s Museology program and the Community Marine Centers of the Salish Sea to develop Plankton: Wanderers of the Salish Sea, an interactive traveling aquarium exhibit for students and families to explore.
The free interactive exhibit is now open to the public at Highline College’s Marine Science and Technology (MaST) Center Aquarium from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday now through March 2023.
The exhibit takes visitors on a journey that covers hundreds of miles and hundreds of millions of years of evolution with plankton as the tour guides. Though many plankton cannot be seen with the naked eye, they are some of the most important organisms in our oceans and seas’ ecosystems, and can affect many parts of our lives.
Some planktonic organisms can be large (like jellyfish), but most are microscopic. Visitors will gain an understanding of the role of plankton in the food web, their method of travel by drifting through ocean currents, and their relationships within the ecosystem of the Salish Sea.
Every hour on the hour, museum volunteers help visitors of all ages collect live plankton from the Salish Sea and then observe them under the microscope.
“When children collect and observe plankton under the microscope, they clearly light up by engaging through direct experience. It is incredibly rewarding as an educator and researcher to measure how youth are learning about the critical role plankton play in our ecosystem, and witness them learn how they can take action to support the health of the Salish Sea by exploring how their landside behaviors impact plankton,” said Travis Willingham Windleharth, a senior researcher at foundry10.
In addition to plankton collection in the field, students can play a fun “Plankton/Not Plankton” guessing game and “Franken Plankton,” a dice game modeled after Cootie. Visitors can create their own plankton craft and see them displayed in a 3D space. A large touch screen mounted on the wall enables youth to take quizzes (What Kind of Plankton are You?), read comics, and more. An accompanying online experience allows users to download plankton coloring sheets and continue learning from home.
This exhibit was recently highlighted by South King Media’s Waterland blog, Highline College, and on social media by Why Not You Academy and the MaST aquarium.
After it closes at the MaST Center, the Plankton: Wanderers of the Salish Sea exhibit will travel to seven additional museums:
- Feiro Marine Life Center
- Harbor WildWatch
- Langley Whale Center
- Nisqually Reach Nature Center
- Puget Sound Estuarium
- Port Townsend Marine Science Center
- SEA Discovery Center
At the end of the tour, foundry10 researchers will conduct an evaluation of the exhibit experience for visitors and educators to learn more about how to effectively develop and implement future programs of this kind.
Visit the exhibit at MaST and learn more about education research at foundry10.
