Marine life program provides hands-on learning experience

By Andrew Shaw
Staff Writer

January 11, 2007


Jan 11, 2007 A group of 13 toddlers stretched their arms and legs wide yesterday morning inside Round Hill Nursery School.

"That's a sea star," said SoundWaters educator Dione Clinkenbeard.

Then the 3-year-olds wiggled their fingers on top of their head.

(Helen Neafsey/Staff photo)
Jan 11, 2007

"That's a very good anemone," Clinkenbeard said as she mirrored the action.

The marine life impersonations were part of a traveling educational program by Stamford-based SoundWaters, a nonprofit environmental education center that teaches people about Long Island Sound.

Two educators, Clinkenbeard and Lauren Donnelly, spent yesterday at Round Hill teaching a group of 3-year-olds and then a group of 4-year-olds all about marine life as part of a four-week SoundKids program. They are in the second week of the program that will culminate in a field trip to Cove Island Park.

To introduce marine life to the children yesterday, Donnelly read aloud from "In One Tidepool" as Clinkenbeard had the children mimic the sea creatures the book described. Then the educators asked their young audience one of the toughest questions of the day.

"What is the word called for where all of these things live?" Donnelly asked, expecting to supply the answer after a few seconds of blank stares.

"Habitat!" Garret Fantini, 3, shouted correctly, as Donnelly and Clinkenbeard exchanged surprised but delighted looks.

Children soak up information quickly, Donnelly said after the one-hour program finished. When the SoundWaters staff reviewed material at the beginning of yesterday's session, many recalled last week's discussion on toads and frogs.

"They remember and they absorb it," Donnelly, 24, said. "It's really surprising."

SoundWaters has a variety of educational programs based on age level.

This is the second year the SoundKids program has been held at Round Hill, school director Mindy Dudley said.

Children are fascinated by marine life, Dudley said. "They don't have any preconceived ideas about it," she said. It's important to teach children about science at early stages, she added. "The earlier you expose them, the earlier they're captivated by it."

Yesterday's group created sea star art, complete with glued-on sand for texture, and across the room, they handled live sea stars. Some weren't as eager to touch the five-armed animals at first, but everyone eventually gets eager to handle the animals SoundWaters brings to class, Clinkenbeard said.

"We're showing kids something they've never seen before," she said, citing exposure and discovery as the two primary purposes of the program. If sea stars felt odd to the kids, just wait until tomorrow, Clinkenbeard, 24, said. That's when the class will handle horseshoe crabs.

"At first, they are always scared of them, but then, they love it," Clinkenbeard said of her past experience teaching the section on horseshoe crabs, her favorite sea creature. "They are wicked cool."

When the children weren't handling wildlife and coloring, they were performing a science experiment with Donnelly.

The children surrounded a tub full of water and dropped different objects inside to show what sinks and what floats. After a few stones were thrown in by particularly enthusiastic young scientists, Donnelly took a half-step back from the splashing water and dried off her hands.

"Science can be fun," she told the students. "And science can be messy."