School's Out Science Opportunities with ECOGIG!
Emily Davenport
Education and Outreach Lead for ECOGIG
The University of Georgia, Department of Marine Science, ECOGIG—Grant funded project
Athens, Georgia
I work as the Education & Outreach Lead for a grant funded project called ECOGIG—which stands for Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf. We are one of several research groups that was formed after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident. It's my job to share with the public what our researchers are learning about the impacts of the oil to the Gulf of Mexico's ecosystem. Our researchers work in other marine ecosystems as well, and we are transitioning away from the oil spill and hopefully towards our next big research project, so I also educate people about the ocean in general—and in particular the deep sea and all the amazing things it has to offer. We have a couple of great distance learning options for parents and kids!
First, I've created a series of online "School's Out Science" webinars that are on ZOOM but will also live stream (and then live) on YouTube. You can find all of our webinar offerings plus the ZOOM registration link for each one on our website, plus links to prior webinars on our YouTube channel.
The Adventures of Zack & Molly
We also have a fantastic cartoon series called The Adventures of Zack & Molly—a series about an unlikely duo exploring the deep ocean, produced by my office in collaboration with Sherman's Lagoon creator and filmmaker Jim Toomey. We JUST released the 4th video in the series where Molly takes Zack on a field trip to the Gulf of California and they meet an under-appreciated superhero called "Beggiatoa."
A short synopsis about the series: Zack is more interested in the small world of his smartphone than the larger world around him. His online request for a roommate is answered by Molly, a tech-savvy Dumbo Octopus on a mission to tell the world about the importance of the deep ocean. Molly wants to use Zack’s apartment for her global communications headquarters, but Zack is skeptical. To win Zack over, Molly takes him to her deep ocean home in the Gulf of Mexico to see its unique features and diverse marine life, and to help him understand how human activities threaten its health.
In addition to the video series—which is available on our website as well as our YouTube channel—we have a learning guide that provides discussion points, connections to Next Generation Science Standards, hands-on activities, and further resources. The videos and learning guide are available with Spanish subtitles as well.
