Aeon for Ocean: Educating Kids About Oceans in Their Habitat

Marine animals capture the imagination of all children. Kids who live in coastal areas have the opportunity to observe the ocean habitat firsthand. But children who live inland in landlocked states often do not benefit from that connection and are less likely to become interested in ocean life and marine conservation. In this paper, we focus on how we can educate these children about oceans and marine life to promote awareness about the ocean and our impact on it, which leads to more actions to protect it, and the outcomes of these methods. Our methods include presentations, virtual reality experiences, hands-on projects, online lessons, interviews with industry experts, and the Teacher Ambassador program, which provides teachers with opportunities to educate and empower youth within their learning community. Through data from schools and our social media platforms, we demonstrated the effectiveness of these approaches in educating the landlocked community about oceans, marine life, the impact we have on the ocean and vice versa.