News Release

Students learn with Cousteau, UNC-Chapel Hill
scientists through interactive undersea experiments

CHAPEL HILL -- On Aug. 25 and 26, 200 eighth-graders at Smith Middle School will participate in unique undersea experiments with explorer and conservationist Philippe Cousteau and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill marine scientists on a coral reef off of Key Largo, Fla. – without getting wet or leaving Chapel Hill.

Other students in the area – and the public – also will be able to participate on Aug. 26 at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. In addition, there will be live webcasts, sponsored by LEARN NC through UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Education.

This is all part of "Science Under the Sea: Philippe Cousteau Live from Aquarius," a high-tech interactive multimedia educational project dreamed up by Cousteau and colleagues at EarthEcho International, a nonprofit environmental educational organization; and partners at Chapel Hill’s Smith Middle School, UNC-Chapel Hill and Aquarius, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s undersea laboratory run by UNC-Wilmington’s National Underwater Research Center (NURC).

Through the use of video teleconferencing technology, students will be able to converse with and observe Cousteau and two teenage divers while they explore a live coral reef and its diverse natural inhabitants 60 feet under the sea in the self-contained Aquarius laboratory, located about three-and-a-half miles off the coast of Key Largo.

As a bonus, the project may coincide with the coral reef spawning season, a rare and spectacular ritual that occurs during a brief interval only once a year.

On hand at Aquarius will be marine scientists Dr. Christopher S. Martens and Dr. Niels L. Lindquist, faculty members of UNC-Chapel Hill’s College of Arts and Sciences, who will be conducting research in the underwater facility during August.

The young divers on the exploration team will be Kaya Lindquist, 17, daughter of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Lindquist and a rising senior at West Carteret High School in Morehead City; and Melissa Winch, 14, who lives near Key Largo.

The interactive live sessions at Smith Middle School, and online, will take place Aug. 25 at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and Aug. 26 at 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. LEARN NC, a Web-based outreach program of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Education, will air the sessions online at: http://community.learnnc.org/scienceunderthesea.  

Also on the 26th, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Morehead Center will host a special interactive session for area students at 10:30 a.m. and a free session for the public at 9:30 p.m.

For Cousteau, the son of Jan and Philippe Cousteau and grandson of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the "Science Under the Sea" project reflects the mission of his legendary family of undersea divers and educators.

"This is an exciting, interactive opportunity to feel immersed in science and the environment and the issues, and to gain a sense of stewardship," said Philippe Cousteau, president of EarthEcho International. The organization combines diving, documentary filmmaking and interactive media to educate the public about the interconnections of natural life and the sustainability of the planet.

The project’s five 30-minute, real-time, interactive sessions are based on scientific questions submitted last year by eighth-grade students taught by Melinda Fitzgerald and Kelly Sears at Smith Middle School.

"Our students will ask questions of the divers, take field notes on their observations, discuss as a group what they are learning and then have additional readings and seminar discussions," Fitzgerald said.

The experiments address how sponges pump water, respire and respond to music and other stimuli. The divers and students also will explore coral reef structure, how different organisms respond to reef habitats and who eats what in the reef environment.

The night sessions at Smith Middle School and the Morehead Center will focus on nocturnal organisms.

Lindquist, associate professor of marine sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, is based at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City. He researches and teaches about how marine organisms protect themselves from sun exposure, predators and water pollution.

Martens, William B. Aycock distinguished professor of marine sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, studies and teaches about biogeochemical processes driven by the decomposition of naturally occurring organic matter and estuarine sediment.

"This is an exciting opportunity for students and the public to engage with divers at Aquarius, a world-class underwater research facility," said Martens. "Even ocean scientists don’t get to go there very often."

The "Science Under the Sea" project is supported by funds from an anonymous donor and grants from NURC, the National Science Foundation Chemical Oceanography Program and the Centers for Ocean Sciences Educational Excellence (COSEE), a network of seven regional centers nationwide promoting partnerships between research scientists and educators.

The Morehead Center plans a follow-up session on Sept. 2 when Cousteau, Martens, Lindquist and area students will convene at the center for a discussion and film highlights from the August experiments.

- 30 -

Note: Contact Philippe Cousteau at (202) 374-6404.

LEARN NC contact: Melissa Thibault, (919) 843-9920 or mthibault@learnnc.org

Morehead Center contact: Karen Kornegay, (919) 843-7952

College of Arts and Sciences contact: Dee Reid, (919) 843-6339