Youngsters diving into ocean studies

05 February 2017 - 02:00 By CLAIRE KEETON
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Marine science is not just about swimming with turtles or tagging great white sharks in the big blue.

Cape Town's Two Oceans Aquarium has developed a marine sciences matric curriculum to attract young people to careers in this field and protect invaluable ocean resources and coastline.

Aquarium education head Russell Stevens said he hoped the new school subject would be piloted at the Lawhill Maritime Centre in Simon's Town next year. It would follow the format of life sciences, expanding on material the aquarium has offered to high school pupils and volunteers since 2001.

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Two Oceans senior teacher Xavier Zylstra, who developed the curriculum with support from Stevens, said: "The ocean is an unexplored realm. If we get researchers in there, they will help to ensure the sustainability of its resources."

About 900 people have graduated as "young biologists" on completing the five-day course run by the Two Oceans Marine Sciences Academy. Most continued to work as volunteers after their obligatory 30 hours of volunteering.

This is the Two Oceans' flagship course targeting Grade 8 pupils, who train with microscopes, make collections and presentations, and organise environmental clean-ups.

Shanet Rutgers, 26, who works with penguins at the aquarium, said: "The YB [Young Biologists] course is very educational and opens doors for young students who would like to work in the wildlife sector.

"After doing it I went on to study nature conservation and then continued volunteering for as many hours as possible."

Some YB graduates have progressed to the aquarium's five-day oceanography course, preparing them for tertiary study. Four have so far been awarded marine sciences and oceanography bursaries.

The aquarium's courses give pupils a foundation in biology, the language of marine sciences and knowledge of what this involves.

Raashida Manual, a second-year student in oceanography and atmospheric sciences at the University of Cape Town, said the aquarium's courses had equipped her for her degree.

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"I have always been passionate about the ocean and how it works, and this came together for me in the YB course."

Zylstra said: "People have this romantic idea that marine scientists put on scuba gear and go swimming with dolphins, when they are more likely to spend three weeks in the ocean a year and the rest of the time doing research and number crunching."

YB graduate Simon Leigh, 26, said he thought marine sciences at school would attract pupils.

If the curriculum is approved, the aquarium would like to see it offered in about 20 "magnet" coastal schools, which could also cater for pupils from inland.

Stevens has met subject advisers, district managers and officials at the Department of Basic Education, as well as the Independent Examinations Board, to propose that they manage the matric subject - which would include biology, ecology, oceanography and content on humans and the oceans.

Developing the field would complement the government's Operation Phakisa, intended to maximise the potential of the coast and ocean for job creation and sustainability, said Stevens.

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