The Growing up at the Aquarium project continues its work: at present, learning sessions of all four project stages - the environmental biology club “Belyok”, the ecology club “Sea Guardians”, “Ichthyology Club” and “AQUAlaboratory” - are conducted online. 

“Due to the lockdown restrictions we have suspended the project classes delivered at the Aquarium but we keep working with children in another format – now classes are carried out online,” said Sergey Loginov, Director of the Primorsky Aquarium. “Every week specialists of our Education Department hold video conferences for the project participants and prepare presentations and assignments for them. Our large-scale project called Growing up at the Aquarium was launched in 2018, its main goal is to foster children’s interest in marine biology and ecology as well as to draw their attention to the beauty and wealth of the World Ocean. The response we receive from the children – they enthusiastically returned to classes - testifies that we have properly organized our work with the rising generation”. 

The shift to online learning required existing lesson plans and structures to be altered. For instance, the fourth stage of the project, “AQUAlaboratory”, includes a lot of hands-on sessions in learning labs. 

“Because of current circumstances, only lectures are offered now – they can easily be given via videoconferencing, and after each conference pupils do home assignments on the topics covered in a lecture,” explained Lyubov Gliznutsa, Lead Specialist at the Education Department.  ”Even in a digital format, our classes are still educational and interesting.” 

These online meetings are not obligatory but all project participants who have an opportunity to attend them do it with great pleasure. 

“All lectures and assignments are available on the interactive web page of the Belyok club so that the children who cannot take part in our virtual classes will be able to look through the materials at their convenience,” said Tatyana Chernykh, Principal Specialist at the Education Department.