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Students visiting the Aquarium as part of a Structured School Program participate in activities that reinforce the concepts introduced in the curriculum. Students meet in the classroom for an introduction and then divide into three smaller groups that rotate between three grade-specific theme-based activities.
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Students discuss some of the habitats of South Carolina and learn a song to help them remember what plants and animals need to survive in a
habitat.


Students observe and touch live animals from both land and water habitats of South Carolina and discuss how these different animals may get air, food, water and shelter.


While exploring the Coast Gallery, students discover animals and determine how these animals use different types of shelter for protection within their habitat.


Students engage in a scavenger hunt to learn about some of the animals in coastal plain habitats. The students answer riddles about these animals and their habitat needs, based on their observations.
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Students participate in a role-playing activity to learn how the adaptations of plants and animals determine how they are connected in a community through food chains.


Students examine live animals, such as sea urchins and snakes, to determine the adaptations these animals have that help them to survive in a community as a part of a food chain.

Students explore the exhibits to find plants and animals to determine their roles in a food chain. Students then use pictures of these organisms to construct food chains found in these environments.

Students will examine the fish in the exhibits and discuss what adaptations a fish needs to survive underwater. Students will then build their own fish while comparing the parts to the gear used by a diver.

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Students will discuss what watersheds are and how they connect all of the habitats represented in the Aquarium.






Students will examine live animals and discuss how they are dependent on watersheds to survive and how they may be susceptible to contamination caused by human action.




Students conduct water quality tests on water samples taken from different aquatic habitats and use characteristics such as temperature and pH to determine where these water samples would be found in a
watershed.


Ocean Gallery

Students perform an activity representing a river collecting pollution as it flows through South Carolina from the mountains to the sea and discuss how pollution affects watersheds. Students will also discuss decomposition rates while discovering the positive outcomes of recycling..
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Students will discuss the characteristics of 5 major marine invertebrate phyla and match live specimens to their correct phylum. Students will also perform a dichotomous key activity with fish living in the Aquarium’s Great Ocean Tank.

Career skills will be the focus of a behind-the-scenes tour. Students will learn about the many occupations an organization like the South Carolina Aquarium needs in order to function, from Environmental and Guest Services to Husbandry and Education.


©2008 South Carolina Aquarium, 100 Aquarium Wharf, Charleston, SC 29401 ~ (843) 720-1990