Sea Life Blackpool has unveiled a new underwater classroom, suitable for school visits, that provides students with the opportunity to learn about marine life first-hand.
To mark the start of a new academic year, the aquarium has revealed its new learning facility which allows pupils to study sharks and other marine life ‘underwater’.
Underwater classroom
The underwater classroom takes the form of an ocean tunnel, so that pupils can stand directly beneath the sea creatures. Other parts of the new development include a Rainforest Ranger Table which allows pupils to see and touch creatures such as tarantulas, chameleons and giant African land snails.
Each visit also includes the chance to become shark detectives as pupils are given the opportunity to touch and feed some of the marine life on display.
Pupils will experience more than 50 displays and over 2,000 aquatic creatures on a visit, including tropical sharks, colourful reef fish, rays and sea horses.
Underwater lessons
Sea Life Blackpool has also launched a new timetable of ‘underwater’ lessons that have been created to fit in with the National Curriculum and can take place within the new classroom.
Sessions include: Breed, Rescue, Protect! whereby pupils will explore the three principles of the Sea Life centre through hands-on activities; Home Sweet Homes which looks at animals and their habitats; Lifecycles which links in with Science and looks at the lifecycles of animals and how they adapt; and Survival in the Deep where students can explore how predators work and interact in oceans.
The centre’s new range of curriculum-linked, hands-on learning experiences have been developed for Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils. The sessions include visual and video resources, along with practical learning tasks.
Topics covered include the importance of conservation for the future of the oceans, the different habitats that exist under the waves and the part that predators play in the food chain.
School visits can be tailored to suit the needs of individual classes and pupils and can include talks, sessions and tours to help students understand more about the natural world and marine life.
Teachers looking to book a class trip can contact schoolsblackpool@merlinentertainments.biz or call 01253 629216.
For more information, visit www.visitsealife.com/blackpool/discover/school-trips.
