NGI Begins Rollout of limited Face-to-Face Outreach Activities at NASA Infinity Science Center.

December 1, 2020

NGI Personnel took part in the NASA Infinity Science Center Home School Mondays Program, last week. It was one of our first opportunities to undertake a face-to-face activity since the onset of the pandemic. The Infinity Science Center invited homeschooled children and their families to attend their Home School Monday educational event concerning the "OCEANS". We utilized the What's the Catch activity modified by our own Madalyn Newman, at the request of the Infinity Science Center who said, "It is their favorite activity we've put forward so far".

The activity involves a simple ocean filled with different species of marine life, where the students trawl with different mesh sizes of nets and quantify the species sampled. The activity allows us to discuss biodiversity, bycatch, and sampling techniques in our work offshore. It uses concepts from problem-solving, coastal biology, basic mathematics, and graphing/charting. There were 207 registered students along with their families and siblings in attendance.

This activity provided an excellent opportunity to get live science and interactions with NGI scientists into the hearts and minds of students in homeschool programs across the Gulf Coast region to help stir their imagination and possibly spark an interest in the Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences.

NGI Personnel are scheduled to undertake an additional Homeschool Event at the new Mississippi Aquarium on February 23rd and 25th of 2021 for more information you can follow the link here: https://www.msaquarium.org/homeschool-days.