Amid the whales, penguins, and rides, SeaWorld offered something more on Thursday for about a thousand students, from first grade through 12th, visiting from across the county and as far as Los Angeles.
SeaWorld hosted a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Day for the second time.
Students were offered discount tickets, and the chance to visit a variety of learning stations where they got lessons about things like shark's teeth — how they measure a shark’s size and how much pressure sharks use when chomping down on unlucky prey.
KPBS spoke to High Tech Middle Mesa 8th graders Sofia Dickman and Jorie Northup right after they visited the shark learning station.
They said they really liked what they saw and felt at another station; the stop where they learned about the importance of blubber for marine animals.
"'Cause it’s probably really cold in those waters," Northup said, noting they'd learned "how they’ve done it and how they’ve developed to protect their skin and stay warm."
Mike Dunn is the manager of education and conservation at SeaWorld, and he's been at this for awhile. He's in his 35th year at SeaWorld. STEM Day is his idea.
"There’s science behind everything and that is one thing that I think a lot of people don’t realize is that, as you walk around SeaWorld, we have science surrounding you the entire visit," Dunn said.
There’s an old school flavor behind STEM Day. All the students are given age-appropriate paper booklets and pencils to actually write down what they’ve learned.
Part of the science on display had nothing to do with animals or their habitats. Students also learned about the science behind roller coasters.
"We have some really fun rides where kids are able to ride Emperor or ride Arctic Rescue, learn about centrifugal forces, distance equals rate times time, velocity, things of that nature," said Dunn.
He said he loves nothing more than to spark an interest in STEM among these young people. That was a foregone conclusion for Jorie Northup.
"I want to be a zookeeper when I grow up, so (it's) definitely like — life goals," said Northup.
Making learning fun. It's been a goal of teachers throughout history, one that’s probably a bit easier to realize when the classroom is a theme park.
