Girls In Ocean Science

Women still struggle in many fields of work to be given opportunities. One of those includes scientific studies. Only 12% of members of national science academies are women.

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) has recognized this and invited Santa Barbara Unified students to participate in a day long science experience, Girls In Ocean Science.

Over the course of one day, students get to learn about three different aspects of marine science including whales, scuba diving, and various planktons.

The day starts with around two hours out on the Double Dolphin. On our trip, the weather wasn’t providing the best conditions to spot any wildlife so we weren’t able to, but it was still a beautiful experience on the ocean. 

While on the boat we were able to extract plankton samples from the ocean in small groups.

Once making it back to the museum, the group of girls was split into three seperate groups to study different areas of marine science. My group began learning about different aspects of scuba diving and certain issues for which scuba divers are recording data.

We also learned about many everyday items where we find kelp, like toothpaste and shampoo! We were educated on current issues involving the relationship between organisms and kelp and the ratios that are affected when they is more or less of one or the other.

There were hands-on stations set up where we were able to count the ratio of kelp, fish, and sea urchins and then record the data we found using special pens and paper to write underwater the way that scuba divers do every day! We regrouped and discussed what stations would have more successful ecosystems and ones that would lack some organisms and which ones would suffer from overpopulation.

After this we made our way upstairs and studied humpback, blue, and gray whales. We got to learn about their different calls and body features and how to differentiate them from each other. Once we wrapped up the informative part of this station we were able to measure out the length of several different whales. You really don’t know how huge they are until you see the length right in front of you! Did you know a blue whale can get up to 89 feet? That’s around the height of a nine story building!

Lastly, and this was probably my favorite part, we studied different forms of plankton and bacteria under microscopes. It was really amazing to be able to study such microscopic items. They all took on different shapes and forms that were so interesting to simply just look at. Did you know that almost all ocean organisms began in a plankton form? Some look nothing like their fully developed selves!

This really was an amazing opportunity for girls to see what it’s like in the science field and expand their knowledge on what it’s like to work in one of said fields. It was a really eye-opening experience to provide students with possible jobs any of us could pursue or study as women. Thank you so much Santa Barbara Maritime museum for this amazing opportunity!