Coastal Trends Day

mentoring young scientistsCoastal Trends Day is an annual event held at the Virginia Aquarium’s Bay & Ocean Pavilion. Serving as a kick-off for National Education Week activities, Coastal Trends Day showcases projects developed by middle school students and their mentors who participated in the Mentoring Young Scientists (MYS) program. In addition, COSEE Coastal Trends scientist-educator teams present their research findings to the public via displays, posters, presentations, activities, and demonstrations for aquarium guests.

For this year's Coastal Trends Day, which was held on April 12, 2008, Dr. Laura Murray and students from Hampton University's Communicating Ocean Science to Informal Audiences class presented hands-on seagrass activities based on her research at Horn Point Laboratory. MYS project highlights included information and activities focusing on Human Development along the coastlines, the formation of Dead Zones, Global Climate Change and invasive species. More than 1000 Aquarium guests visited the displays.COSEE Coastal Trends team at VA Aquariumstudent helps child touch seagrass