Sea urchins, baby sharks and more aquatic creatures attended their first day of elementary school Thursday morning following the Aquarium on Wheels’ two-year hiatus.
The educational program from The Aquarium of the Pacific was gleefully welcomed back with smiling faces despite the rain, at William F. Prisk Elementary in Long Beach. Two educators from the Aquarium of the Pacific spoke to the classroom for 30 minutes before allowing students to get hands-on experience with the animals.
The engrossed crowd of elementary school students Thursday morning learned “amazing animal adaptations,” the different ways in which sea creatures have adapted over hundreds of years to suit the harsh and cold Pacific Ocean.
“I think this is wonderful because it allows a greater exposure to more students to the ocean and its inhabitants,” said Jennie Dean, vice president of education and conservation for The Aquarium of the Pacific. “It is also an opportunity for the hands-on aspect to exist in greater form. Several of the schools that we’ve served in the past have had students in them who have not been to the beach and have not seen a tide pool.”
For preschool through kindergarten groups, the aquarium provides an “Under the sea shapes” lesson, where educators point out shapes hiding in nature, like the triangle fins of a shark and the diamond-shaped blades of kelp.
Students were also able to touch a replica of a sea otter fur pallet and feel a shark’s jaw and sharp teeth. A large portable tidepool inside of the truck housed the stars of the show: sea stars, hermit crabs, baby sharks, urchins, anemones and a friendly sea cucumber who call the Aquarium on Wheels their home.
Eager students lined up to give gentle, two-finger touches to each of the animals as educators pointed out their distinct biological intricacies and charms.
“There is something really special about touching the real thing as opposed to seeing an image or handling a plastic artifact,” Dean said. “Students get very excited when they’re able to touch a sea star live and see that the one side of it’s very hard and the other side has hundreds of tiny little tube feet that kind of tickle their hand when it touches them.
“That joy and connection that is expressed on their faces or with their exclamations as they’re hands-on with our tide pools is my favorite part of this,” she said.
A young William F. Prisk Elementary student uses a magnifying glass to inspect the the camera and photographer looking at him during the Aquarium on Wheels event on Jan. 5, 2023. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune) 
William F. Prisk Elementary students reach into the portable tidepool from the Aquarium of the Pacific to touch an orange starfish on Jan. 5, 2023. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune) 
Instructor Allison Patton teaches William F. Prisk Elementary students about the anatomy of sea turtles by showing them the inside of a large shell on display for the Aquarium on Wheels event on Jan. 5, 2023. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune) 
Aquarium of the Pacific instructor Ty Frantz demonstrates how the nose of an elephant seal works while standing next to a life-sized inflatable model of one to the students at William F. Prisk Elementary during the Aquarium on Wheels event on Jan. 5, 2023. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune) 
The wet hands of a William F. Prisk Elementary student reach out to feel a sea shell froma portable tide pool during the Aquarium on Wheels event on Jan. 5, 2023. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune)
Aquarium on Wheels began in 2002 and visits locations within a 75-mile radius with a truck equipped with sea animals and oceanic lessons for viewers. The program was serving 35,000 students in Southern California before having to pause in the spring of 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Though the program only recently announced its return, the aquarium has already confirmed visits to 16 cities in Southern California, including Covina, Irvine, Northridge, Redlands, Riverside and Santa Ana.
The Aquarium on Wheels used it’s vacation time to make improvements on the truck. It’s now equipped with a new life support system—the pipes that carry and treat the water with nutrients and antibiotics. The aquarium also replaced the stairs that students use to walk up and out of the truck and the wheelchair-accessible ramp attached. The interior of the truck received new wrapping which shows images of kelp forests, tide pools and different sea creatures along with their name.
The animals included in Aquarium on Wheels, Dean explained, are permanent residents on the truck rather than being constantly transported from truck to tanks at the aquarium. This allows for a consistent water circulation and temperature along with lower levels of stress for the sea creatures. Animals showing signs of distress are taken off the truck until their condition improves.
To book a lesson and hands-on experience with the Aquarium on Wheels, visit their website. Classroom programs of roughly 35 students are available with two different age groups, along with auditorium programs for more than 100 people, which offers more sea animals to touch.
