Ways to Contribute
Education Program
Students can Experience the Wonders of Marine Life
More than 250,000 students and teachers benefit each year form the Aquarium of the Pacific’s education program. Great opportunities exist to support this effort:
- The Aquarium Education Fund
- The Aquarium Education Fund supports an array of education-related programs that help reverse distressing declines in science knowledge and environmental awareness among schoolchildren. These include: standards-based classroom and theater programs, Aquarium on Wheels mobile aquarium van, teacher training, and curriculum resources.
- Cesar Chavez Elementary School Partnership
- The Cesar Chavez Elementary School Partnership pilot program was designed to increase science knowledge in the at-risk, underserved student population of this inner-city elementary school. Aquarium educators use marine science themes to support students’ primary science education, which provides a springboard to help students go beyond science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to discover the interrelatedness of all knowledge.
- The Aquarium Scholarship Funds
- The Aquarium Scholarship Fund directly benefits low-achieving children in high-poverty schools by offering free admission and scholarship funds to school and community groups. These students, many of whom have never seen the ocean or experienced the wonders of marine life firsthand, receive transportation to the Aquarium, admission to the Aquarium, and a variety of educator-led classroom or theater programs. The Aquarium serves children from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Ventura, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties.
- Aquarium on Wheels
- Our Aquarium on Wheels mobile tidepool exhibit provides students who are unable to come to the Aquarium the opportunity to explore the vast wonders of the Pacific Ocean, without even leaving their neighborhoods! By making it possible for students to see and touch spiny sea stars, slippery sea cucumbers, or the rough-textured skin of sharks and other local marine inhabitants, Aquarium on Wheels teaches children about marine science and the importance of conservation, including how their everyday actions impact marine life and habitats miles away.