The Pier Aquarium’s On-Site Education Programs
The mission of The Pier Aquarium is to enhance the public’s understanding of the value and fragility of
the local and global marine environment through research, education and personal experiences.
Surf-n-Turf: 2 hours
Join our education staff for an indoor and outdoor experience! The adventure begins with a unique and interactive tour
inside the aquarium. Explore living coral, take a stop at our touch tank and learn about fish from Tampa Bay and all
over the world. The second part takes place at the Roy G. Harrell, Jr. Education Station at Spa Beach. With nets and
discovery buckets in hand, students wade in the water and catch a variety of fish, sea stars, urchins, hermit crabs and
much more!
Monday-Friday: 10am-12pm ONLY
Maximum: 40 students per program
Minimum cost includes two free teachers and two free chaperones
Maximum number of additional chaperones: 2 at $5 each
Available to public, private and home school groups; summer programs also available
Pre-K-5th Grade: Ages 4-11
$4 per student
COST: $80 minimum
6th-12th Grade: Ages 12-18
$5 per student
COST: $100 minimum
Guided Tour: 1 hour
The adventure begins with a unique and interactive tour inside the aquarium! Explore our living coral, take a stop at our
touch tank and learn about fish from Tampa Bay and all over the world. Is coral a plant or an animal? How do sea stars
eat? How does a red drum confuse a predator? Join us and find out the answers to these questions and so many more!
Monday-Friday: 10-11am or 11am-12pm ONLY
Maximum: 20 people per program
Minimum cost includes two free teachers and two free chaperones
Maximum number of additional chaperones: 2 at $5 each
Available to public, private and home school groups; summer programs also available
Pre-K-5th Grade: Ages 4-11
$2 per student
COST: $40 minimum
6th-12th Grade: Ages 12-18
$4 per student
COST: $80 minimum
Adults, 18+ years
$6 per person
COST: $120 minimum
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The Pier Aquarium’s Off-Site Education Programs
Aqua-Outreach Kits: 2-week loan
COST: $25
Teachers can check out a kit (one at a time) for your students. Each kit contains educational materials such as
lessons, activities and crafts for K-4th grade.
These kits are available on a first-come, first-served basis and require a $20 deposit. Teacher must pick up and
return the kit to The Pier Aquarium. Please call (727) 895-7437, ext. 205 to make arrangements.
Kits:
Coral Reef Explorations
Shark Encounters
Marine Mammals
Millie the Manatee
Sea Turtle Survival
Mobile Touch Tank: 1 hour
Can’t make it to The Pier Aquarium and Spa Beach? Let our Education staff bring a touch tank to your classroom for a visit. We’ll select an assortment of critters such as hermit crabs, brittle stars, urchins and many more
from our collection. All you need to bring is your curiosity!
Pre-K-12th Grade: Ages 4-18
Maximum: 50 students
COST: $100 flat rate up to 20 miles round trip; $1 per each extra mile
$4 per each additional student
Ocean in Motion: 6-week program
Available on a first-come, first-served basis through May 17, 2013
Bring The Pier Aquarium to your classroom! Ocean in Motion provides students in Pinellas County the opportunity
to learn about marine science and animal care through hands-on activities. Participating classrooms are given a
working touch tank aquarium with animals collected by the students or aquarium staff from a local beach and
provided a six-week ocean education curriculum and maintenance support. A Marine Education staffer will visit the
classroom once a week for an organized program.
Pre-K-12th Grade: Ages 4-18
COST: $1,100
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The Pier Aquarium Surf-n-Turfs and Guided Tours
Next Generation Sunshine State Standards: Big Ideas
Kindergarten
Big Idea 1: The Practice of Science
SC.K.N.1.2: Make observations of the natural world and know that they are descriptors collected using the five
senses.
SC.K.N.1.5: Recognize that learning can come from careful observation.
Big Idea 14: Organization and Development of Living Organisms
SC.K.L.14.2: Recognize that some books and other media portray animals and plants with characteristics and
behaviors they do not have in real life.
SC.K.L.14.3: Observe plants and animals, describe how they are alike and how they are different in the way
they look and in the things they do.
1st Grade
Big Idea 1: The Practice of Science
SC.1.N.1.1: Raise questions about the natural world, investigate them in teams through free exploration and
generate appropriate explanations based on those explorations.
Big Idea 6: Earth Structures
SC.1.E.6.1: Recognize that water, rocks, soil and living organisms are found on Earth's surface.
Big Idea 14: Organization and Development of Living Organisms
SC.1.L.14.1: Make observations of living things and their environment using the five senses.
SC.1.L.14.3: Differentiate between living and nonliving things.
Big Idea 17: Interdependence
SC.1.L.17.1: Through observation, recognize that all plants and animals, including humans, need the basic
necessities of air, water, food and space.
2nd Grade
Big Idea 7: Earth Systems and Patterns
SC.2.E.7.1: Compare and describe changing patterns in nature that repeat themselves, such as weather conditions including temperature and precipitation, day to day and season to season.
SC.2.E.7.2: Investigate by observing and measuring, that the Sun's energy directly and indirectly warms the
water, land and air.
Big Idea 14: Organization and Development of Living Organisms
SC.2.L.14.1: A. All plants and animals, including humans, are alike in some ways and different in others.
B. All plants and animals, including humans, have internal parts and external structures that function to keep
them alive and help them grow and reproduce.
C. Humans can better understand the natural world through careful observation.
Big Idea 17: Interdependence
SC.2.L.17.1: Compare and contrast the basic needs that all living things, including humans, have for survival.
SC.2.L.17.2: Recognize and explain that living things are found all over Earth, but each is only able to live in
habitats that meet its basic needs.
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The Pier Aquarium Surf-n-Turfs and Guided Tours
Next Generation Sunshine State Standards: Big Ideas
3rd Grade
Big Idea 1: The Practice of Science
SC.3.N.1.5: Recognize that scientists question, discuss and check each others' evidence and explanations.
SC.3.N.1.6: Infer based on observation.
Big Idea 14: Organization and Development of Living Organisms
SC.3.L.14.1: Describe structures in plants and their roles in food production, support, water and nutrient
transport, and reproduction.
SC.3.L.14.2: Investigate and describe how plants respond to stimuli (heat, light, gravity).
Big Idea 15: Diversity and Evolution of Living Organisms
SC.3.L.15.1: Classify animals into major groups (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, arthropods,
vertebrates and invertebrates, those having live births and those which lay eggs) according to their physical
characteristics and behaviors.
Big Idea 17: Interdependence
SC.3.L.17.1: Describe how animals and plants respond to changing seasons.
SC.3.L.17.2: Recognize that plants use energy from the Sun, air and water to make their own food.
4th Grade
Big Idea 6: Earth Structures
SC.4.E.6.3: Recognize that humans need resources found on Earth and that these are either renewable or
nonrenewable.
Big Idea 16: Heredity and Reproduction
SC.4.L.16.2: Explain that although characteristics of plants and animals are inherited, some characteristics can
be affected by the environment.
Big Idea 17: Interdependence
SC.4.L.17.2: Explain that animals, including humans, cannot make their own food and that when animals eat
plants or other animals, the energy stored in the food source is passed to them.
SC.4.L.17.3: Trace the flow of energy from the Sun as it is transferred along the food chain through the producers to the consumers.
SC.4.L.17.4: Recognize ways plants and animals, including humans, can impact the environment.
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The Pier Aquarium Surf-n-Turfs and Guided Tours
Next Generation Sunshine State Standards: Big Ideas
5th Grade
Big Idea 7: Earth Systems and Patterns
SC.5.E.7.2: Recognize that the ocean is an integral part of the water cycle and is connected to all of Earth's
water reservoirs via evaporation and precipitation processes.
Big Idea 14: Organization and Development of Living Organisms
SC.5.L.14.2: Compare and contrast the function of organs and other physical structures of plants and animals,
including humans. For example: some animals have skeletons for support – some with internal skeletons,
others with exoskeletons – while some plants have stems for support.
Big Idea 15: Diversity and Evolution of Living Organisms
SC.5.L.15.1: Describe how, when the environment changes, differences between individuals allow some plants
and animals to survive and reproduce while others die or move to new locations.
Big Idea 17: Interdependence
SC.5.L.17.1: Compare and contrast adaptations displayed by animals and plants that enable them to survive in
different environments such as life cycles variations, animal behaviors and physical characteristics.
6th Grade
Big Idea 6: Earth Structures
SC.6.E.6.2: Recognize that there are a variety of different landforms on Earth's surface such as coastlines, dunes,
rivers, mountains, glaciers, deltas and lakes and relate these landforms as they apply to Florida.
Big Idea 7: Earth Systems and Patterns
SC.6.E.7.3: Describe how global patterns such as the jet stream and ocean currents influence local weather in
measurable terms such as temperature, air pressure, wind direction and speed, humidity and precipitation.
Big Idea 15: Diversity and Evolution of Living Organisms
SC.6.L.15.1: Analyze and describe how and why organisms are classified according to shared characteristics
with emphasis on the Linnaean system combined with the concept of Domains.
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The Pier Aquarium Surf-n-Turfs and Guided Tours
Next Generation Sunshine State Standards: High School
9-12th Grades
Life Science
Standard 15: Diversity and Evolution of Living Organisms
SC.912.L.15.1: Explain how the scientific theory of evolution is supported by the fossil record, comparative anatomy,
comparative embryology, biogeography, molecular biology, and observed evolutionary change.
SC.912.L.15.3: Describe how biological diversity is increased by the origin of new species and how it is decreased by
the natural process of extinction.
SC.912.L.15.4: Describe how and why organisms are hierarchically classified and based on evolutionary relationships.
SC.912.L.15.6: Discuss distinguishing characteristics of the domains and kingdoms of living organisms.
SC.912.L.15.7: Discuss distinguishing characteristics of vertebrate and representative invertebrate phyla and chordate
classes using typical examples.
SC.912.L.15.13: Describe the conditions required for natural selection, including: overproduction of offspring,
inherited variation, and the struggle to survive, which result in differential reproductive success.
Standard 17: Interdependence
SC.912.L.17.1: Discuss the characteristics of populations, such as number of individuals, age structure, density and
pattern of distribution.
SC.912.L.17.2: Explain the general distribution of life in aquatic systems as a function of chemistry, geography,
light, depth, salinity and temperature.
SC.912.L.17.3: Discuss how various oceanic and freshwater processes, such as currents, tides, and waves, affect the
abundance of aquatic organisms.
SC.912.L.17.4: Describe changes in ecosystems resulting from seasonal variations, climate change and succession.
SC.912.L.17.6: Compare and contrast the relationships among organisms, including predation, parasitism, competition, commensalism and mutualism.
SC.912.L.17.7: Characterize the biotic and abiotic components that define freshwater systems, marine systems and
terrestrial systems.
SC.912.L.17.8: Recognize the consequences of the losses of biodiversity due to catastrophic events, climate
changes, human activity, and the introduction of invasive, non-native species.
SC.912.L.17.9: Use a food web to identify and distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers. Explain the
pathway of energy transfer through trophic levels and the reduction of available energy at successive trophic levels.
SC.912.L.17.10: Diagram and explain the biogeochemical cycles of an ecosystem, including water, carbon and
nitrogen cycle.
SC.912.L.17.16: Discuss the large-scale environmental impacts resulting from human activity, including waste
spills, oil spills, runoff, greenhouse gases, ozone depletion and surface and groundwater pollution.
SC.912.L.17.9: Use a food web to identify and distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers. Explain the
pathway of energy transfer through trophic levels and the reduction of available energy at successive trophic levels.
SC.912.L.17.10: Diagram and explain the biogeochemical cycles of an ecosystem, including water, carbon and
nitrogen cycle.
SC.912.L.17.16: Discuss the large-scale environmental impacts resulting from human activity, including waste
spills, oil spills, runoff, greenhouse gases, ozone depletion and surface and groundwater pollution.
Earth and Space Science
Standard 6: Earth Structures
SC.912.E.6.4: Analyze how specific geologic processes and features are expressed in Florida and elsewhere.
SC.912.E.6.5: Describe the geologic development of the present day oceans and identify commonly found features.
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800 Second Ave. NE, Suite 2001
St. Petersburg, FL 33701-3503
www.pieraquarium.org
[email protected]
Phone: (727) 895-7437, ext. 205
Fax: (727) 894-1212
Today’s Date:
Contact Information
Education Program Request Form
School/Group:
Contact Name:
Address:
Phone #:
Alternate Phone #:
E-mail address:
Program Requested:
Date(s) Requested (first and second choices):
Program Information
Please note times for on-site programs.
Maximum 40 students per program per day.
Date:
Time:
Program Fee:
Age/Grade:
Cost per student:
Total # of students
Chaperones: Two teachers are free and two adult chaperones are free.
Maximum number of additional chaperones: 2 at $5 each
Total # of Chaperones:
Teachers
Adult Chaperones
TOTAL FEE (includes program fee plus additional adult chaperone fee)
Anything we need to know? Special needs or accommodations for you or your students?
Reservation & Cancellation Policy
• Daily availability for education programs is on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Reservations must be made at least 14 days in advance.
• Changes or cancellations to a scheduled program must be made at least 48 hours in advance.
• Neglecting to cancel your reservation in this manner will result in a fee that is equal to 1/2 the cost of the
education program booked.
• Please notify us of any special needs on this form.
Payment Policy
• Payment is due upon arrival at the aquarium.
• Please provide total # of students, teachers and chaperones to the staff member in the museum store.
• Each program has a minimum fee. Please be prepared to pay the minimum program fee even if your total #
of students is less than 20.
Please make checks payable to: The Pier Aquarium. We accept American Express, Discover, MasterCard and VISA.
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A Great Blast-Off for the Second Annual
St. Petersburg Science Festival!
We had more exhibits (100!), more entertainment and
more interactive experiments to share at this year’s
celebration of science held in conjunction with MarineQuest 2012 at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Bayboro Waterfront, Saturday, Oct. 27.
An opening parade led by the Mt. Zion Progressive
Missionary Baptist Church Drum Line and welcome by
Festival Co-Chairs E. Howard Rutherford and Theresa G.
Burress, USF St. Petersburg Interim Chancellor Bill
Hogarth and a reading of the St. Petersburg Science
Festival Day proclamation by City Councilman Karl
Nurse, District 6 started the full-day of science. A “Water
Works “experiment (Diet Coke + Mentos) with volunteers and the ScubaNauts followed.
About 12,000 people - kids and adults - roamed the
harbor and FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in
search of science innovation, experiments, performances,
presentations and hands-on activities. The technology –
from low and high tech to green – covered everything
science under the sun.
Entertainment at the Auto Club Group (AAA) Stage
featured a Mad Science show, Birds of Prey with Boyd
Hill Nature Preserve, a Humanoid Robot Show, a puppet
Water Works: Diet Coke + Mentos with ScubaNauts
show, Under the Sea, with St. Petersburg Public Libraries,
Raymond and the Tampa Bay Rays and musicians
Funky49 and Percussionist Jono Magro.
Presentations included: Seafood Sustainability: Know
Your Fish!, the Mars Rover Curiosity and a film screening of Veins of the Gulf with the Gulf Restoration
Network.
The 80+ organizations and exhibitors that participated
had a blast, meeting folks face-to-face, one-on-one,
celebrating science together in the St. Petersburg
community.
Many thanks to the Pinellas County School District for
helping to publicize the event and the 2012 Collaborators and Sponsors of the St. Petersburg Science Festival!
See the coverage on the science festival:
WUSF University Beat on YouTube:
Getting Up Close with Science at the St. Petersburg
Science Festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izdKB6VmB5g
St. Pete Extra on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHMtFazn8u4&feat
ure=youtube_gdata
A Crowd Gathers to Examine Sea Life
Beth Mahon and Rosie Robot
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New Exhibit Spotlight
The Seahorse Corral: How Many Can You Count in Our Herd?
A new exhibit showcases a local species of
seahorses known as the Lined Seahorse
(Hippocampus erectus). It is one of the most unusual
of all fish. With its upright
position, horse-like head set
at right angles to the body
and jointed armor, it
resembles a “knight in a chess
set.”
Worldwide, there is a huge
demand for seahorses for
traditional Chinese medicine
and the aquarium trade. Each
year, more than 20 million
seahorses are collected. Over
the last five years, some
seahorse populations crashed by 50%. At one time,
they were on brink of extinction because of overharvesting.
Now, marine aquarists have learned how to breed
them, which has assisted in conserving their populations. The Pier Aquarium has joined this effort by
breeding this seahorse
species. When the babies
are born, they are placed
in a special nursery tank to
raise them to adulthood.
Due to their very small
size at birth, we start out
feeding them live baby
brine shrimp. In the wild,
young seahorses may feed
for as long as 10 hours of
each day and consume up
to 3,600 baby brine
shrimp during this time!
As our Lined Seahorses get larger, .they will "graduate"
and be fed adult brine and mysis shrimp and move out
of the nursery once they are two inches long.
New Exhibit Spotlight
Coral Fluorescence: A Mystery in Blue
Through use of blue light, a coral reef aquarium has
been converted to a coral fluorescence display,
making the reef become alive in a kaleidoscope of
psychedelic colors. Coral fluorescence is a phenomenon when light is absorbed by pigments in the
coral and then released at a different wavelength.
The coral appears to glow in shades of green, red or
blue.
What is the reason for this? And why don't all corals
exhibit the glow? Marine biologists are unable to
explain the mystery of fluorescence. University of
South Florida College of Marine Science researchers
are now measuring fluorescence - the wavelengths of
light - with an instrument called a "fluorometer" to
determine photosynthesis. Some scientists believe
fluorescence will provide a way to identify and study
healthy and declining reef populations all over the
world. Whatever the reason, visitors to the aquarium
will see for themselves this beautiful mystery that
has yet to be solved!
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