AltaSea, in partnership with Reef Check and Los Angeles Maritime Institute (LAMI), with additional support from Southern California Edison, developed the Student Ocean Scientist Program, a marine curriculum to immerse students in the local marine environment, familiarize them with local ecosystems and introduce them to Reef Check’s citizen scientist concept, which tracks the status of marine resources in California through youth citizen science. The curriculum is STEM-based (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and supports Next Generation Science Standards. Curriculum delivery is reinforced with hands-on student experiments that expand upon and reinforce the lessons in the curriculum.

The program targets middle school students from Title 1 schools and will reach approximately 600 students from 21 schools during the pilot period. Reef Check and LAMI educators deliver the curriculum during three-hour sails on LAMI tall ships in and around Los Angeles Harbor. The student teacher ratio goal of 5:1 ensures a personalized learning environment for the students.