Far Rockaway Dives 9/30,10/1

Congrats to Juan for completing his NAUI Scuba Diver certification dives!  Once again, a super huge thanks to Ocean Horizons Scuba for being simply totally awesome!

Two beautiful days for diving.  Check it out, and you’ll check out a seahorse!!

A train to Far Rock

Checking the conditions

Guz, not afraid of anything

An unfortunate crab

Fishing in NYC

Wetsuitin' up

Me, Rolman, Paul, and Juan

Juan and Rolman being silly in the water

About to experience dive #1 for the weekend

Best friends ... aww!!

One GIGANTIC spider!!

One relatively decent sized fish.

Juan and me, just before dive #4

Actually, this is Juan and me just before dive #4

Juan and me, during dive #4

Juan, like a fish.

We found a bowling ball underwater. Gotta love NY.

Juan, showing us how it's done.

Juvenile Snowy Grouper

Hey everybody, look at me, I'm a starfish.

Butterfly fish, getting big!

Juan, with his souvenir.

More butterfly fish

Nice profile shot

Lizardfish

And the real prize of the day, a seahorse!!! Paul has been diving Beach 8th St. for over 30 years, and this is only the 3rd seahorse he's seen!

Awesome.

Schooba presents at Earth Day Rockaway!

This past Saturday, the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation hosted the 5th Annual Earth Day Rockaway celebration, a fun-filled afternoon of environmental education, arts and crafts, and entertainment on the boardwalk at Beach 59th Street.  Schooba was there in full force, tabling materials and presenting workshops to kids, teenagers, and adults alike.  Have a look at some highlights from the day:

Schooba, a participating organization

"Com'n, hurry up! We can't be late for the Schooba workshop!" - about 30 screaming fans at 12:29 PM

Setting up our table

About an hour before the festivities

The boardwalk at Beach 59th St., Rockaway, Queens

The Schooba table!

A bit closer up

Open the gates!

Yashira, drawing a crowd

A grown man amazed

And signing up for more info!

Yashira explaining the Cartesian condiment experiment

Amazing the crowd

Little girls, just prior to being amazed.

Little girls, about to do the Diving Raisin experiment

More grown men fascinated

Science through scuba.

Experimenting some more

And blowing minds left, right, and straight ahead

"Heck yeah I want more info!"

Lovin' the raisin experiment

The Shrinking Lung experiment

Our new friend's activity for the next 45 minutes.

Already looking forward to attending next year!

Schooba now listed in the National After School Science Directory

Check out our profile in the National After School Science Directory.  Search by zip code or keyword, it don’t matter!

Explorers Club, 4/16

Yet another successful expedition.  Some captured moments in time:

G'Imani, really into her scuba diving magazine.

Duane and a big cat.

Dr. Russell Seidel, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Dowling College, our lecturer for the day.

"Aww, Com'n, Dr. Russ, I thought we were going to do some tough stuff today." - The Schoobents, sulking

"Yeah, no duh." - The Schoobents, in unison.

G'Imani exploring the Explorers Club flag and all of the places it has been.

G'Imani and Nyell exploring the Cheetah.

Boss Duane, with his elephant tusk.

Boss Duane, with his elephant tusks ... again.

Nyell, looking at the Explorers Club flag and thinking about exploring.

Having a look at some of the different Explorers Club explorers.

Big thanks to everyone at the Explorers Club and Dowling College!  Next weekend trip – Earth Day Rockaway, 4/30!

Schooba partners with MWA!

The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is a nonprofit organization that “works to transform the New York and New Jersey Harbor and Waterways to make them cleaner and more accessible, a vibrant place to play, learn and work with great parks, great jobs and great transportation for all.”

Check out our profile on their partners page:

http://www.waterfrontalliance.org/partners/schooba

NY Aquarium trip 4.2.11

Another fantastic expedition!  Check it out:

Hakeem in his new shirt

Waiting for the L train ... Before some serious lectures on why Mike and Ikes, Oreos, and Good 'N Plenty are not a balanced breakfast.

Hakeem and the Cyclone

The Crew, actin' cool

Big thanks to Richard Blankfein, Dive Safety Officer of the Aquarium, who hooked us up and gave us another behind-the-scenes tour of the compound.

Yashira exploring coral reefs

Wise words from the kiosk ...Can we call that a kiosk?

Who knew neon tetras could be so cool?

Richard and the seals ... Ok, that sounds like a band name.

Hakeem and a Sand Tiger

Yashira and the jellies ...Ok, that also sounds like a band name.

Wait for it ...

Wait for it! ...

(Sound of water rushing.)

"Phew, that was a close call. We almost got drenched!" - Yashira

Yashira on the beach.

Hakeem on the beach.

And a short video clip: Hakeem getting shut down.

Next trip: Explorers Club, 4/16/11 – Stay Tuned!

Government approved!

…Almost.

“Consent to filing with the Department of State”

Check out that official seal.

Thank you Diver Magazine!

For your generous product donations.

I’ll be quizzing them soon.

LES Ecology Center Trip!

This past Saturday, we took a small group to the Lower East Side Ecology Center.  They’re located in East River Park, and “work toward a more sustainable New York City by providing community-based recycling and composting programs, developing local stewardship of green space, and increasing community awareness, involvement and youth development through environmental education programs.”  Have a look at some snapshots from the day.

Yashira and Nyell, two of our newest Schoobents, show off their new gear.

Upon arrival at the park, we were met by Dan, the Education Director of the center.

First, he brought us to the CSO (Combined Sewer Overflow) and schooled us on the ramifications of a polluted sewer system.

We then did a bit of water sampling. Here we are getting the temperature. Any guesses?

Now, testing the salinity.

Any guesses?

It was then time for a little East River fishing!

Yashira and Nyell getting ready.

Dan cutting the bait (squid!).

Yashira, getting baited.

Fishing!

Yashira, showing us all how to use the equipment.

Was that a nibble?

Basketball?? ...A little Jimmy Buffett, and Duane has carved himself a little slice of heaven.

Next trip: NY Aquarium on 4/2.  Stay posted!

Curriculum expanded!

At the beginning of this week, The Schooba Academy began its second program at Lyons Community School.  This time around, we’re working exclusively with over-age and under-credited kids, all of whom are eligible to receive high school science credit upon completion of the course.  We’ve expanded the curriculum to fit the program, and the Schooba manual now aligns scuba diving to 9 NYS Intermediate Level Science Core Curriculum Major Understandings:

• LE 1.2d  During respiration, cells use oxygen to release the energy stored in food.  The respiratory system supplies oxygen and removes carbon dioxide (gas exchange).
• LE 1.2f  The circulatory system moves substances to and from cells, where they are needed or produced, responding to changing demands.
• PE 1.1d  Gravity is the force that keeps planets in orbit around the Sun and the Moon in orbit around the Earth.
• PE 2.1b  As altitude increases, air pressure  decreases.
• PE 3.1d  Gases have neither a determined shape nor a definite volume.  Gases assume the shape and volume of a closed container.
• PE 3.1h  Density can be described as the amount of matter that is in a given amount of space.  If two objects have equal volume, but one has more mass, the one with more mass is denser.
• PE 3.1i  Buoyancy is determined by comparative densities.
• PE 3.3a  All matter is made up of atoms.  Atoms are far too small to see with a light microscope.
• PE 3.3b  Atoms and molecules are perpetually in motion.  The greater the temperature, the greater the motion.