At the end of every Digital WAVE session, we celebrate the students’ accomplishment with students, Museum staff, invited families and friends … and of course, chocolate cake! At our recent Family Event at the end of this year’s spring session, students presented the virtual world projects they’d created, which were designed to illustrate water pathways and the impacts of climate change on south Florida. Throughout the program, students gathered information for their projects through all kinds of fun activities. They went on a field trip to Anne Kolb Nature Center, met in-person with University of Miami scientist Dr. Arthur Mariano, met Dr. Annmarie Eldering of NASA via virtual worlds, conducted their own research, and built model aquifers. They even met virtually with students from Maloka Interactive Science Center in Colombia, who were also working on water and  climate related projects, through the Museum’s SCEnaRioS project. The final result was truly impressive, because not only did each group create south Florida environments like the Everglades or downtown Miami, but all of the groups worked together to make these environments fit in one interactive map of south Florida. All of the students received well-deserved certificates of completion, not to mention some yummy cake.

On a field trip to Anne Kolb Nature Center and West Lake Park, Digital Wave students, also participating in the Museum’s SCEnaRioS project, were real scientists.  A scientist’s job is to observe the world and ask questions. They always want to know how something works or how something is affected by something else. So students went on a boat ride through the channels and open waters of West Lake with a nature guide, and visited the exhibit hall to learn more about the natural environments. Job #1: Observe and Listen. Job #2: Ask questions. Job #3: Take notes and draw sketches of what you see. And of course one of the most important jobs:  enjoy the nature around you. For those readers (a.k.a. scientists) also taking notes, there are 3 types of mangrove tree: red, black, and white. As you may have guessed, you can tell them apart by their coloring, but also by the shape of their leaves and where they prefer to grow. Red mangroves grow closer to the shoreline, and white and black prefer slightly more inland. Mangroves also take advantage of living on the shore – seedlings drift in the water’s currents, and grow rapidly when they find a spot they like. Mangrove forests play an important role in the ecosystem for fish and for humans, so scientists (a.k.a. all of us) need to keep an eye on them.