Assignment 2c: Aquarium of the Pacific: Human7

Contains a title using the format listed above .25 points
Assignment 2c: Aquarium of the Pacific: Human7
Contains the sources you used with links to these sources .25 points
http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/planyourvisit/prices_hours/
http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/10/history/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8n4fOIdZr0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDx0pNT49tQ

Contains a brief paragraph how it connects to your study of humanities. 1 point
Learning about the aquarium of the Pacific connects to the study of humanities because it teaches me about a very popular part of California culture. The ocean and the local animals that reside there are every bit as important to our culture and the way that Californians live. The ocean is very important to all of our well being and the aquarium teaches all of its visitors why it is so important to take care of it. They entertain us with the animals and leave us feeling tied to the ocean. This allows people to reconnect with their values and think about why it is so important to help save the ocean life and our water supply. It helps us to see how our actions affect the ocean sea life and allows us to reflect and make changes for the better.
Contains the following "analytical elements":
Observation: What did you choose? What do you see or hear or feel or think of in the choice you made? What is the subject of the work? If you chose a 'thing' what is the work made of and what techniques (colors, lines, shapes, textures) does the creator use? Be specific in your description. If you chose a place, be specific in your description of what you see or hear. Talk to your reader as though they cannot see the item but somehow must draw a painting of what you see or hear. 1 point
I chose to write about the Aquarium of the Pacific. It is a very large aquarium opened on June 20, 1998. It is located in Long Beach, Ca. It rivals the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, CA. I think that this one was my favorite. It has more hands on pools and hands on activities than the one in Monterey. It is a very large beautiful building located just off the ocean so that the natural sea life can live in the ocean in large encircled tanks that have real ocean water. Inside the building there are so many exhibits to see that you definitely need a map. There are over 500 species, 19 major habitats and 32 focus exhibits. . You can get lost here if you’re not careful.
Outside they have these wading pools of baby sharks and other small sea creatures that you can touch. It is so amazing to see how just behind the pools are large tanks holding the adult size sharks and stingrays that you were just petting a few minutes ago. Of course the adults are not allowed close contact with visitors. These sting rays and sharks are so large they could take up a large kitchen easily. There are many exhibits to choose from. They have a seal area that has a large Plexiglas that the seals can come near you without actually touching you. It is located outside. I believe they have shows where the animals do tricks for the audience. It was a real experience to watch the sea lions and the sea otters. Inside the building are countless tanks of different types of fish even a few seahorses. In the sea otter tanks you could see how social the sea otters were. They would swim up to the glass and try to meet with your hand with their bodies. If you touched the glass they came towards you as if to welcome you and they would follow you if you started walking down the hall of the aquarium. They seemed so happy to see you.
Interpretation: What is your choice about? Give specific examples to support this statement in 2 sentences; do so in a way that teaches us something about your choice. Make Paulo Freire proud! .75 point
Learning about the different types of fish in the ocean teaches us that we have to care for our oceans and keep plastics and other trash from reaching our storm drains and watersheds that go back into the ocean. It is clear that this is a habitat that depends on humans to clean up our acts. We are here to experience the world and all its wonder. We need to leave it in the same or better shape than we have found it. If we are not good stewards of the ocean then our culture will be impacted by the global warming and the extinction of ocean life that our food chain depends on.
I think that Paulo Freire would agree that learning things hands on and not having someone tell you about the fish or the ocean is what he meant by letting the teacher(aquarium) and the student(you) learn together from each other.
Judgment: What led you to your choice? What do you think or feel about this choice? Why do you feel this way? Support your thoughts with specific observations. .5 point
I chose the aquarium because I took my kids to see this aquarium last summer. It helped them connect their lives to the ocean and how important recycling and water conservation is to the fish and animals that live in the sea. I loved having this experience with my kids and teaching them about the ocean and its wildlife. This is California culture at its best.
Questioning: What else would you like to know about this choice? When completing the question section, lead your audience into the question by stating a fact you do know, yet you still have the related question. This way, both your audience and you will have an educational experience. Example: I learned that John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath was based on his personal experience working with farm workers. I would like to know if the characters he used in that book are fictitious or are they people he met? .5 point
I know that the museum has rescued some of their animals and I wonder how they make this decision. Is it based on the types of sea life they already have or is it because no other aquarium has room and they want to save the most animals that they can?
Using your classmates work from last week, tell us one thing you learned from 1 student. Is this one thing some common experience you share or some experience that is completely different than what you experienced? Is this one thing related to our class theoretical foundation and if so, how? Is that one thing related to historical or cultural context of this country or a different one? Link that persons blog to this entry (eg cut paste that blog entry here) . .5 point
From Miranda Ashe I learned that the Exploratorium has a Tactile Dome and that it is a 3D pitch black dome. I had never seen that exhibit when I visited there and hope to take my kids to that one day. It must be fun to experience without your sight. I have visited this museum but never went inside this dome before. This is a different experience that ties into our humanities class. Learning from others and listening to their experiences enhances our perception of the experience.
http://g0oo0f.blogspot.com/2009/02/2b-exploratorium.html