On Nov. 20, NCCOS marine spatial analyst Laughlin Siceloff visited the fourth grade classroom at St. Andrew's Episcopal School in New Orleans to talk about the work of the NCCOS Biogeography Branch and coral reef habitat conservation. The students had already studied the basics of coral and invasive species, and Siceloff had them conduct a mock coral reef dive survey (see picture below).

Siceloff hung a variety of paper habitats and fishes around the classroom, and the kids conducted a survey of the fish and compared diversity between habitats. They even learned how to search for cryptic species. Siceloff also showed short videos of tagging fish for tracking, deploying acoustic receivers, and lionfish on the Flower Garden Banks. There were lots of questions about coral conservation and fish adaptations, and Siceloff provided the class with coral activity guides and NOAA memorabilia, courtesy of NOAA's Office of Education.

For more information, contact Laughlin.Siceloff@noaa.gov.

Elementary school students conduct mock coral reef dive survey using paper habitats and fishes hung around classroom.