Thanks for your interest in the Seattle Aquarium’s educational programming. Due to high demand, we are at capacity for Distance Learning classes for the remainder of the 2023—24 school year. Please check back in September 2024 for availability in 2025.
The Seattle Aquarium is bringing our mission-forward education classes online for K–12 students!
All of our programs focus on the marine ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest. Our educators will guide you and up to 32 of your students over video conferencing software through lessons that support Next Generation Science Standards while giving your students agency to influence the class based on their prior knowledge and interests.
Each of our classes has a grade level range, and within that range our skilled educators will tailor the class for your specific grade level. We encourage active student participation during the program, and we plan on answering a lot of questions! Many classes also include special live animal interactions with the tide pool creatures in our care. Pricing and scholarship information is available on the registration page.
Please note: At this time we cannot offer distance learning programming to Pre-K or ECEAP classes.
Does your group qualify for free programming through our scholarship program?
Schools with 40% or more free/reduced lunch participants, ESL/ELL, special education classes or ECEAPs may apply. Approved scholarship groups receive paid Aquarium admission and a stipend of $500 per bus. Schools must provide proof that they meet qualifications, which the Aquarium must receive before the visit.
DIGITAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
K–Grade 5
Explore Pacific Northwest Tide Pools
Get up close with live tide pool animals. Students will learn how these animals survive in their ever-changing habitat and how simple actions can help protect them through the use of puppets, live animals, and observation. Learn about invertebrates like hermit crabs, sea urchins and snails and how they have adapted to survive the intertidal zone.
K–Grade 5
The Great Salmon Journey
Learn about the life cycle of Seattle’s most iconic animal, the salmon! With the use of interactive storyboards and learner-driven activities, students will explore salmon from egg to adult and discuss the many different factors that affect these amazing fish.
Grades 3–5
Puget Sound Plankton Lab
Discover the most abundant organisms in Puget Sound: plankton! Students will learn about the role plankton plays in providing food for all as the base of the marine food web. Students will be guided through live virtual plankton samples, learning about phytoplankton and zooplankton through living examples found in samples collected from the Seattle Aquarium’s own pier.
Grades 6–12
Sea Otter Conservation Research
Find out what it takes to conduct research on wild sea otter populations. Students will learn how to collect data, ask research questions, and plan and carry out investigative work through the example of our own curator of conservation research, Shawn Larson, and her team’s work on the outer coast of Washington state.
