Yesterday it was the kindergarteners and the 2nd graders… today it will be the 1st and 3rd graders. I’m down at the Foss Waterway Seaport as part of the effort to get the entire student body of Sherman Elementary through the museum over the course of three school days. (The 4th and 5th graders come through next week.) There are a variety of stations that the students progress through during their visit… I’m holding court in the marine plastics exhibit and getting the conversation going about plastic in the ocean. So far, getting the conversation going (on any topic), has not been a problem.

It is amazing how much the students retain of the things we discuss. Some of the kids there yesterday were involved in the classes I helped teach earlier in the year and even the youngest among them still knew the subject. I’d have to say that the high point of my day yesterday was listening to a 5 year-old’s unprompted explanation of the bioaccumulation process as it relates to plastic in fish populations and the implications for human seafood consumption. He nailed it.