Don't miss our August Open Day

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An event seeded by Green Adelaide

Join the team at the Marine Discovery Centre for a morning of interactive fun, marine-based learning and recycled craft activities.

During the session, you will have access to a variety of interactive discovery stations including Kaurna learning, sea aquariums, brand new virtual reality headsets, brand new hands-on games and recycled craft activities.

TIMES

10am - 11.30am - Interactive Centre Activities

11.30am - 12pm - Guided Beach Marine Trail on Henley Beach (if weather permits)

INCLUDES

* Materials for recycled craft activities, art can be taken home

* Aquariums featuring local South Australian marine creatures such as the Port Jackson Shark, Goby's, Big-Bellied Seahorses, Southern Fiddler Ray, Porcupine Fish, Murray River Turtle and more

* Brand new Virtual Reality Headsets giving you the opportunity to explore under the sea without getting wet. Underwater virtual reality experiences include Australian Sea Lions, Leafy Seadragons, swimming under the Henley Beach Jetty, and Google Expeditions to the Great Barrier Reef

* Kaurna education Room (The Wodli) is an interactive room which highlights the relationship that Kaurna people have with the Adelaide Plains and the coast.

* Interactive models featuring our brand new diving games, brand new beachcombing game plus oceanography, climate change, marine debris, marine habitats, touchscreens, sustainable fishing, stormwater, beachcombing, and get hands-on with our microscopes.

* Henley Beach Marine Trail 11.30am - 12pm (if weather permits)

* Each ticket holder will receive a free beachcombing sheet to take home

COST

$10 per person (children 3 and under are free of charge)

REFUNDS

Refunds requested within 24 hours of event will not be refunded

All refunds will attract the small Eventbrite booking fee

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The team at the Marine Discovery Centre teamed up with Fastbreak Films to develop a series of short animation clips. A project seeded by Green Adelaide, the short videos are both fun and educational. 

Click on the following links to check out each video:

• How big are whales?
• South Australia's Coastline & the Great Southern Reef
• Climate Change
• The Blue Ringed Octopus
• Positive Shark Awareness
• Marine Discovery Centre introduction Video

The first series included 5 videos, watch out for series 2 coming soon. Next time you visit the centre, don't forget your handheld device so you scan our strategically placed QR codes and find out more about our marine creatures, specimens and the South Australian coastline.

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SeaStar Rock hits the stage at the Marine Discovery Centre followed by a morning of hands-on marine-based fun and with the MDC team.

Join Seastar Rock LIVE on stage from 10am

It's a giant party when Lucy of SeaStar Rock hits the stage with music and dance for children, promoting sustainability and positivity. Kids will be singing, dancing and playing games as they navigate the sustainability of our oceans.

After the concert, join the team at the Marine Discovery Centre for a morning of interactive fun, marine-based learning and recycled craft activities.

During the session, children will have access to a variety of interactive discovery stations including Kaurna learning, sea aquariums, brand new virtual reality headsets, brand new hands-on games and recycled craft activities

* Please note: Tickets are only required for children, one parent per child (multiple children are allowed though).  Parent's must order their ticket (free of charge) when purchasing tickets for children. Parents must stay with children throughout the session but tea and coffee facilities are available.

TIMES

10am - 10.45am - Seastar Rock performance on the decking

10.45am - 12pm - Marine Discovery Centre hands on activities with the MDC team

INCLUDES

* Live performance by SeaStar rock

* Materials for recycled craft activities, art can be taken home

* Aquariums featuring local South Australian marine creatures such as the Port Jackson Shark, Goby's, Big-Bellied Seahorses, Southern Fiddler Ray, Porcupine Fish, Murray River Turtle and more

* Brand new Virtual Reality Headsets giving you the opportunity to explore under the sea without getting wet. Underwater virtual reality experiences include Australian Sea Lions, Leafy Seadragons, swimming under the Henley Beach Jetty, and Google Expeditions to the Great Barrier Reef

* Kaurna education Room (The Wodli) is an interactive room which highlights the relationship that Kaurna people have with the Adelaide Plains and the coast.

* Interactive models featuring our brand new diving games, brand new beachcombing game plus oceanography, climate change, marine debris, marine habitats, touchscreens, sustainable fishing, stormwater, beachcombing, and get hands-on with our microscopes.

* Each child will receive a free beachcombing sheet to take home

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Check this out!

There is a new interactive display at the Marine Discovery Centre to educate visitors about protecting the Hooded Plover. Created and developed by Star of the Sea School old scholar, and current Year 9 Immanuel College student Charlotte Devine.

Charlotte, who has a passion for visual arts and is currently doing research on the Hooded Plover, contacted us recently as she wanted to create an informative and interactive item for the MDC. She wanted to provide an informative display so that we can educate school children about the vulnerable birds living so close by and why it is important to give them and their nests space. Education plays an important part in protecting the hoodies, as beach users need to share the beach and respect boundaries.

With support from Green Adelaide, BirdLife Australia and Smart Posts, and the determination and hard work from Charlotte, her idea is now a reality and on display at the MDC.

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Join the team at the Marine Discovery Centre for a morning of interactive fun, marine-based learning and a beach marine trail on Henley Beach.

During the session, children will have access to a variety of interactive discovery stations including Kaurna learning, sea aquariums, brand new virtual reality headsets, brand new hands-on games and recycled craft activities

* Please note: Tickets are only required for children, one parent per child (multiple children are allowed though). Parent's must order their ticket (free of charge) when purchasing tickets for children. Parents must stay with children throughout the session.

TIMES

10am - 11.30am - Interactive Centre Activities

11.30am - 12pm - Guided Beach Marine Trail on Henley Beach (if weather permits)

INCLUDES

* Materials for recycled craft activities, art can be taken home

* Aquariums featuring local South Australian marine creatures such as the Port Jackson Shark, Goby's, Big-Bellied Seahorses, Southern Fiddler Ray, Porcupine Fish, Murray River Turtle and more

* Brand new Virtual Reality Headsets giving you the opportunity to explore under the sea without getting wet. Underwater virtual reality experiences include Australian Sea Lions, Leafy Seadragons, swimming under the Henley Beach Jetty, and Google Expeditions to the Great Barrier Reef

* Kaurna education Room (The Wodli) is an interactive room which highlights the relationship that Kaurna people have with the Adelaide Plains and the coast.

* Interactive models featuring our brand new diving games, brand new beachcombing game plus oceanography, climate change, marine debris, marine habitats, touchscreens, sustainable fishing, stormwater, beachcombing, and get hands-on with our microscopes.

* Henley Beach Marine Trail 11.30am - 12pm (if weather permits)

* Each child will receive a free beachcombing sheet to take home

Seeded by Green Adelaide

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Beachcombing on the beach is always fun, but Winter is the time that we find some of our more interesting finds. We love school excursions and public open days that we hold in winter.

Some of our favourite finds this winter include (only naming a few):

• Seahorse
• Short-Headed Worm Eel
• a large Cunjevoi colony covered in tiny crustaceans 
• huge sea sponges
• Seastars
• Mud oysters
• Razor shells
• Southern calamari eggs
• Fulgurite (fossilised lightning)
• Sea Urchins
• Blue Swimmer crabs and mud crabs

We are always blown away by the biodiversity we are so lucky to have here on our beautiful piece of coastline, celebrating the wonders of life in our ocean, and how it is essential in supporting humanity and all life on our planet. Providing oxygen, food, regulating weather and climate; each day let's thank our oceans for these reasons, as well as the amazing discoveries we can make each day on a beach walk. 

Make sure you get out and about to the beach in winter to see what you can find!

Watch the introduction video to see what the day includes.

The Marine Discovery Centre has celebrated 23 years of running primary school excursion programs, teaching over 120,000 children about South Australia’s iconic coastal and marine environments since 1997.

Our aquariums feature local marine wildlife species and we provide engaging beachside marine trails to complement the Centre’s indoor educational facilities. 

The team at the Marine Discovery Centre will provide both indoor and outdoor setting for children to engage in interactive learning experiences while empowering them to actively protect South Australia’s iconic coastal and marine environments. Our aim is to connect you and your students with the marine world through our interactive excursions and classroom activities. Learning experiences at the Marine Discovery Centre are facilitated by qualified marine scientists and a cultural educator.

Here’s what educators have said about these hands-on excursions this year:

"Thank you for a wonderful excursion, the students, and adults, all had a wonderful - and informative - visit!" — Educator, Year 2 Class, 2021

"I just wanted to say what an amazing time we had at the Marine Discovery Centre today. Our children have been engaged in an inquiry into the beach since we walked there in term 1 and this was a great culmination to that inquiry. The activities provided were well suited to our age group and the children all enjoyed their day " – Director, Kindergarten, 2021

"Thank you for the wonderful experience you provided our classes.  We were blessed with perfect weather for our excursion and the children really enjoyed their day out.  The Discovery Groups you ran in the afternoon were fantastic.  All the children could talk about when we came back were the VR headsets!!  Of course, they all loved walking along the beach collecting things and doing the sort circle with their bits and pieces.."— Educator, 2021

Click here to download the 2021 Excursions and Incursions program. Teaching resources are available. Programs relate directly to themes in the Australian Curriculum in areas such as Science, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, Geography and Sustainability. Click here for available teaching resources.

Hands-on excursions really bring units of work to life for students.

The Marine Discovery Centre is closely aligned with ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) particularly the cross-curriculum priorities of Sustainability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures. 

*Bookings are essential. Minimum class charge of 15 students (60 max).

**Cost (ExGST): $15.00 per student. Teachers and Adult Helpers FREE.

Click here to download a sample timetable of activities (program runs 9.45am to 2pm +/- 30mins depending on travel flexibility).

Click here for online bookings

Or contact us for further details and bookings

The Marine Discovery Centre can bring an educational and exciting range of activities to you, for your students to experience in their classroom, performing centre or local beach. We love it when you come and see us, but sometimes it’s easier and cheaper if we come to you, therefore we have developed a few programs to suit a range of ages and interests. 

The Marine Discovery Centre has developed a number of tailor-made incursions where our team and/ or contractors can visit you at your school. 

We offer 30 minute to full-day incursion options to suit your class times, from multiple classes in a single day to whole school experiences.

Incursion options start from $6 per student.

Option 1: MDC experience in your class/school

We can bring the beach to schools & Vacation Care Groups

Visits may include activities focused on:

• Aboriginal Artefacts - history
• Virtual Reality Headsets
• Marine Food Chains
• Marine Litter
• Ocean Currents
• Recycled Art
• Creature Features
• Sustainable Fishing Practices
• Beachcombing at your local beach or exploring provided sand boxes school

These learning experiences allow students to discover the wonders of our local marine environment through interactive and hands on activities linked to ACARA.

Session Time: 45 minutes or 90 minutes

Cost: $7 (multiple classes) or $10 plus GST per student – minimum cost $300 plus GST

Option 2: Down the Drain by HeapsGood Productions

Information: http://www.heapsgood.com.au/Heapsgood-Performances.html

Performance and Q&A session in your School Hall: approximately 1 hour & 15 mins in duration.

Cost: $6 (+gst) with 200 – 300 students

$7 (+gst) per child with 150 – 200 students

Minimum charge: $1,155

Option 3: Indigenous Workshop

Our Cultural Educator, Karno Martin with support from the MDC team is available to come to your school for a tailor-made workshop to suit the age level of your students.

The general overview of available content is:

• Kaurna language
• A brief history explaining the different countries and dialects in Australia from the last 60,000 - 80,000 years
• Bringing an assortment of Kaurna tools that were used for cooking, hunting, art etc. The students will have the opportunity to touch and play with these items
• An overview of how Aboriginal people lived sustainably
• Showing the kids how he plays the didgeridoo and what is involved – followed by a performance.
• With the younger students, he will do storytelling and teach them dances

Cost: From $6 (+gst) per student

Option 4: A program to suit the needs of your school and students

For further information, please email info@marinediscoverycentre.com.au or call 8115 7402

Email to enquire about a school booking with AUSMAP and the Marine Discovery Centre.

A public event hosted by AUSMAP coming to the Marine Discovery Centre soon.

Microplastics have been recorded, but not intensively quantified, in Australian coastal waters and rivers.  Limited microplastics data exists for South Australia, however, but what has been found to date, is at two ends of the spectrum.  Sampling along some of Adelaide’s northern metropolitan beaches indicate low loads of microplastics compared with sites around lakes and wetlands, showing the highest loads of microplastics sampled to date across Australia, in excess of 36,000 pieces per square metre. 

Australian Microplastic Assessment Project (AUSMAP), a nationwide citizen science microplastic program that documents microplastic pollution and engages and educates local communities about the issue.  Plastics are acknowledged as a global pollutant that impact even remote locations.  A global first, AUSMAP provides a fully immersive experience for all levels of the community in microplastic collection and analysis, while empowering ambassadors for behaviour change, which ensures the sustainability of the project into the future.  AUSMAPs mission is to engage communities in citizen science, connect them to the natural world and inspire change for a sustainable future.

Science alone cannot solve the plastic problem.  We need people to want to create change.  The AUSMAP program provides a ‘hands-on’ experience where citizen scientists, including local school students and community members, are not only engaged in the microplastic field data collection but also provide the opportunity to become ambassadors for change.  Participants will actively see the issues of plastic consumption and disposal, which will help in supporting a sense of place and pride in protecting their local area.

AUSMAP’s primary aim is to inspire change at a community level through education, empowerment and community engagement.  Citizen science initiatives such as AUSMAP enable communities to engage non-professionals in scientific research.  In combining research with public education, AUSMAP also addresses broader societal impacts by engaging local communities in genuine research experiences at various stages of the scientific process.  Local communities will benefit by engaging with their peers, collecting scientific data that will have a broader impact for cleaner waterways, inspiring the community including the youth, and importantly, providing an opportunity for the public to become citizen scientists and ‘learn by doing’.

- Michelle Blewitt - AUSMAP

A presentation providing career advice to high school students considering a career in the marine industry - presented by marine scientists.

Forging a career in marine science

Students are expected to make subject selections for years 11 & 12 based on their career aspirations. However, how can students aspire to a specific career if they have only limited access to career mentoring and guidance?

Our presentation provides career advice to high school students considering a career in the marine industry and is delivered by marine professionals from a variety of marine industries.

The presentation is led by Nathan Janetzki (COOE)

A tour of the Marine Discovery Centre with industry professionals will follow after the presentation.

This presentation is aimed at high school students.

Parents of students are free of charge, you are more than welcome to stay for the presentation but you must also register your attendance.

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Presentations are available to be delivered in class in a collaboration between COOE and the Marine Discovery Centre. If you would like more information about bringing a presentation to your school please email Carmen Bishop at the Marine Discovery Centre.

A brand new Climate Change interactive experience is now live at the Marine Discovery Centre. A project collaborated with Monkeystack and seeded by Green Adelaide.

The Climate change interactive is a touchscreen model of the map of South Australia outlining 23 areas where climate change will impact the environment and how we live.

Questions that users need to answer include a mix of categories that cover:

• economy & infrastructure 
• tourism
• health & sport
•  weather & ecosystems
• oceans, coasts & islands
• biodiversity & extinction
• land use & industry

Part of our project to upgrade the Marine Discovery Centre, funded by Green Adelaide included upgrading some of the current educational models in the centre.

This game makes the user choose an item that is found on the beach. When they answer it correctly a visually appealing video of the marine creature is displayed on the screen.

The items included in the game are:

1. Swim Bladder – Porcupinefish
2. Cuttle – Cuttlefish
3. Fibre ball – Seagrass
4. Shark egg – Port Jackson Shark
5. Sea Urchin – Live Sea Urchin

Following a successful Term 2 program, the After School Kids Marine Scientist Club is back at the Marine Discovery Centre in Term 4.

Commencing on Thursday 14 October at 4.30 pm. Participants are welcome to try their first session for free.

Registrations are now open. Sign up here>

All registrations of interest will be contacted in September. For any queries prior to registering your interest please email Carmen

Proudly supported by SA Water

Have a question and need to contact us?

Email us via info@marinediscoverycentre.com.au or call us on 08 8115 7402.

We'd love to hear from you