Moorean Science Fair

On Monday I was lucky enough to be able to attend the GK-12 Moorean Science Fair, put on by the fifth graders of Moorea. It was pretty fantastic, and I took a lot of pictures and talked to a lot of interesting kids. We couldn't talk too much because I don't speak French, and they didn't speak English! But we did talk a little bit through Molly or Rayo, a Tahitian lady who was helping Molly out with the fair.

The kids on Moorea learn a lot about the plants and animals that live on and around their island. They learn about invasive species that threaten the natural plants and animals, too. They learn about the ecosystems in and around the island that the plants and animals live in.



Here are some posters that they drew. You can see that they have a lot of tasty fruits, and they are learning about where they live and the names of the plants in both French and Tahitian.




They also learned about the marine animals that live there. On Saturday, Molly, Sho, and I did a dive to collect some animals for them to see. We collected some sea cucumbers, a pin-cushion star (see photo), a black pearl oyster (see photo), and a slipper lobster (see photo). They call the slipper lobster, "cigar del mare" which means "sea cigar!"

They even did some science experiments. In this one, they tested whether or not motor oil would affect the way seeds sprouted. They found that not as many seeds sprouted if they had been sprayed with water mixed with motor oil. This is why you shouldn't pour things like that down the drain!



I had a lot of fun helping out at the fair. And even though I don't speak French, it sure looked like they were having fun too!