Education & Camps

A lifetime of Learning

Education is a top priority of Heal the Bay. Whether you visit our public, marine education center on a school field trip, attend a free evening lecture on a marine science related topic, send your budding young scientist to our Micro Biologist classes or bring a group to one of our school year education programs, you will leave the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium with a new sense of wonder and appreciation for the amazing marine life of the Santa Monica Bay.

Getting Started

The Aquarium is a premier field trip destination for school groups and an educational resource for the entire Los Angeles region. Located at the historic Santa Monica Pier, with the Pacific Ocean just outside its doors, we exhibit more than 100 species of plant and animal life native to the Santa Monica Bay.

The moray eels that are the centerpiece of the Rocky Reef exhibit greet each student; touch tanks teeming with animals of the tide pools – sea stars and sea urchins, anemones and hermit crabs, snails and sea cucumbers, to name a few - invite hands-in-the-water exploration; the majestic sea jelly exhibit beckons from an interactive pollution exhibit.

Our marine science center uses every square inch to support Heal the Bay’s mission and engage, inform and inspire conservation and stewardship. Students learn how they can help keep Southern California’s coastal waters and watersheds, including Santa Monica Bay, safe, healthy and clean.

Steering Clear of Bad Fertilizer

“The same nutrients that make your grass grow also will make algal blooms grow if they wash down the storm drains and into the waterways,” notes Susie Santilena, an environmental engineer in water quality at Heal the Bay. …
Steering clear of bad fertilizer, zev yaroslavsky, susie santilena, runoff

Garden Smarter, Save Water

The Water Replenishment District (WRD) will offer a series of free classes for water smart gardening. Topics include drought-tolerant plants, irrigation basics, horticultural practices, and garden design concepts. Classes will be held …
Learn how to use smart garden techniques and save water

Ten Best Recycling Elementary Schools

The City of Los Angeles LAUSD Recycling Program announced its ten “Best Recycling Elementary Schools,” including three schools that participated in last year’s joint Earth Month initiative between Heal the Bay, Chivas USA, and the City of Los A…
Chivas Fighter and Heal the Bay staff member Melissa Aguayo teach about recyling

10 Ways to Heal: Watch and Learn

Even if you live miles from the ocean, there are some simple steps you can take in your home to protect your favorite beach (as well as your local neighborhood, park or river). Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing short, educational and fun vide…
Ten Ways to Heal the Bay

Over the Moon With New Jellies

Today's blogger is staffer Jose Bacallao, senior aquarist at Heal the Bay's Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. Winter can be brutal in So Cal. I know all the East Coast transplants in L.A. are rolling their eyes right now - but it's wet, cold and windy here…
Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, moon jellies, Heal the Bay

Become a Coastal Steward

Make a difference for our coast and ocean!
Otters at Elkhorn Slough, © CindyTucey

Sustainable Seafood: From Sea to Market

Ever wonder how the fish we eat gets from the ocean to our dinner plate? This complex process is thoroughly explained in a five-part series intended for students in grades 6-12.  Featured in The Seattle Times Newspapers in Education, the series …
coho salmon, fish, food, alaska
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