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.

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

Kelp Gathering with KPCC

Listen to Molly Peterson's story on KPCC.
KPCC's Molly Peterson harvested kelp with HtB aquarists

An Rx for Safe Drug Disposal

Ever wonder what to do with your unused or expired prescription drugs? To keep them from entering our waterways and ecosystem, please do not pour them down the sink or flush them down the toilet.
Don't flush prescription drugs down the toilet, please properly dispose of them

Calling All K-12 Artists and Poets!

The California Coastal Commission invites California students in Kindergarten through Grade 12 to submit artwork or poetry with a California coastal or marine theme to the annual Coastal Art & Poetry Contest. Up to 10 winners will be selected to …
California Coastal Commission, Art & Poetry Contest

Reading, Writing ... and Reycling

Unfortunately, discussions about the future of K-12 public education in California typically focus on the state’s massive budget problems.  Talks of educational reform seem to exclusively revolve around teacher accountability and charter schoo…
Spouting Off: Education and the Environment Initiative

The Truth About Red Tide

We collected a sample of water off the Santa Monica Pier today, and got a bit of a surprise. Instead of the blue-gray water that we usually collect, a rusty, brownish-red liquid filled the collection jar. Welcome back red tide! Aquarium staff has be…
Red Tide Dinoflagellates
Syndicate content