The Aquarium of the Pacific, located on Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, California, recently launched a new program called Aquarium Live, which allows patients at Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach to watch various aquatic creatures in real-time.
Available in bi-weekly, 30-minute broadcasts, this educational program not only lets children get a closer look at the Aquarium of the Pacific's animal exhibits, it also allows them to interact with aquarium staff in real-time, enhancing the experience. The program will cover various ocean topics for each stream, broadcast from the aquarium's Roddenberry Foundation Education Videoconferencing Studio.
“We are thrilled that we can take our long-standing partnership with the Aquarium of the Pacific to the next level with this project,” said Rita Goshert, manager of the child life department at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach. “This interactive, educational program is a great way for our kids to learn in a hospital environment — either at a playroom or their own patient room — and for most of them, to experience the aquarium for the very first time.”
While these broadcasts are exclusively provided for Miller Children's Hospital patients, the Aquarium of the Pacific does also provide a number of live interactive lectures on its website, available to the general public. These live interactive lectures feature scientists and other experts from across the country, covering topics such as the urban ocean, medicinal rainforest plants, endangered green sea turtle rehabilitation and much more.
Of course, these lectures don't feature the same level of interactivity as the Miller Children's Hospital program, but viewers can submit questions and comments via Twitter.
The partnership between Aquarium of the Pacific and Miller Children's Hospital was established through the hospital's Child Life Program, which aims to make the hospital experience more positive for children. Funding for the program was provided by the Miller Foundation.
Edited by
Stefania Viscusi
