Deep Blue Discoveries Offers Schools Free Programming For ’09 First Quarter

Deep Blue Discoveries of Sandwich, an innovative classroom ocean exploration program, is offering to area elementary schools programming at no charge from January 21 to April 30.  In an effort to maintain the quality of science and environmental education in the classroom, Jeff Croll, president of Deep Blue Discoveries Inc., has extended the offer to elementary schools throughout the Cape and southeastern New England.

“These are difficult and challenging times for schools,” said Croll, a certified advanced open water diver with a Masters Degree in education and human development from George Washington University. “I would like to help assist in the classroom to sustain the quality of science and environmental education.”

Croll’s inter-active classroom program, a 50-minute presentation on exploring marine ecosystems of New England, includes an introduction to scuba diving, followed by the showing of an educational DVD, and hands-on, focused classroom activities where students take a virtual tour of the ocean environment. The program also instructs students on how natural processes, such as photosynthesis and food chains, occur in the ocean, and educates them on the marine plants and animals.

The Deep Blue Discoveries program meets the Massachusetts state curriculum frameworks and National Science Education Standards.

A former volunteer diver and educator at The New England Aquarium, Croll also holds a second degree Black Belt, and was an assistant instructor in the marshal art of Poekoelan Tjimindie Tulen.