Two new films follow the dreams of inventors to explore beneath the ocean surface. One documentary is about an Oscar-winning director, the other about a team of determined high school students.
James Cameron, director of Avatar and Titanic, dreamed as a young boy of diving to the deep ocean. Travel seven miles down, to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, in Cameron's one-person submersible in the new documentary James Cameron's DEEPSEA Challenge 3-D.
Four high school students in Arizona created a model underwater robot from PVC pipe, small computer parts and glue—and won against college teams in a national robotics competition. Experience their challenges, both technical and social, in the documentaryUnderwater Dreams.
Inspired by these films, learners can start their own underwater exploration with Howtomile.org activities. In Exploring the Ocean with Robots, learners investigate the science and engineering of robotic submarines by making model “gliders." Learners experiment with the characteristics of buoyancy, discover the types of information robots can gather, and learn how scientists use this information to understand the ocean. In the Underwater ROV online game, learners explore a coral reef using an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Learners are assigned to use their robotic vehicle to investigate the tropical reef and snap photos of the fish species living in its various regions.
In Introduction to Ocean Zones, learners use critical thinking skills to create a diagram of the ocean zones and determine what organisms can survive in each zone. In Make Your Own Deep Sea Vent, learners make a model of the hot water of a deep sea vent in the cold water of the ocean, to learn about one of the ocean's most amazing and bizarre underwater habitats.
(National Geographic photo of James Cameron by Mark Thiessen)