NOAA's Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau hosts Alaska SeaWeek with tours for about 3,500 kids in its active hands-on environment. Bonita Nelson, biologist at the lab, designs and manages SeaWeek, challenging students to identify fish, shellfish, corals, and seaweeds in large saltwater aquariums.

Students match critters to habitats, learn the life cycle of salmon, and even touch numerous sea creatures, such as sea stars, snails, crabs, anemones, and skate eggcases. An entire K-6 marine and wetland curriculum is planned. At Auke Bay, about 75 NOAA staff conduct fisheries research on groundfish, salmon and habitat issues. Bonita Nelson, bonita.nelson@noaa.gov.

http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/abl/SeaWeek.htm.