The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk is offering special online ways for guests and educators to still connect and learn during the current COVID-19 time of closure, including live Q&As with staff as well as streaming IMAX movies.
— an announcement from the Maritime Aquarium
On March 17, the Maritime Aquarium began offering live Q&As with members of its Animal-Husbandry team at 3 p.m. each day on the Aquarium’s Facebook page. Each session will mainly focus on an animal or topic shown via recorded video, but questions can be about any related Aquarium subject.
Questions can be submitted any time between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. via the Aquarium’s social-media pages – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and then live on Facebook during the 3 p.m. “Watch Party” webcast.
“We very strongly feel the need to make our resources available to our guests, members and schools, even though we are required to be apart,” said Aquarium spokesman Dave Sigworth. “The Q&A sessions will assure viewers that our operations remain robust, while also re-establishing the close community we are so proud to be part of and to support.”
Photo from the Maritime Aquarium
Not as frightening as COVID-19 …
The South Norwalk family attraction announced March 12 that it is closed to the public through March 29. However, the complex system of caring for the Aquarium’s 3,000+ animals — all with varying needs for water conditions and food — continues on a normal daily schedule.
In addition to the daily live Facebook Q&As, The Maritime Aquarium soon will announce a series of online multidisciplinary modules on marine animals and the environment available to virtual classrooms, beginning later this month. Other single STEM-based, standards-fulfilling educational programs should be available to all teachers online next week. Details will be posted soon at www.maritimeaquarium.org/experience.
And the Aquarium has links available on its website so that schools — or anyone — can stream several of its spectacular IMAX movies, including “The Living Sea,” “Humpback Whales” and “Dream Big: Engineering Our World.” These links include access to special age-appropriate educational content created by the films’ producers, helping teachers to incorporate the movies into their lessons. (Films may have a small Vimeo or Amazon Prime rental fee.)
“Obviously, watching one of our IMAX movies on your laptop or desktop is not as thrilling as seeing it on our six-story screen, but the educational content of these movies is enormous no matter how you view them,” Sigworth said.
Learn more about what’s available through The Maritime Aquarium during the COVID-19 crisis on the Aquarium Facebook page and the Aquarium website.