Cold-water corals are also displayed in the OZEANEUM aquarium

Who is Laura Lophelia?

The OZEANEUM offers school classes an ideal and at the same time very unusual place to study. In addition to regular museum visits, school trips are available for booking which can be specially tailored to school curricula and different grades. Elementary school classes, for example, learn about a habitat they likely have little knowledge of – the deep sea – as part of a topical workshop. They are accompanied on their expedition by museum educators and Laura Lophelia. Laura is, unlike the well-known tropical corals, a cold-water coral whose home is in the Atlantic Ocean at depths ranging from 60 to 2,100 meters. The actual name of this coral is Lophelia pertusa.

There is probably no better place than the OZEANEUM to stimulate the imagination of first through fourth graders and let them “travel” to the deep sea. The journey begins with a face-to-face encounter with the 15-meter replica sperm whale, a creature capable of diving up to 3,000 meters deep. Using models like the "skeleton" of Lophelia pertusa, the educators explain the structure and life cycle of coral. Children playfully discover what life as a coral is like with Laura Lophelia. Just like the individual polyps of a coral, children catch food together without moving from their spots. Students conduct experiments in small groups and learn that living conditions in the deep sea are very different to their own.

The OZEANEUM offers educational programs and theme workshops on various topics. For more information, please visit: www.kindermeer.de