Coginchaug Students Explore the Depths of Learning in Oceanography Class [VIDEO]

It's early Monday morning in Lorrie Martin's Oceanography class at Coginchaug High School and students are wide-eyed and eager to work.

Martin, an outdoor education specialist who's been teaching Oceanography at the high school for nearly a decade, has challenged her students to engineer an underwater robot not unlike the sophisticated ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) that discovered the Titanic.

"I was so entranced by the whole thing and I thought this has tremendous potential," Martin says about the SeaPerch Program, an innovate, hands-on program created by the Office of Naval Research.

Martin discovered SeaPerch a few years ago while attending the National Marine Educators Conference in Boston, where teachers came together to build the ROVs that are now in the hands of their students. 

"Kids learn best in authentic, real life situations," says Martin. Real life, in this case, means having to design a robot capable of completing her underwater obstacle course.

Back in Mrs. Martin's class, students piece together PVC pipes, build circuit boards to control thrusters and adjust pieces of styrofoam to achieve perfect bouyancy.

"This won't be as powerful, won't be able to pick up as much weight as the big guys, but we can compensate," says Rinat Nadeau, a junior who's built a smaller ROV in an effort to make it "lighter, quicker, faster."

"If you add stuff to the iPad mini that makes it as powerful — better speakers, more memory — you can compensate it to be as powerful [as an iPad] while still being small and efficient. That's how I designed it, from the outside world," says Nadeau.

In a tribute to the teacher, Nadeau's team has decided to name their ROV the U.S.S. Mini Martin.

"The thing that I just love about this is kids that maybe don't have so much fun with tests all of a sudden have become my experts," Martin says.

But there's more to these ROVs than meets the eye, she explains.

"The United States Navy apparently got very concerned that something like 80 percent of the engineers in college are foreign born and the Navy is not allowed to hire foreign born people for their work. So they decided to get involved in the educational process and develop this SeaPerch program," she says.

After receiving a grant from the ONR to help pay for some ROVs, the teacher approached the Coginchaug Valley Education Foundation and was awarded an additional $1,500 by the organization to help pay for additional kits and the tools necessary to build and maintain them.

"They're wonderful," Martin says about the organization, which regulary provides grants to local organizations with a environmental lean.

The SeaPearch program has required the help of other members of the community who've been happy to oblige as well, according to Martin. Last year, a small group was invited into the classroom to help students engineer the ROVs which were then tested at a local pond.

"The last class was so late, there was ice on the water. They were swimming the perch under the ice," Martin recalls.

When the robots were finally ready for Martin's underwater obstacle course last week, the Durham Volunteer Fire Department showed up with a portable water tank.

"I never had so much fun in my life," says Martin, who recently spent an entire Sunday building a more permanent test pool in the basement of the high school.

"It's a pretty interesting course," says student Alyssa Gambarella.

About 70 students at the high school participate in Oceanography classes, which are also taught by Laura Francis.

"The U.S. is falling behind in STEM careers… so we're really hoping to get kids into that engineering mindset, solving problems, critical thinking, all of those 21st century skills," Francis says.

Martin meanwhile is looking forward to next year's SeaPerch state meet when her students will get to compete against other schools. By then, Coginchaug's ROVs might just be equipped with underwater lights and cameras.

"There's all sorts of possibilities," Martin says.