A Pebble Here, A Ripple There

Arpita Dutta was part of the fourth cohort of YouCAN’s Earth Educators Fellowship. Her passion project Anchored for Change – Ocean Literacy was a place-based module on marine life, ocean identity and conservation, rooted in Kundapura, Karnataka. This blog traces Arpita’s process in imagining how ocean literacy can be taught, and how in finding her path as an educator, her reflections of the same along the way

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“Ocean knowledge and literacy should be understood as a kind of general knowledge. The way in which we learn of historical and cultural facts, a similar, deeper awareness and understanding of the ocean is important for our living.”

– Arpita Dutta, (Marine Biologist and Educator)

Believing in this wholeheartedly, Arpita set out to bring the wonders of the ocean (such as corals and shells) closer to all her loved ones. Born and raised in Kolkata, with no access to the open waters, she realised what this inaccessibility was costing her. Over the course of her studies to become a marine biologist, she realised that she hadn’t been the only one without direct access and experience; many people were unaware of what goes on under the waters, and at the shoreline that surrounds us. Though curious and inquisitive – the oceans – to them were just another artefact of everyday life. Her friends and family would often enquire about her work, but since they too hadn’t received the first hand experiences of the ocean, and the knowledge needed to better understand their importance, she felt unable to help them. Wanting to bridge this gap, she decided to step up. And in order to create lasting change, Arpita realised that such work had to be rooted within the communities and stakeholders already living along the coast.

“Before going global and thinking about reaching a larger audience, I must stick to the local land I’m working with, and with the children of that land. I may be a marine biologist, but the knowledge the children have of the place they grew up in – that would be important for me to work alongside; they may very well know more about their home landscape than I do about the same.”

Tracing the Coastline // Teaching – in Pondicherry, Chennai, Bangalore and Kundapura

The coastline of the Bay of Bengal soon connected Arpita, from Kolkata, with her Tamil students living in Pondicherry. The children’s knowledge of local myths, when put alongside Arpita’s scientific candor, traced their growing enjoyment during the sessions. In speaking up, they found voices of their own, and through her encouragement, they began responding confidently in English. Finding out and recognizing scientific names for different kinds of ‘meen’ (fish in Tamil), or even being able to share excitedly with their classmates the different colours and types of shells that they observed deeply, showed Arpita that if the children felt heard when their ways of seeing were acknowledged, the sense of joy and wonder that she wanted to build would further embellish their sense of self and their voice. She took this learning with her into the sessions she took along the way. 

From Pondicherry, Arpita soon moved to Chennai. The children here showed a lot more global awareness and were able to articulate that “throwing plastic into the sea affects ecosystem health,” or “the light pollution from the land confuses the baby turtles trying to find their way home.” She began to notice a difference in the way the children in the schools of Pondicherry had shared their thoughts with her, as well as the children in Chennai. 

She then wondered, “what about the children living in landlocked places like Bengaluru? What would their experiences of the sea be like? Would they be similar to my experiences of growing up away from the sea in Kolkata? Or would they be more aware like the children in Chennai?”

What would they say/ask/share?

Curious to know more about their connections to the ocean, she asked the children in Bangalore to narrate their stories of feeling connected to the ocean, using their 5 senses. Most of them shared their memories and excitement of beach holidays and bathing in the sea, and that they needed to keep the sea clean so that they can enjoy their vacations. 

A sea of wonderings lapped around in her mind. 

Would children who grow up in villages beside the sea feel the same, say the same things?

In Kundapura, in rural Karnataka, connecting with the children initially proved to be a task. For Arpita, not knowing the local language had been difficult, but remembering that she had the experiences of Pondicherry in her kitty, she persevered. Soon, the children began taking it upon themselves to drive their learning, and to act as bridges for one another. The children who could speak and understand Hindi, would translate what Arpita was sharing with the group into Kannada. In time, they resolved to connect and speak more in English as well. Arpita saw that having children interact with one another in this way, and having them play the role of partners in learning, helped them in enacting choice and agency in their learning journey. This shared, interrelational learning then became a co-created space where, adult-and-child, educator and student were not one-way streets or boundaries; respect flowed in both ways. 

Being an educator

During the course of the year, Arpita saw herself as one among the children she worked with. She wanted to be an adult that was trying to bring more information to them, not to teach them, but to let them know that such a world exists out there, a world that we are very much a part of and must help take care of. That such careers do exist, for any child to pursue them. 

More than a teacher, Arpita wanted them to remember her as an adult who listened to them and answered their very many questions. As someone who never chided them, but rather, furnished them the respect that they, as future humans living amongst one another on this planet, would continue to build as they grew older. 

Through this cycle of interconnection, growth and learning, she felt confident that the children would look towards the ocean with respect and admiration, in time. Just like all the seashells and corals that they were amazed by, a hope she holds is that as they grow, they will start to see the ocean as a part of themselves and their beinghood, rather than apart from it.

Bushra is a Communications Associate at YouCAN, playing with and exploring the written word, and the many worlds that it creates.