An ocean protection organization is ensuring that awareness about the great big sea and its inhabitants is accessible to those who use sign language, with help from a B.C. teacher.

Ocean Exploration Trust has been making videos teaching viewers how to say ocean-related terms in sign language. ItB次元官网网址檚 all thanks to Christopher Clauss, who was aboard the E/V Nautilus, Ocean Exploration TrustB次元官网网址檚 research vessel.

Clauss was part of the B次元官网网址極cean Signs of the DayB次元官网网址� series on the Nautilus Instagram, found at . HeB次元官网网址檚 a middle school science teacher at Marlborough School in Burnaby.

He first learned American Sign Language at the University of New Hampshire, where he then had his first teaching job at Austine School for the Deaf in Vermont.

B次元官网网址淚 loved my time at Austine, working with Deaf colleagues and teaching classes in my second language,B次元官网网址� Clauss said in a statement.

B次元官网网址淢any of my students came from hearing families who didnB次元官网网址檛 sign at all, and this left significant gaps in their background understanding about how the world works.B次元官网网址�

Clauss brought his teaching and signing skills to the Nautilus in a recent expedition from July 19 to July 28. The expedition began in B.C. and went through the Central Pacific, ending in Hawaii. The purpose was to fill gaps in seafloor mapping.

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Jamie Zaccaria, digital media specialist for Ocean Exploration Trust, said that Clauss was a great addition to the Nautilus.

B次元官网网址淲e were incredibly fortunate that one of our 2023 Science Communication Fellows, science teacher Christopher Clauss, is fluent in ASL and ASL education and collaborated with our (communications) team to create the amazing ASL ocean vocabulary videos,B次元官网网址� Zaccaria said.

Clauss first got involved with the trust three years ago, after attending a workshop. This is his first year as a science communication fellow.

B次元官网网址淓ach winter I would tell myself B次元官网网址榯his is the year I am going to apply,B次元官网网址� but summers and school years always filled up too quickly,B次元官网网址� Clauss said.

B次元官网网址淭his year my New YearB次元官网网址檚 resolution was to make it happen, and IB次元官网网址檓 so glad I finally did.B次元官网网址�

ClaussB次元官网网址� last video was posted on July 31, three days after his time on the Nautilus.

As a teacher, Clauss said he believes itB次元官网网址檚 important to represent every child in his classroom.