The Octonauts: Create Your Own Adventure!

This design-our-own Octonauts adventure class will allow learners to share what they know about marine science and problem solving by helping each other “write” a story with familiar characters and plot expectations. Dr. Tory acts as a facilitator of learner ideas and scribe of learners’ storytelling, so that we can read our final “book” together at the end of class. Dr. Tory will share the resulting story on the Outschool class website so that families can keep a copy of their group creation. Learners are encouraged to illustrate/draw a “scene” for the story, and to upload their creations on the website too. 

Learners do not need prior experience with the Octonauts franchise prior to the class, although familiarity with the Octonauts may make certain parts of the class more relatable. 

As an example, Dr. Tory asks the class to help decide the main characters, animal species, travel locations, and challenge to be solved in the story. In this way, learners can integrate creativity with STEM topics, critical thinking, group work, and communication. As a semi-structured open-ended class, each session can end differently. Learners bring their prior knowledge and interests to each class; different topics may be covered each time, should a learner wish to repeat the class. With that said, general topics will include some: habitat ecology, animal behavior or biology, problem solving, creative thinking, and communication strategies.

This is primarily a discussion based class with access to visual aids. A small group of learners (4 maximum) will interact with Dr. Tory and each other often; we will take turns sharing and voting on story elements.

Dr. Tory is neurodivergent and welcomes neurodiverse students (ADHD/ADD, autism/autistic, learning disabled, mental health differences, LGBTQ+, etc.) to enroll! Her inclusive and equitable class culture values each learner's voice (whether spoken or typed!) which is why class sizes are kept small and students are invited to communicate by their preferred method (camera anxiety? no problem!). Check out Dr. Tory's reviews and you'll notice her "patience" is a standout theme.