On 3 October, companies, institutions, municipalities and associations across Germany traditionally open their "doors" for the WDR television show "Sendung mit der Maus", and we did too! Together with our partners, we succeeded in inspiring "our" Maus children for the ocean through play and fun. The novelty in 2022: for the first time, children could experience a dive using VR headsets: Virtual Reality in 3D. "You only protect what you know and love" - a virtual dive with manta rays, sea turtles, dugongs, rays and sharks in Mozambique. Afterwards, they entered the water with our team for a real trial dive.
"ElasmOcean brings the ocean into the classroom together with Lukas Müller!"
ElasmOcean and Lukas Müller have collaborated from the very beginning: the marine biologist, diver and cameraman produced 3D films as part of his work in Mozambique. He made these available to us together with his partners, and the project was born! We implemented this concept for the first time during the WDR Maus open-door day in 2022. It appears to have been a success: to our usual final question: "What did you like best?" there was only one answer: "The diving!" Upon closer enquiry, they meant both: the real dive with our team and, above all, the new 3D dive in the beautiful underwater world of Mozambique.
Our primary partner remains the Sharky Schwimmschule, which generously provided its facilities and large swimming pool for the seventh time this year. The 3D dive was made possible by Lukas Müller, the company HabitatXR from South Africa and the company evrbit from Cologne. For the diving session in the swimming pool, we received support from our school representative Jörn Pfitsch with his diving school "Diveteam Köln".
With this combination, the WDR Maus open-door day 2022 served as the launch for an exciting new component of our school programme (aimed at year three and above, or approximately 8 years of age). More on this soon.
