SAN MARCOS - Students learn best by doing and are inspired most when they are interested, says San Marcos Middle School teacher Debra Brice.

That's why eighth-grade students in Brice's physical science class don't just read about science in a textbook. They communicate with renowned scientists via e-mail and live broadcasts in the field - currently the Indian Ocean.

"This is when you hook them (on science)," said Brice, who said she hopes to inspire students to go into the field. "They decide, 'it's doable, it's interesting and I might want to make a life out of it.' "

Dubbed "In the Footsteps of Roger Revelle," after the late pioneering oceanographer and scientist, Brice's program brings oceanography to students in "real time" from research ships at sea through video conferencing.

The program is a partnership between Dr. Robert Knox of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which sprung for the expensive broadcasting equipment, and the Office of Naval Research, which provided the program with grants of $12,000 to $15,000 each of the last three years to take all 200 of Brice's students out to sea for a day on a research ship.

Via a special broadcast band called Scripps ROADNet, Brice brings the sea into the school as students observe at-sea research carried out by some of the world's leading oceanographers from Scripps Institution, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Brice said.

"The kids can walk around the ship," she said, adding that a camera is placed inside the ship's main lab and deck. "It's a virtual tour."

In addition to asking questions of the scientists and crew members aboard research ships such as Scripps' Roger Revelle Research Vessel, students take part in their own research and data collecting, she said.

For example, Brice's six periods of eighth-graders decorated Styrofoam cups, which the scientists attached to a CTD - or Conductivity, Temperature and Depth water sampling apparatus - and sunk 4,000 meters into the ocean. The scientists returned the cups to the students, which are now miniature.

"They shrink because the pressure squashed the air out," Brice said as students passed around some of the mini cups and observed images of the ship from a class webcam Monday.

Cassandra Villalpando, 13, said the interactive approach to science has helped her understand the material better.

"It's a good way to learn because we're actually seeing how real scientists do things," Cassandra said, adding that the class has inspired her enough to consider a career in the field.

Tyler White, 13, said Brice has taught him that science can be fun.

"I didn't like science much before, but I like it now," he said.

Combined with an innovative science curriculum that focuses on nearly daily lab experiments rather than bookwork and memorization, "Footsteps" helps put into context what students are learning because they see the real-world application, Brice said.

"The kids are motivated to learn," she said. "They care, they want to try harder, they're interested."

She said she started the program four years ago when she participated in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Teacher at Sea program, in which she journeyed 800 miles off the coast of Chile on the Revelle research ship.

Her students now have a chance to take on the role of scientist as they spend the day at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point this March, where they will test underwater robots, use sonar and CTE equipment and take water, mud and plankton samples in a program that is tailored to her curriculum, Brice said.

"I wanted to give the kids an opportunity to go out and do what I did," she said. "Little labs in the classroom are just not the same."

Starting this month, Brice's classes will prepare for their day at sea by taking field trips to the Nimitz Marine Facility in Point Loma, where they'll tour research ships alongside scientists, something she hopes will inspire them.

"My goal is to create a scientifically educated citizenry," Brice said. "They're the ones who are going to save, destroy or change the world."

- Contact staff writer Noelle Ibrahim at (760) 740-3517 or nibrahim@nctimes.com.