Fifth grade students, new to project based learning, have worked cooperatively to help create our High Tech Elementary community. Learning about the greater HTH purpose and how they can make individual contributions, students are considering they ways they can learn about the broader San Diego community, with a particular focus on coastal habitats. We were asked by the education department at Cabrillo National Monument to curate educational materials about the intertidal zone to be showcased at the 2016 Climate Science Alliance meeting in San Diego. Our students will conduct research about this ecosystem and the organisms that inhabit this region. Through field work, research, presentations by experts, and modeling, students will curate posters and species cards to enhance the educational efforts for our local National Park. Once students learn about the intertidal ecosystems, they will begin to examine the health of the greater ocean and the impact of pollution, plastics, and climate change on local species and habitats. Students will have the opportunity to create further educational materials for Cabrillo. In April and May, we will be trained to instruct other students to participate in the 2016 National Parks BioBlitz at Cabrillo National Monument. This species sampling has been organized to celebrate 100 years of service of national parks, looking at biodiversity of species across our nation. Students will learn more about the human impact on our coastal habitats and think more critically about their responsibility to our natural world.