"Look at THIS!" yelled a chorus of boys from different points near the shore.

"What's THAT?!" screamed several horrified girls in unison. "Eeeek!"

There would be no bad grades, no staying after school, and no kids standing in the corner on this occasion, said the instructors on hand. In this case, the instructors happened to be three dozen Roosevelt High School marine biology students.

"We're the teachers," said 11th-grader Adrian Koning, 16, as he waded into the water with a "look box," a wood and Plexiglas rig designed to provide a window into the shallow sea.

"Basically, we just watch them, answer their questions, and make sure they have fun."

Correct answer, according to the Roosevelt High marine biology instructor Steve Mun-Takata, who has been heading up these Kewalo Basin field trips for a half-dozen years.

"Adrian is exactly right," he said. "What this program is about is students teaching younger students.

"What happens is, my students better internalize the material because they have to teach it. To teach it to second-graders, they have to know it, understand it, and be able to break it down into examples.

"It's a feel-good thing, too."

Ma'ema'e second-graders, from left, Micah Lungay, Samantha Tan and Karina Nago, and Roosevelt High seniors Chastity DeJesus and Nani Choy explore the shallow Kewalo reef with a "look box." The marine biology students serve as teachers during the reef walks. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Roosevelt senior and team leader Taryn Moreno-Oh, 17, said she and her student marine biology colleagues spent weeks setting up yesterday's field trip — even going through a dress rehearsal about a month ago to make sure things would go smoothly for the second-graders.

"Yeah, they're asking great questions: 'Is this a sea urchin?' 'Is this a sea cucumber?' So far they haven't stumped me."

Assisting the student instructors were a battery of adult teachers and parents, who toted clipboards, duly noted invertebrate types, and, most importantly, served as chaperones to youngsters who had to leave the discovery adventure for a trek to the restroom.

Once the rock turning started many of the girls proved to be at least as adept at locating startling sea life as the boys.

Roosevelt marine science teacher Steve Mun-Takata briefs the Ma'ema'e students before the walk. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

She and her cohorts also dredged up quite a collection of seaweed, Chun added with a giggle.

Someone else uncovered a four-armed brittle starfish. The missing fifth arm would regenerate itself, Mun-Takata assured the curious onlookers, as he lifted the tiny wriggling animal from a bucket of water.

Suddenly, the air was filled with shrill screams, momentary mass confusion and much excited laughter in one of the six sections the high school students had roped off in the water. While half the kids in that section moved in bug-eyed to see what had emerged from the deep, the rest scrambled toward the shore line as if being chased by the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

The prize catch:

"It's a baby octopus!"

Mun-Takata holds a brittle starfish with a missing arm that was found on the Kewalo reef. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Some of the remaining invertebrates were kept to be studied for a week before being released unharmed, said Mun-Takata as the reef walk wound down and all kids big and small prepared to eat lunch at Ala Moana Beach Park.

It was all in a day's learning for Mun-Takata. Today, he will facilitate his third field trip at Kewalo Basin in as many days. Again, his marine biology students will be doing the teaching.

"What I learn is that students really want to be involved in something like this — no matter what kind of background they come from, no matter how they are in class," said Mun-Takata. "What I get out of it is a chance to see the best in everyone."