Scott McAuliffe teaches. Not in a classroom with blackboards and textbooks. His tools — computers, videos and photographs — are high-tech. And his subject — the ocean — is vast.

Two decades after his mother, Christa McAuliffe, became an astronaut, McAuliffe, 29, helps make marine science accessible. With interactive exhibits and touch-screen kiosks, he simplifies big ideas.

“What I really enjoy is the process of transferring information. For marine science, a lot of these grand ideas are a little too abstract to understand,” he said.

Christa McAuliffe taught social studies at Concord High School. In 1985, she was selected from 11,000 teachers nationwide to be the first teacher, and first private citizen, in space. Twenty years ago, McAuliffe and 17 of his third-grade Kimball School classmates watched the launch from Kennedy Space Center. Moments later, all seven crew members were dead.

Since the disaster, McAuliffe and his sister Caroline, 26, have maintained their privacy. Caroline couldn’t be reached for this article. She is single and pursuing a career in early childhood education, her father, Steven McAuliffe, told The Associated Press. Caroline recently taught at a Concord preschool.

Scott McAuliffe spoke to the Monitor last week about his career and interests. But he wants to keep his thoughts about his mother private.

McAuliffe’s love of marine life runs deep. Growing up in Concord, he made many visits to the New England Aquarium in Boston.

At college, McAuliffe’s interest continued. At Bates College, McAuliffe studied marine ecology; his thesis focused on how digging for baitworms affects soft-shell clams in Maine’s St. George’s River.

Several years after graduating, he crossed the country to study for a master’s degree in marine resource management at Oregon State University, which he has since completed. In Oregon, McAuliffe’s interest shifted from scientific research to outreach and education.

“I learned from going to museums. I learned from going to the Boston Aquarium . . . I think that’s really close to my heart, since I learned that way,” he said. “It’s a way to give back.”

Education is essential to marine health, McAuliffe said. Unless people understand how marine science affects them, from the red tide along the East Coast to the effect of pollutants on fisheries, public policy won’t change.

McAuliffe wants to help people learn “without realizing they’re learning,” to show how the big, abstract idea plays out on the individual level.

“There’s been a disconnect between scientists and the public for quite some time. In the past 10 years, that’s gotten better,” he said.

Along the way, McAuliffe has had his fair share of adventure. In 2003, he spent one month aboard an ice breaker ship in Greenland, studying the water’s salinity.

The following year, he traveled to the village of Qaanaaq, northern Greenland, where he met with residents about how scientists’ plans to conduct research in the area would affect them. Back in Oregon, he taught classes on icebergs and sea ice at a local elementary school.

Working as a freelance multimedia designer brings together McAuliffe’s myriad hobbies. Traveling to Greenland, he picked up digital photography. His pictures show mountains lurking past shimmering water, icebergs curving out of the sea and waves of cloud. He loves computer graphics.

And his kiosks even allow for musical composition. At Bates, McAuliffe minored in music. Today he continues to play guitar, the keyboard and a little mandolin.

In September 2004, McAuliffe married. His wife, Theresa, is a structural engineer.

He loves Oregon because it reminds him of home. “I don’t think I could live anywhere else in the United States,” he said. “It’s either New England or the Northwest.”

McAuliffe remembers Concord residents fondly. “Everyone in that community has been incredible beyond belief,” he said.

As for the future, McAuliffe hopes to do more of what he’s doing. “This is definitely the path I would like to keep moving on.”

Information from: Concord Monitor, http://www.cmonitor.com

Information from: Concord Monitor, http://www.cmonitor.com