Yesterday we had a group of 45 excited grade 8 students from Toronto arrive on campus in the wee hours of the morning for their week of marine biology. After getting some sleep and then breakfast the students met with Tracey, Meagan and I to start their day. Since they are such a large number they were split into three smaller groups for the day’s activities.
During the day each group toured the Fundy Discovery Aquarium and had a chance to see some of the amazing animals that live in the Bay of Fundy, including harbour seals, a 22 pound lobster, wolffish and the prehistoric sturgeon. Their favourite parts of the aquarium were definitely the two touch pools filled with marine creatures such as sea stars, scallops, hermit crabs and skates. Touching the live animals was so much fun!
Another activity each group did during the day was visit the wet lab to learn about the life in a drop of water. The students used microscopes to look at phytoplankton and zooplankton that had been collected for them by other Glenview students on the research vessel. Looking through the microscopes was pretty cool but when you add in a game of plankton bingo it got even better!
The third activity that all of the students did during the day was a trip out onto the water with the Huntsman’s research vessel, the Fundy Spray. While on board we did plankton tows and scallop drags to collect the live specimens that the students will examine in the lab throughout the week. The students really enjoyed sorting through the scallop drag to count the sea cucumbers, urchins, sand dollars and other animals that were pulled up from the bottom. Plus, the weather was awesome!
To finish off the marine biology activities for the day all of the students put on their shiny new rubber boots to visit the intertidal zone (beach) at Indian Point. The students were surprised to find hiding under the rocks and seaweed all sorts of animals including green crabs, sea stars, and sideswimmers. Also, the tide was coming in so they got to see the awesome power of the Bay of Fundy tides!
After supper the students trekked into the town of St. Andrews to learn some of the history of the area. They were lucky to have a beautiful evening to explore the town!
The scallop drag brought lots of animals from the bottom for us to examine.
Checking out the collection from the plankton tows.
Enjoying being on the water!
Copepod under the microscope.
Skate in the touch pool!
Exploring the intertidal zone at Indian Point.
What did you find?
No comments:
Post a Comment