Young Explorer Microscopic Life Day - 2019

The Young Explorers on Wednesday learned all about microscopic ocean life called plankton. The students had the chance to use microscopes to see phytoplankton and zooplankton. They also made two food chains to understand the role that plankton plays in the marine environment.

We played a game to see if the students could match the marine animals to their planktonic larvae. They larvae don't look like the adults so it was a tricky game. Then we had a touch tank of animals that start their life as plankton.

To finish off the day the students had to design their own phytoplankton and then test it in the water. There was lots of fun creating!

We look forward to the remainder of the Young Explorer programs at the Aquarium this summer!

Learning how to use microscopes.

View of a copepod (plankton from Sponge Bob), which is a type of zooplankton.

Did you know that many of the animals we find in the aquarium, such as crabs and urchins start their life in the plankton layer?

Brittle star.

We played a game to match the adult to its planktonic larva. They don't usually look very much alike so it was a pretty tough game!

Can you design a phytoplankton? 

The students made many different prototypes.

There were lots of different ideas.