Education Commons^™

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Whose Fish? Subjects: Life Science, Environmental Science, Marine / Ocean Science, Shelby White

Reports

This activity invites students to assume the role of various stakeholders in fisheries management and actively discuss the influence of economics, ecology and human interactions in decision-making.

Students will demonstrate their argument for/against a certain regulation by participating as a specific stakeholder (i.e. commercial fisher, recreational fisher, scientists/researcher, environmental group, management agency, and citizen). Students will recognize that stakeholders tend to advocate based on their individual needs, often making it difficult for proposed policies to satisfy the needs of all stakeholders and achieve sustainability goals.

Atlantic Wolffish: A Tale Of Missing Teeth. Subjects: Life Science, Biology, Marine/Ocean Science - Grades: 6-8, Kate Bemis

Reports

This lesson plan asks students to make observations based on photographs of real specimens from a natural history collection.

Students collect data to make graphs, which allow them to compare trends for how different variables impact the ecology of Atlantic Wolffish.

Trawling Through The Five Gyres: A Microplastic Research Study. Subjects: Life Science, Earth Science, Marine/Ocean Science - Grade 6, Meredith Seeley

Reports

This activity challenges students to help researchers understand what types of plastics are polluting the oceans!

Teachers will prepare samples of microplastics that were collected in each of the 5 ocean gyres, mimicking plastic concentrations actually found in the oceans! Working as a group, students will count the items of plastic and graph their results. They will share their results with the class to compare their gyre to the other four gyres. Finally, students will understand the link between ocean microplastic pollution, and our use of single-use plastics.

This activity can be completed in 45 minutes in the class. An …

Prismatic Little Plankton. Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Science/Chemistry; Marine/Ocean Science - Grades: 9-12, Kristen Sharpe

Reports

This is a hands-on interdisciplinary activity that incorporates the fun of biology into physics!

Students participate in chromatography experiments to investigate the properties of plant pigments found in various fruits and vegetables, representing pigments commonly found in various species of marine phytoplankton. The students then apply what they've learned to create and analyze a chromatogram of a mystery "algal" sample to determine which species of phytoplankton are in the sample based on the pigments present. This activity simulates phytoplankton community analysis research done using High Performance Liquid Chromatography at VIMS.

Mitigating Marshes Against Sea Level Rise: Thin-Layer Placement Experiment, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve In Virginia

Reports

Students will learn about thin-layer placement restoration techniques by using data from the first year of a plot-based thin-layer restoration science project being conducted by the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Virginia (CBNERR-VA). In groups, students will analyze images of vegetation plots exposed to different treatments and decide which is performing best and could be used as a possible restoration technique to combat sea level rise in the marsh. Students will also interpret graphs of vegetation percent cover, and use classroom discussion to come to a conclusion using critical thinking.