Bodega Marine Lab teams with West County schools Program gets students involved in study of ocean pollution
ShareShare Print Create a hardcopy of this page Font Size: Default font size Larger font size Bodega Marine Lab teams with West County schools BOLUS — Analy High School biology student Sarah Fujii (pictured, right) records items found in the stomach of an ocean-going bird. Fujii and her classmate are involved in a partner program with the Bodega Marine Lab studying the effects of pollution on ocean birds. - Photo provided
Posted: Wednesday, December 2, 2009 12:00 am
by David Abbott
Sonoma West Editor | 0 comments
With the ocean just a few miles to the west representing a huge classroom and the Bodega Marine Lab (BML) as a place to study, the opportunity for local students to learn about ocean science is just over the hills.
In order to take advantage of that situation, the BML has created Coastal, Atmospheric, and Marine Environmental Observing Studies (CAMEOS), which teams UC Davis graduate science students with local K-12 students in an effort to make science more accessible to a new generation.
The program is in its first year and is funded by a competitive grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) GK-12 Program. It matches grad students with local K-12 students and is funded through a 5-year grant worth $2.7 million.
UC Davis graduate students act as “fellows” and mentors to local high school and middle school students, while they receive teaching experience as well as a $30,000 stipend to help pay for their educations.
“The idea is to enhance grad students’ training. It gives them a chance to learn how to present with less scientific jargon, and it presents them in a role model as a scientist and not an alien,” said Dr. Susan Williams, a professor of evolution and ecology with UC Davis, and director of the CAMEOS program. “It’s about them bringing science to the people.”
Williams, who studies invasive species and ocean climate change in the Bay Area, said that ocean science is noted by the Academy of Sciences as being underrepresented in the K-12 system and CAMEOS is a way to pass respect for science on to a new generation.
The program is being conducted at El Molino, Analy, Petaluma, Maria Carillo, Casa Grande, Rancho Cotate and Tomales high schools, as well as Willowside Middle School, in 16 classes with about 600 students, 10 teachers, and eight graduate students.
Participants in the program are studying marine debris in what’s known as the “central garbage patch,” a floating island of garbage estimated to be twice the size of the state of Texas near Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean.
The garbage is being ingested by ocean-going marine birds such as the albatross, and scientists are finding debris including plastic lighters and toothbrushes in the stomachs of many other types of ocean birds.
The students and fellows have been dissecting boluses — pellets regurgitated by parent birds to feed their young that look like owl pellets — to find out what’s in the birds’ stomachs.
Then, they do a survey of the garbage found on campuses that may be washed into drains and sewers, and follow waterways to get an idea of the motion of garbage found in the patch.
According to Mike Sherron, a biology teacher who has been at Analy for 28 years, the data is then put into an Excel spreadsheet with GPS points so that students can map possible routes the garbage can take from the campus to the ocean.
“We’re trying to make it as scientific as possible,” Sherron said. “We’ve found a number of things we can ID like bottle caps from China, and paper with Japanese lettering. It really makes the kids think about their roles” in the world and in the garbage patch.
“All the schools are doing it and we’re getting a very large database,” Williams said. “It’s a building block and a team building approach to working on an important project.”
The students hope to present their findings at the BML in April or May “as though it were a real deal,” and their findings will be archived, according to Sherron.
All in all, the experience has been positive for everyone involved.
“My fellow is dynamic, interesting and young, and it really gets the students going,” Sherron said. “It’s amazing to see a young female not much older than the students doing incredible things. It particularly affects the girls in the class.”
Annaliese Hettinger is a fellow in the fourth year of her PhD program, working on climate change and studying the acidification of the oceans. She started at UC Davis in the fall of 2006 after receiving her master’s degree in Southern California studying pollution around Catalina Island.
Hettinger is working with students in Tomales to promote ocean literacy in the classroom, and to try to help them develop an interest in marine science.
She was initially concerned that her students wouldn’t respond and “they’d look at it like another chemistry class.”
“It’s been really positive,” Hettinger said. “It’s exciting to get them turned on to doing research, and cool to see them really making discoveries. We’re doing real science and I get a reverse affect. They’re excited and asking questions and it helps me learn. I feel fortunate. It’s been rejuvenating.”
© 2013 Sonoma West Publishers . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
ShareShare Print Create a hardcopy of this page Font Size: Default font size Larger font size Bodega Marine Lab teams with West County schools BOLUS — Analy High School biology student Sarah Fujii (pictured, right) records items found in the stomach of an ocean-going bird. Fujii and her classmate are involved in a partner program with the Bodega Marine Lab studying the effects of pollution on ocean birds. - Photo provided
Posted: Wednesday, December 2, 2009 12:00 am
by David Abbott
Sonoma West Editor | 0 comments
With the ocean just a few miles to the west representing a huge classroom and the Bodega Marine Lab (BML) as a place to study, the opportunity for local students to learn about ocean science is just over the hills.
In order to take advantage of that situation, the BML has created Coastal, Atmospheric, and Marine Environmental Observing Studies (CAMEOS), which teams UC Davis graduate science students with local K-12 students in an effort to make science more accessible to a new generation.
The program is in its first year and is funded by a competitive grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) GK-12 Program. It matches grad students with local K-12 students and is funded through a 5-year grant worth $2.7 million.
UC Davis graduate students act as “fellows” and mentors to local high school and middle school students, while they receive teaching experience as well as a $30,000 stipend to help pay for their educations.
“The idea is to enhance grad students’ training. It gives them a chance to learn how to present with less scientific jargon, and it presents them in a role model as a scientist and not an alien,” said Dr. Susan Williams, a professor of evolution and ecology with UC Davis, and director of the CAMEOS program. “It’s about them bringing science to the people.”
Williams, who studies invasive species and ocean climate change in the Bay Area, said that ocean science is noted by the Academy of Sciences as being underrepresented in the K-12 system and CAMEOS is a way to pass respect for science on to a new generation.
The program is being conducted at El Molino, Analy, Petaluma, Maria Carillo, Casa Grande, Rancho Cotate and Tomales high schools, as well as Willowside Middle School, in 16 classes with about 600 students, 10 teachers, and eight graduate students.
Participants in the program are studying marine debris in what’s known as the “central garbage patch,” a floating island of garbage estimated to be twice the size of the state of Texas near Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean.
The garbage is being ingested by ocean-going marine birds such as the albatross, and scientists are finding debris including plastic lighters and toothbrushes in the stomachs of many other types of ocean birds.
The students and fellows have been dissecting boluses — pellets regurgitated by parent birds to feed their young that look like owl pellets — to find out what’s in the birds’ stomachs.
Then, they do a survey of the garbage found on campuses that may be washed into drains and sewers, and follow waterways to get an idea of the motion of garbage found in the patch.
According to Mike Sherron, a biology teacher who has been at Analy for 28 years, the data is then put into an Excel spreadsheet with GPS points so that students can map possible routes the garbage can take from the campus to the ocean.
“We’re trying to make it as scientific as possible,” Sherron said. “We’ve found a number of things we can ID like bottle caps from China, and paper with Japanese lettering. It really makes the kids think about their roles” in the world and in the garbage patch.
“All the schools are doing it and we’re getting a very large database,” Williams said. “It’s a building block and a team building approach to working on an important project.”
The students hope to present their findings at the BML in April or May “as though it were a real deal,” and their findings will be archived, according to Sherron.
All in all, the experience has been positive for everyone involved.
“My fellow is dynamic, interesting and young, and it really gets the students going,” Sherron said. “It’s amazing to see a young female not much older than the students doing incredible things. It particularly affects the girls in the class.”
Annaliese Hettinger is a fellow in the fourth year of her PhD program, working on climate change and studying the acidification of the oceans. She started at UC Davis in the fall of 2006 after receiving her master’s degree in Southern California studying pollution around Catalina Island.
Hettinger is working with students in Tomales to promote ocean literacy in the classroom, and to try to help them develop an interest in marine science.
She was initially concerned that her students wouldn’t respond and “they’d look at it like another chemistry class.”
“It’s been really positive,” Hettinger said. “It’s exciting to get them turned on to doing research, and cool to see them really making discoveries. We’re doing real science and I get a reverse affect. They’re excited and asking questions and it helps me learn. I feel fortunate. It’s been rejuvenating.”
© 2013 Sonoma West Publishers . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.