My students need magnifiers for examination of the sand, shell and coral specimens. Fish print models serve in place of marine specimens unavailable here in the desert.
"I want to be a marine biologist!" is the most common dream I hear from students each year. Now they can gain a clear vision of the biology and geology of the ocean and what kind of career paths are possible as they participate in this high-interest enrichment class on marine science.
My eighth graders attend a public junior high school here in the Arizona desert.
They have sometimes visited the beach or Sea World and fallen in love with the ocean, yet know little about marine science other than Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. For every student who dreams of training Shamu, there is another who wants to use their art talent in a future career. And for every student who loves computers and numbers, there is another who wants to work with machines and structures. Yet another wants to make a difference in the environment and fix a problem that faces humankind. All of these students are on the verge of their high school careers, where a path to their dreams will begin. I can help them set a course for their dream by teaching them some basics of what marine science is all about. This hands-on enrichment class engages students in everything from sand grain analysis and animal classification to the writings of oceanographers past and present.
My Project
As we explore the ocean from the middle of the desert, I rely on my lifelong collection of sands, corals, shells and photographs to bring the ocean to this desert classroom. Using hand-made nature journals, students move through the science process skills of observing, measuring, asking questions and forming hypotheses. In many cases, they need to examine specimens at a high magnification, such as sand and shells. The 10x magnifying loupes will serve us just as well as they do professional geologists! The fish printing kit will be used to explore the ancient practice of goyataku, fish printing, in which Japanese fishermen preserved a record of their catch. Since we are far from an ocean, the rubber models will be the most economical way to repeat this lesson in each round of the course, which takes place 4 times this school year. Students will print onto cloth and make a banner to promote ocean awareness and they will print onto Tee shirts to remind them of their dreams.
The oceans covering Earth serve as a perfect, highly motivating theme that incorporates STEM, language arts, social studies, art and career investigation.
In the Marine Science enrichment course, students are given a small taste of how vast an area it can be for career opportunities. I don't need much to teach the course well, but the items I have requested funding for will really add to the quality of the experience for these excited students. Help me nurture their passion for science!
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Meyer and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.