Marine Ecosystems as a Learning Tool

I teach biological and physical sciences to secondary school students in high need, urban areas. The schools I have in which I have taught, and in which I will continue to teach, typically have a student body where over 80% of the students receive free lunch and live in the most disadvantaged and resource poor areas. That reality should NOT dictate the quality and diversity of education each child receives. Scientists learn and are further impassioned by doing. I would like to connect the general study in any of my standards-aligned science courses to marine biology with concepts of chemistry, physics, reproduction, evolution, photosynthesis, comparative animal studies, animal behavior, aquaculture, alternative energies, and interdependence of organisms. This project will have a community service aspect. As a final project for each group of students, we will work with local environmental agencies and perform public education expos. The project will NOT use organisms from natural reefs. We will only use aqua-cultured organisms. My students for years to come will be ‘doing their part to save the oceans’ i.e. sustainability. As a class, in the beginning of the semester, the students will be able to set up a new marine tank and start cycling. By the middle of the semester I will bring in my own personal aqua-cultured organisms (personal 55 g salt water tank) for that tank. Then as we go deeper into our content, the students will differentiate into smaller basic systems providing further extension. This proposal will reach 24 students per science class. Each class will be able to work off of the main class tank. Marine Biology, or many topics in environmental sustainability are often not encountered by youth in urban areas even those in coastal cities! Marine biology is my passion, and can extend into every area of science. Please help me gain the proper tools to bring about that passion, and insight into my children through an extremely hands on experience that will make a lasting, positive impression on their lives.