Presented by the Huntsman Marine Science Centre, St. Andrews, NB
Excellence in Education, Research and Science since 1969
Spring 2012
SeaWords is published twice a year
Milestone for Grade 6 Ocean Discovery Program
The Ocean Discovery Program is now entering its fifth year.
This program addresses all curriculum outcomes for the Grade 6
Life Science—Diversity of Life Unit (except 105-5 and 107-1). It has
been designed to give Grade 6 students the rare opportunity to
experience this unit of their science course in a condensed hands
-on adventure—with actual living sea creatures.
The pilot project was launched in 2001 to 10 schools, two from
Charlotte County, three in the Saint John district, three in Fredericton and two from the Moncton area. This initial project saw
over 230 students head to St. Andrews for a two-day experience,
which included an overnight stay on the Huntsman’s campus.
What students are saying...
“My favourite part of the trip was when we looked
at plankton through the microscopes. I was really
fascinated by how large they looked even though
they’re TINY!”
“I liked the awesome beach walk.”
“My most favourite animal we saw was the scallop
and seeing it squirt water at us.”
Students from
Blacks Harbour Elementary School
In its second and third years all Grade 6 classes from our local
District 10 attended.
The following year, the program was reduced to a single day,
with a follow up at each school, with only schools from the
Fundy Isles, staying overnight. The program was delivered to
both English and French.
While the program continues to cover District 10, schools from
Moncton and Saint John, as well as private schools currently
participate. Your Grade 6 class could also take advantage of
Huntsman's experienced staff and excellent facilities!
Aquarium provides new educational opportunities for students
Schools visiting the aquarium can enjoy an additional educational
experience by adding hands-on programs that connect to many
outcomes in the New Brunswick curriculum.
Classes will work out of the new wet lab in the Fundy Discovery
Aquarium. The lab room can accommodate one class at a time.
Pre-K and Kindergarten – Sensational Animals!
Curriculum outcomes touched on: Science K 3.3, art education,
English language arts, health and mathematics
Length: 45 minutes
Kindergarten, Grade 1 and 2 – Super Seals!
Curriculum outcomes touched on: Science K 3.3; 1.2.1 ; 2.1.1 ;
2.1.3, art education, English language arts, music and physical
education
Length: 45 minutes
Grade 3 and 4 – Hiding in Plain Sight
Curriculum outcomes covered: Science 102-12, 205-5, 300-1,
English language arts
Length: one hour
Grade 6 and 7 – Awesome Arthropods!
Curriculum outcomes covered: 104-8,205-7,206-1,300-16,30018, 109-12, 209-4 306-3
Length: one hour
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Summer activities and courses at the Huntsman
There’s something for everyone with an interest in marine biology
Each week, the Fundy Discovery Aquarium will present a
different interactive exhibit. Huntsman staff will raid the
backrooms and their personal stashes of hidden treasures to
show off some Bay of Fundy specialties.
Two children's programs will be offered during each “Theme
Week.” The programs are designed for students aged 7 to 12
and include: educational games, themed activities, crafts and
possibly a field excursion. Participants receive a certificate of
completion.
Wednesday Mini Course Fee (9:30 am to 12:00pm) - $20
Saturday Full Day Course Fee (9:30am to 3pm) - $30
July 2 to 8 - Plankton Week
July 4 - Wednesday (half day); July 7 - Saturday (full day)
July 9 to 15 - Biodiversity Invertebrate Week
July 11 – Wednesday (half day); July 14 – Saturday (full day)
July 16 to 22 - Invasive Species Week
July 18 – Wednesday (half day); July 21 – Saturday (full day)
July 23 to 29 - Seabird Week
July 25 – Wednesday (half day); July 28 – Saturday (full day)
July 30 to August 5 - Shark Week
Aug. 1 – Wednesday (half day); Aug. 4 – Saturday (full day)
August 6 to 12 - Working on the Water Week
Aug. 8 - Wednesday (half day); Aug. 11 – Saturday (full day)
August 13 to 19 - Whale & Seal Week
Aug. 15 – Wednesday (half day); Aug.18 – Saturday (full day)
August 20 to September 1 - Ocean Appreciation Week
Aug. 22 – Wednesday (half day); Aug. 25 – Saturday (full day)
Please register in advance by calling the Huntsman main desk
(506) 529-1200 or email [email protected]
For those looking for a more in-depth program, we are offering two
week-long courses, featured below.
An “ Introduction to Marine Biology” for young active minds
Students between 15 an 18.
Monday, July 9 to Friday, July 13
Fee: $670 ($610 before May 9)
This is a fun, hands-on introduction to biology
and some local research projects. Participants
assist with real time baseline data collection for a
number of on-going projects and have an opportunity to work alongside Huntsman scientists. The different research
techniques and methods students will learn about should be
transferable to their school work. It is not always serious stuff!
The course includes: invertebrate biodiversity, invasive species,
such as green crabs and pancake tunicates and connections between
art and biology.
“All Things Marine” — a cross curricular maritime institute
Open to teachers and friends.
Monday, July 16 to Friday, July 20
Fee: $670 ($610 before May 16)
This is a hands-on marine experience with
connections between biology, art, history,
culture, cooking and more! Participants will
discover the diversity of local ecosystems and their
inhabitants, invaders new and old, St. Andrews by-the-sea past and
present, and ties to different levels of the science curriculum.
The course fee covers accommodation, meals, boat and lab time
museum admissions and all taxes. Participants just need to find
their way to the Huntsman in St. Andrews!
Please check our website www.huntsmanmarine.ca to download an
application form or contact the Huntsman main desk (506) 5291200 or email [email protected]
What
is it?
About the Huntsman...
The Huntsman Marine Science Centre is a not-for-profit facility in St. Andrews,
N.B., dedicated to education, research and applied science. Thousands of students
come to our campus each year, from elementary school to university level. We
publish this newsletter specifically for teachers twice a year. If you have any marine
biology questions, feature ideas, or things you’d like to see us cover, contact us at:
Huntsman Marine Science Centre
1 Lower Campus Road, St. Andrews by-the-Sea, NB E5B 2L7 Canada
506.529-1200 [email protected]
Visit us online at ww.huntsmanmarine.ca
Guess what this marine creature from the aquarium is!
Email your answer (or best guess!) by June 15 to
[email protected]. You will have a chance to
win a beautiful Huntsman blue lobster print. The first answer drawn from all the correct entries received will win
the prize—please include your mailing address in case
you’re the winner!
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Feature School:
Essex Agricultural & Technical High School
Teacher s: Ann Witzig and Jason Wyda
Hathorne (Danvers), MA
How many years have you been bringing students to the Huntsman?
Jason and I will be returning this May for our third trip to the Huntsman. Our students are in Grade 11 – most are 17 years old.
How did you find out about the Huntsman and its education programs?
Our Environmental Science students have been traveling to Canada for over 11 years. Our trip previous to the Huntsman Centre was a
bus/camping tour of the maritime world of southern Nova Scotia. I was investigating a more hands-on, inquiry experience and discovered
the Huntsman website. We spoke with Tracey and immediately fell in love with the program! Our students can now experience the
fantastic tides of the Bay of Fundy while glopping through mudflats, picking through the rocky ledges, and sampling the bottom dwellers
of Passamaquoddy Bay.
What are some advantages/benefits of the Huntsman experience?
Massachusetts and New Brunswick are neighbors sharing an enormous common
resource, the bioregion composed of the Gulf of Maine watershed. The Huntsman
experience for us is a reminder of the complexity and interdependence of this
bioregion. During our school year, we bring our students to the bioregion’s southern rocky shorelines, the salt marshes, and the rich offshore banks, like Stellwagon
Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Our spring journey north to Passamaquoddy
Bay allows new comparisons and contrasts to our home ecosystems, in addition to
reinforcing the connections from the Bay of Fundy to Massachusetts Bay.
How does the Huntsman program fit into the Massachusetts curriculum?
Our school is one of the few remaining vocational agricultural schools in our state. Students can major in Environmental Science and
Technology from their 9th grade year. Our vocational frameworks, or standards, stress skill development in a wide selection of areas,
including field identification of freshwater and marine organisms, laboratory analysis skills, aquaculture of Atlantic salmon, coastal
ecology and marine biology, and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, to name a few. Our campus is close to the Atlantic
Ocean, so we utilize both the marine environment theme and the issues for many of our courses.
How has your trip evolved?
We are returning for our third trip to the Huntsman Centre. We continue to stress the importance of this expedition to our administration and have been able to show through student learning a huge positive learning experience in an alternative setting.
What are some of the highlights?
The complete three-day immersion, mud and all, into the Bay of Fundy marine ecosystem with our high schoolers! We live, eat, breathe,
and wear marine science for three fantastic days. Everyone finds an interest in new organisms, new environments, and newly discovered
science skills. We leave awed by the Bay’s diversity, our ability to really study its personalities, and our new perspectives on this northern
portion of our shared bioregion.
What is the hardest part of organizing the trip?
Probably the bus transportation. We used to drive our own buses, but now charter a bus. The Maine company has been wonderful,
though in supporting our trip for several years now.
Do you know of any of your students who have gone on to study science at a higher level?
A large majority (85-90%) of our ES and T students go into science and engineering in college. Many do major in marine science. Others
have majored in biology, civil or mechanical engineering, or chemistry.
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Activity: Right Side Up
Grade level: Grade 4 and up
Purpose: To determine if size affects the time it takes for a sea star or
sea urchin to turn over, i.e. Right side up.
Background:
Echinoderms are “ spiny skinned “ invertebrates that live on the ocean
floor. Spiny side up. Soft side down. They move slowly by means of
their tube feet, which are equipped with suction cups.
Occasionally a sea star or urchin gets flipped over. The animal is
vulnerable lying upside down with its soft mouth parts exposed, and its
waving delicate tube feet may attract predators. The faster an animal
can turn over—right side up—the better the animals chance of survival.
Echinoderms do not have a brain, they do not think about the best way
to turn back over. The ‘right-side up’ process is automatic. However,
many factors could influence how quickly they can right itself, including
the size, health of the animal, water temperature, substrate, proximity
to predators, depth of water and wave action.
In this experiment we test size based on the hypothesis that the smaller
animals turn over more quickly than the larger ones
Materials:
• live sea stars and sea urchins of
various sizes
• ruler
• stopwatch
• container of saltwater
or you could download a Huntsman
‘right-side up’ data set
Procedure:
Measure the animal’s diameter in cm (from the tip of one arm to the tip
of the other). Place the animal upside down in a container filled with
saltwater. Record the time in seconds that it takes the animals to right
itself. Also, observe the technique the animal uses .
Repeat the procedure at least twice with the same animal and take the
average.
Repeat the procedure with other animals of various sizes.
Graph your results.
Questions:
Did the size of the echinoderm effect how quickly it could turn over?
Did the animal always use the same technique to turn over?
Why would it be an advantage to use different techniques?
If you conducted the experiment with both sea star and sea urchin
which species was faster? Why might that species be faster?
Sea Creature Facts:
Green Sea Urchin
(Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis)
Phylum Echinodermata (spiny skinned animals)
The Green Sea Urchin is one of the most widely
distributed echinoderm, they occur in the cool temperate waters of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Insights
The mouth of the urchin is
located on the underside . It
has five teeth connected to a
complex internal jaw structure
called Aristotle’s lantern.
Urchins graze on large seaweeds, scrape microscopic algae from rocks and other substrates, and
scavenge for dead material.
The hard calcareous spines of the urchin are in a
ball and socket joint and can rotate in any direction.
They are mostly used for protection.
The spines are not poisonous.
The test or skeleton of the urchin
is composed of calcareous plates.
Empty tests, with no spines can
often be found washed up on local
beaches.
Urchins have soft flexible tube feet and pedicellariae that protrude through tiny pores in the test.
Tube feet have a suction cup “foot” and are used for
movement, respiration, and prey capture. Pedicellariae have a three-valve pincher and are used for
removing debris, prey capture and protection.
The sexes are separate and fertilization occurs
when the males and females release their sperm and
eggs into the ocean at the same time. After hatching,
the free-swimming larvae are planktonic, drifting with
the ocean currents.
Urchins are harvested for their roe or uni which is
considered a delicacy in certain parts of the world.
For information on amazing animals that live in the
Echinoderms have a radial line of symmetry . Why might this be a good
adaptation for living on the ocean floor?
Bay of Fundy visit www.huntsmanmarine.ca.
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