Science Day at the Beach

Science Day was very fun yet taught me a lot about the ocean and conserving it. We learned many different facts about topics ranging from coral bleaching, to the sea cucumbers defense mechanism. This day helped to prepare me for Mast because I learned many marine related facts that can be useful in later years.

After a well prepared PowerPoint Presentation to ready us to go to the beach, we started out to the beach across the street from Mast to start capturing specimens. During the hour that we were in the water, we caught an animal from almost every phylum. Sea life like filefish, sea horses, scorpionfish, parrotfish, crabs, shrimp frequently appeared in our nets, just to name a few. After capturing the animals, we brought them back to shore to observe, classify, and categorize. We kept them in the tubs for a short while then released them back into the ocean. Then the next group went into the water and we went for an exploration on the land. Dr. Hood took us around the beach showing us different species of palm trees, a gumbo limbo tree, and even an exotic non-native tree called the Australlian pine. She showed us how the non-native plants and animals can affect the surrounding ecosystems in good and sometimes bad ways.

All in all, it was a great learning experience and beats sitting in a classroom any day. I'm sure what I have learned that day will come back to me sometime, being that I am about to enroll in a marine related school.

Stephen Jay Gould Citation

Chapman, K. (photographer). Photograph of Stephen Jay Gould. Retrieved July 12, 2009, from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stephen_Jay_Gould_by_Kathy_Chapman.png

Science Topics

1) How far can sparks jump?
This topic seems like an interesting one. Ive always wanted to know what the answer to this question is.

2) Aerodynamics and bridge building
This seems like a fun project. I think it would be fun to build and test a bridge i made

3)Color theory
This also seems like a great project idea. Ive always wanted to know what cause colors.