http://www.mountainear.com/news/newsstories/03FACF4B9.nclk
By Gabrielle Griswold
Thursday, December 11, 2003
WHAT IS life like under the sea? To most of us, its a mystery. But to 5th- and 6th-grade students at Conways Pine Tree Elementary School its a subject of some familiarity and deep (if we may be permitted the pun) fascination.
Out of 600 applicant schools from across the country, Pine Tree was one of 12 schools selected to join in a Deep Sea Conference (based on an Extreme 2003 curriculum Depths of Discovery program), held nationwide Dec. 9 with all 12 schools participating. Locally, the day-long event was hosted by The Echo Group Technology Center in Conway.
The high point of the event, which included educational workshops, presentations and student displays, featured live conference calls received from Research Vessel Atlantis, operational center for the submersible Alvin from which Robert Ballard found the Titanic, and from the Alvin itself.
During the interval between 1:30 and 2:45 p.m. EST, one student from each school was invited to ask a single question of University of Delaware scientists on board each vessel, starting with the Atlantis, which later piped calls through to the Alvin. At that time the Atlantis was located 12 miles off the coast of Costa Rica, while the Alvin hovered above a hydrothermal vent site 1.5 miles down on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. (The home port of both vessels is Woods Hole in Falmouth, Mass.)
Oceanography students in Christa Bichés science classes listened spellbound as one student each from Arizona, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington D.C. and Wisconsin asked questions of the Atlantis. When, in alphabetical order, it came New Hampshires turn, 6th-grader Jenna Cairns queried, How much food, fresh water and fuel are needed for an extended research cruise? and received a very complete answer. Jenna was chosen by a panel of eight local judges for the scientific knowledge, enthusiasm and communication skills she displayed in a qualifying essay competition.
All the questions to and answers from the Atlantis could be clearly heard and understood over Echo loudspeakers, and their information assimilated. Later communication with the Alvin was unsatisfactory, audible but incessantly interrupted by staccato beeps and silences so that no clear information could be received from it until the lines cleared in time for Jenna to ask How do animals establish themselves at a new hydrothermal vent site?, and again receive a complete answer. (In both instances, the questions were composed by Pine Tree 5th-graders.)
Throughout the afternoon conference call portion of the days events, a (taped, not live) video, produced by the University of Delaware, visually and through captioning described the marine environment and conditions in which Atlantis and Alvin oceanographers and marine biologists operate.
How it came about
The morning portion of the program, which began at 11:30 a.m., included a series of three different workshops, all of which groups of students attended by rotating between them.
A master diver and marine researcher herself, Christa Biché began her workshops by involving students in identifying the physical characteristics that adapt marine animals to their natural environment. Leading from that, she explained that for humans to adapt to the same environment, which is not theirs by nature, special gear is needed. She then described how self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) and other underwater equipment works.
Selecting a willing student to model some of the equipment, she demonstrated the specific uses of goggles, snorkels, wet suits, dry suits, hoods, mitts, flippers, high-pressure air tanks with their hoses, and computerized instrumentation for ascertaining direction, water depth, time spent underwater, and amount of air remaining in the tank, and more.
For example, she explained, The deeper you go, the more air you need. Also, the bigger you are or the more nervous you are, the more air you use up.
She also described differences in temperature and equipment as between diving in Florida and the Gulf of Maine.
In another workshop Christas husband, Rick Biché, presented a slide show of the time he spent living in the Aquarius Habitat, an air-locked habitat that sits beneath 40 feet of water, and described what it is like to live underwater for 10 days.
Meanwhile, at stations set up throughout the Echo Technology Center, a range of exhibits displayed features of marine life such as live crabs, seaweeds, shells, and more.
At one station, Wendy Ryan-Beagan, a docent from the University of New Hampshires Sea Grant Program, demonstrated some of the life forms that live in New Hampshires marine environment, including kelp, which may serve as a breeding bed for snail eggs. She also discussed how marine biologists and oceanographers sample the oceans depths.
Sharon Meeker, another Sea Grant Program volunteer manned a station displaying shells, rocks and other specimens.
Elsewhere in the Technology Center, student displays featured a Deep Ocean mural and individual exhibits on subjects such as, among others, bioluminescence, the nature of a hydrothermal vent, how a bathyscaphe works, and how the Alvin works.
Pine Tree students have been involved in this curriculum for the past two years that Biché has been teaching science at their school.
Ive taught this subject for four years, she said, here and previously in California, and each year Ive had to write an essay on how the school can benefit from being selected. This year, they chose us!
I think, she added, that the kids truly began to think of themselves as real scientists through the process of this conference. Theyre knowledgeable, questioning and curious, and that interaction was the most powerful aspect of the days events.
The entire Deep Sea Conference project was sponsored by the University of Delaware College of Marine Studies with support from the National Science Foundation.
By Gabrielle Griswold
Thursday, December 11, 2003
WHAT IS life like under the sea? To most of us, its a mystery. But to 5th- and 6th-grade students at Conways Pine Tree Elementary School its a subject of some familiarity and deep (if we may be permitted the pun) fascination.
Out of 600 applicant schools from across the country, Pine Tree was one of 12 schools selected to join in a Deep Sea Conference (based on an Extreme 2003 curriculum Depths of Discovery program), held nationwide Dec. 9 with all 12 schools participating. Locally, the day-long event was hosted by The Echo Group Technology Center in Conway.
The high point of the event, which included educational workshops, presentations and student displays, featured live conference calls received from Research Vessel Atlantis, operational center for the submersible Alvin from which Robert Ballard found the Titanic, and from the Alvin itself.
During the interval between 1:30 and 2:45 p.m. EST, one student from each school was invited to ask a single question of University of Delaware scientists on board each vessel, starting with the Atlantis, which later piped calls through to the Alvin. At that time the Atlantis was located 12 miles off the coast of Costa Rica, while the Alvin hovered above a hydrothermal vent site 1.5 miles down on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. (The home port of both vessels is Woods Hole in Falmouth, Mass.)
Oceanography students in Christa Bichés science classes listened spellbound as one student each from Arizona, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington D.C. and Wisconsin asked questions of the Atlantis. When, in alphabetical order, it came New Hampshires turn, 6th-grader Jenna Cairns queried, How much food, fresh water and fuel are needed for an extended research cruise? and received a very complete answer. Jenna was chosen by a panel of eight local judges for the scientific knowledge, enthusiasm and communication skills she displayed in a qualifying essay competition.
All the questions to and answers from the Atlantis could be clearly heard and understood over Echo loudspeakers, and their information assimilated. Later communication with the Alvin was unsatisfactory, audible but incessantly interrupted by staccato beeps and silences so that no clear information could be received from it until the lines cleared in time for Jenna to ask How do animals establish themselves at a new hydrothermal vent site?, and again receive a complete answer. (In both instances, the questions were composed by Pine Tree 5th-graders.)
Throughout the afternoon conference call portion of the days events, a (taped, not live) video, produced by the University of Delaware, visually and through captioning described the marine environment and conditions in which Atlantis and Alvin oceanographers and marine biologists operate.
How it came about
The morning portion of the program, which began at 11:30 a.m., included a series of three different workshops, all of which groups of students attended by rotating between them.
A master diver and marine researcher herself, Christa Biché began her workshops by involving students in identifying the physical characteristics that adapt marine animals to their natural environment. Leading from that, she explained that for humans to adapt to the same environment, which is not theirs by nature, special gear is needed. She then described how self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) and other underwater equipment works.
Selecting a willing student to model some of the equipment, she demonstrated the specific uses of goggles, snorkels, wet suits, dry suits, hoods, mitts, flippers, high-pressure air tanks with their hoses, and computerized instrumentation for ascertaining direction, water depth, time spent underwater, and amount of air remaining in the tank, and more.
For example, she explained, The deeper you go, the more air you need. Also, the bigger you are or the more nervous you are, the more air you use up.
She also described differences in temperature and equipment as between diving in Florida and the Gulf of Maine.
In another workshop Christas husband, Rick Biché, presented a slide show of the time he spent living in the Aquarius Habitat, an air-locked habitat that sits beneath 40 feet of water, and described what it is like to live underwater for 10 days.
Meanwhile, at stations set up throughout the Echo Technology Center, a range of exhibits displayed features of marine life such as live crabs, seaweeds, shells, and more.
At one station, Wendy Ryan-Beagan, a docent from the University of New Hampshires Sea Grant Program, demonstrated some of the life forms that live in New Hampshires marine environment, including kelp, which may serve as a breeding bed for snail eggs. She also discussed how marine biologists and oceanographers sample the oceans depths.
Sharon Meeker, another Sea Grant Program volunteer manned a station displaying shells, rocks and other specimens.
Elsewhere in the Technology Center, student displays featured a Deep Ocean mural and individual exhibits on subjects such as, among others, bioluminescence, the nature of a hydrothermal vent, how a bathyscaphe works, and how the Alvin works.
Pine Tree students have been involved in this curriculum for the past two years that Biché has been teaching science at their school.
Ive taught this subject for four years, she said, here and previously in California, and each year Ive had to write an essay on how the school can benefit from being selected. This year, they chose us!
I think, she added, that the kids truly began to think of themselves as real scientists through the process of this conference. Theyre knowledgeable, questioning and curious, and that interaction was the most powerful aspect of the days events.
The entire Deep Sea Conference project was sponsored by the University of Delaware College of Marine Studies with support from the National Science Foundation.
