Edmunds Central students sort through dredge samples onboard a research vessel while learning about those skills needed for marine science careers.
Ocean Dakotas Institute participants return to Woods Hole after deploying multiple data collection and specimen sampling devices to learn about sampling methods onboard research vessels tying those methods and skills to marine science careers.
by Spencer Cody
Edmunds Central
6-12 Science teacher
Teachers from 14 school districts from across South and North Dakota joined students from Edmunds Central and Wagner school districts to participate in the Ocean Dakotas Institute thanks to funding from National Marine Sanctuaries and NOAA.
The Ocean Dakotas Institute is an educational institute focused on promoting ocean science curriculum development and implementation along with student interest in ocean science careers. The cohort of teachers met virtually throughout the spring semester to develop curriculum for their respective school districts on ocean science and careers.
The virtual component of the program was completed with implementation of their new curriculum with the program culminating in a field experience to coastal New England during the last week of June.
The field experience spanned nine days traveling by bus from Roscoe to the New England coast picking up teachers along the way. The cohort spent several days at the Schoodic Institute in Acadia National Park in Maine. The Schoodic Institute is a mothballed naval base that is now the largest research and education campus in the entire national parks system. Staying at the Schoodic Institute allowed the cohort to explore Acadia National Park and its pristine coastal habitats and marginal marine ecosystems.
The second half of the field experience focused on marine science careers as the institute traveled down the coast to Cape Cod for programming at Woods Hole. Woods Hole is a coastal village in Massachusetts with a remarkable concentration of marine research interests.
During our visit we toured the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) including their AVAST lab that brings many interests and resources together to spur innovation in marine science exploration. WHOI is known for making remarkable discoveries running the gamut from the first documented hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor to notable wreckage finds such as the Titanic. WHOI's AVAST lab specializes in automated submersible vehicles that are far more cost-effective in exploring the ocean than operating ships with crews.
In addition to WHOI, we toured Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL). The MBL specializes in culturing and maintaining marine organisms for research making the MBL a major hub in zoological and ecological studies of the ocean. Remarkably, MBL's sprawling campus has ocean water piped from Woods Hole's harbor throughout its campus to provide for a constant supply of seawater for its research in a variety of laboratory and education settings.
The group concluded its Woods Hole tours with a stop at the NOAA Aquarium. The NOAA Aquarium is the oldest public aquarium in the United States. While in Woods Hole, the cohort was able to experience what it was like to work on a research vessel. Thanks to the Zephyr Education Foundation, the cohort was able to take a research vessel out into the harbor and perform a number of data collection methods including a camera and plankton tow along with a dredge of the harbor seafloor. Using the dredge sampling, the cohort was able to bring up a variety of species for observation.
We concluded our stay in Woods Hole and our field experience with a trip to the Wood Neck Salt Marsh to view salt marsh organisms.
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