This is the post put up on FISHINGUNITED.com about our school trip yesterday:
Smithtown High School Oceanography students were rewarded with had an awesome time out on the Celtic Quest this week. This group of 11th graders has worked hard all year to learn about how temperature, salinity, sediments, weather, currents, and tide all work together to influence what lives in the waters around us, but finally came the big week: we actually got out into the field to see it with our own eyes!
The students loved working with Dan, our BOCES/SCOPE marine educator, Captains Desi and Chris and the crew (especially 1st mate Tommy, who as a recent Smithtown grad could really relate to the students). These guys were the pros-they brought us to all the right places so that we caught tons of plankton, bottom samples, and fish. . . and believe it or not, no one got sick-even in this week's crazy weather!
One of the greatest joys a teacher can experience is hearing students scream with excitement over seeing something they've never seen before but have read about in a textbook for months. Once they touch it, smell it, even get squirted by it, they are hooked, so to speak!
If anyone is curious about going out and actually learning about the marine world while they are fishing, I highly recommend this type of experience! It was so rewarding for my students to make connections like this in a fun, hands-on way that I know they'll never forget! If you want more information about doing this or activities you can do with students while out on the water, please feel free to contact me through this forum and I'll help out however I can. This was the greatest experience and I'd just love to share it with anyone interested!
Best fishes,
Ms. Williams, Marine Science Teacher, Smithtown HS
Plankton as seen under the microscope