Lisa S. Alter
Throughout this curriculum, data and chart analysis will be stressed. Statistical analysis of data will also be a theme (stem and leaf plots, scatter and line plots). CAPT and Mastery Test objectives will be included. Real data will be collected and utilized. Data will also be saved as part of a yearly database for use in future years.
The government is a tremendous and under-utilized resource. In the case of Long Island Sound, they are a wealth of both curriculum and informational materials. See the Teacher Resource section for details.
The following curriculum assumes that the students have already covered oceanography on a global scale. My unit culminates with a “Town Meeting,” which will be held sometime in early January.
Day 1
Review of prior knowledge of Long Island Sound. Have students fill out a questionnaire using the following; what they know, how the Sound has affected their lives, and what they want to know about the Sound.
Also, as an introduction to this unit, read to the students part of a book called,
Oscar Lobster’s Fair
Exchang
e. Many scientific truths can be found in this book and related to the Sound.
Day 2
Discuss colonial expansion and the impact it had on the Sound. Also, go over the geological and glacial history of the Sound. If time allows, do a demonstration on glacial processes.
Assign the poster project for homework. The poster should be on Long Island Sound, its history and formation. It also should include examples of organisms that live in the Sound, and the causes and effects of pollution. Have it due on the eleventh day. It is worth one quiz grade and develop a scoring rubric for it.
Day 3
Biological factors should be covered today. Include a short video on the Sound. Go over the history of oystering in Connecticut and modern day aquaculture, as they relate to our state.
Day 4
Go over plankton in the Sound, their impact on its waters and the food chain. Do a plankton lab. Develop a lab which includes identification. Have students develop a chart based on their findings. Students have a lot of fun looking at plankton under a microscope, especially when they find out that they swim with these creatures.
Day 5
Guest speaker on plants and animals of Long Island Sound. Have them bring live animals for the students to touch and hold.
Day 6-7
Abiotic factors of Long Island Sound. There are a bunch of activities from
Project Earth Science: Physical
Oceanography
, by Brent A. Ford and P. Sean Smith. Examples include; a hydrometer activity and an estuary activity. Vary the labs based on student ability. Prentice Hall also, has a variety of activities including one on thermocline.
Day 8,9,10,11
Discuss the definition of a watershed. Show chart and diagrams related to this. See appendix. A groundwater model can be borrowed from DEP for $25. Introduce “The Fruitvale Story.” This is a series of labs relating to groundwater pollution and its spread throughout the watershed. The activities in the series include; water movement in aquifers and aquitards, serial dilution, finding the polluted “well,” using universal indicator and buffering solutions, and an activity on contamination plumes.
The Fruitvale Story lab series was developed by Lawrence Hall of Science and is a New Haven curriculum requirement.
To add and enhance the series of above labs, there are additional activities from another group of labs called, “Soda Bottle Hydrology.” This series from HAZWRAP can be obtained from the U.S. Dept. of Energy and was developed by the Hazardous Wastes Remedial Actions Program. Some of the activities in this series include; core sampling, solubility, pollution plumes and chemical changes in groundwater. There is also a glossary of terms to share with the English or Resource teachers. The activities on these four days are great precursors to a discussion on Long Island Sound’s pollution problems.
Collect the poster projects on the Sound on Day 11. Display them around the room and school.
Day 12
Human impact on Long Island Sound—pollution, flora and fauna changes. Include discussion on the spread of Phragmites and the impact of ballast water.
Oil Spill cleanup lab. Have students test the effectiveness of different materials and soaps on the cleanup of oil spills. Talk about oil fingerprinting, and how the U.S. Coast Guard at Avery Point in Groton has become the U.S. authority with spills in our waters.
Day 13
Go over the different types of pollution in the Sound, its causes, impacts and cures. Show chart and graphs and have students interpret the data. Compare pollution amounts and effects in different part of the Sound. Emphasize nonpoint source pollution, as it will be the focus of the Town Meeting.
Day 14
The Watershed Monitor
, from DEP (summer 1996) contains an excellent activity called, “Long Island Sound in a Jar.” The author is Heather Crawford. Each group of students is given “polluted water.” This contains; vegetable oil, leaf litter, soil, fertilizer, detergent, food coloring, assorted litter, and vinegar.
Each group is given the following material to help clean up the water; 1 dishpan, 16” square of screening, 1 piece of cheesecloth, 1-2 eyedroppers, 1 container for waste cleanup, 2 funnels, three-fourths cup of clean sand, 1 empty quart jar, 1 quart jar half full of tap water, 1 small sponge, 1-2 spoons, and 1 tablespoon of alum.
Students are given very little other information, and have 20-30 minutes to clean up the water.
Have students decide which jar of water looks the cleanest, and check the pH of the samples. Compare the lab to what happens at water treatment plants. Ask the students which pollutants were the hardest to clean? Discuss dilution and bioaccumulation.
Day 15
Field trip to Bluff Point in Groton, CT. For us, this trip to collect data will have to be run prior to January due to the weather. If this unit is run in spring or fall, keep this trip within the unit time frame.
Bluff Point is a state coastal preserve. It encompasses a total of 778 acres. Here there are a variety of habitats to study, interpret and collect data. As you walk in from the parking lot, on the right is the Pequonic River and on the left woodlands. There is salt marsh, salt pond, sandy beach, rocky beach, tidal pools, and small dunes to study.
Students can do studies along transect lines, and can key out a variety of flora and fauna. A seine can be used to collect, observe and then release organisms. Glacial geology and beach structure can be observed. Core sampling and sediment makeup are two other activities to choose from here.
Seaweed for pressing and shells for collecting are in abundance here. Nature journaling is another activity. Bring along field guides or laminated guide sheets for easy identification. Bluff Point is an excellent place for birding. A photography class could easily help document data for use in science.
For students, this is wilderness, we may only see a few other people out here all day. The only regular manmade noise is from the airport across the river. I will be making two trips to Bluff Point in the fall. One with my regular science classes and one with the Science Club.
Day 16,17
Town Meeting Preparation. Refer to the introduction of the Betsy Ross Team/ Long Island Sound units.
I will have more students involved in this compared to the other three teachers. Most of my students, not involved with the other teachers will been in the audience and they too will have an assignment. All students will be asked to come up with a questionnaire about nonpoint source pollution. These are questions that might possibly be asked during the Town Meeting.
My students will share their posters, first with classmates and then with participants in the Town Meeting, as they will be placed in the library (where the meeting will be held). All of my students will be asked to come up with a rap, poem or cartoon depicting the problems of and solutions to nonpoint source pollution. A number of these will be shared with the Town Meeting participants from all four classes and guests.
Day 18
The Town Meeting is a joint team project between myself (an eighth grade science teacher), Yel Brayton (a theater teacher), Linda MacNaughton (a study skills teacher), and Mary Alice Howley ( a reading resource teacher).
We share many of the same students. The students that I have, while the other teacher’s don’t, will be active members of the audience and involved in the whole process as well. We believe that the students will greatly benefit from an interdisciplinary project such as this. They will be able to see how all aspects of their education are related to each other. The Town Meeting will be an opportunity for the students to see the effects of a problem (nonpoint source pollution), and the impact it has on their daily lives. It also gives them an opportunity to be “informed citizens,” and to see how they can have an impact on their future.
We will be inviting some New Haven dignitaries and the New Haven Register to the Town Meeting. Lastly, we will be serving to all participants and guests, “a little taste of the Sound (Irish Moss Pudding and seafood).”
Day 19
Summary of the Long Island Sound unit and discussion about the Town Meeting. Tie-in to the Atlantic and other oceans. Discussion of the impact of global change, seen on a local scale.