Thursday July 22, 2021
Today was an afternoon full of Plankton and Food Chain activities.
headed to the floating dock to do our own plankton tows. Thanks to Rob and the crew for bearing with us as we used the floating dock to gather samples with the plankton nets and a surface sample to figure out the Salinity with the Refractometer. The refractometer appeared to be a tough tool for us to use, our data varied at least 10 ppt throughout the kids. However, that was a good lesson in being as exact as possible in science and practicing with the gear before heading to the field. We were able to look at the plankton through a microscope which connected to the computer so we could all see on the big screen. A few kids realized what they had swallowed in the gulps of salt water while swimming that last nice day at Pier Point!
We played a food chain game that showed how species like small fish, least auklets, larger fish, other seabirds, marine mammals, etc. rely on each other starting with the sun> phytoplankton> zooplankton and onward in the food web.
In the evening, several teens came together for ice cream sundaes and a conversation about the cultural ambassador project with our Commander Islands friends. Several recalled the visit from Natalia, Polina, Artem, and Sasha, the activities we did, and the unique opportunity to get to know teens from another region of the Bering Sea. Several of our teens shared that they have been writing pen pal letters in Mrs. Z’s class and that they are interesting in potentially travelling once COVID has settled down.
