OUR CORE CURRICULUM
Our core curriculum consists of seagrass, mangrove, and coral reef ecology field trips. Each program includes a visit to these three bottom communities. Evening discussions on coral reef ecology, field identification of reef fish, invertebrate diversity, astronomy and plankton are also part of our core activities. Click on the name of the discussion/field trip component below to get a full description of these core activities. During an extended program, teachers may add other field trips and evening activities, and we have versions of the Invertebrate Diversity Lab and Water Quality Lab designed to meet AP Biology and Environmental Science requirements.
MarineLab has correlated these components to the curriculum standards of all 50 states and the National Science Education Standards. Please contact the office at coordinator@marinelab.org to request a copy of the correlated standard for YOUR state and grade level!
The discussion focuses on the importance of a healthy seagrass community, threats facing seagrasses, and familiarization with about 50 of the organisms associated with this area. Proper snorkeling techniques are also shown. Students are then taken to a seagrass flat to snorkel in this commercially crucial habitat where spiny lobsters, stone crabs, and baitfish are numerous.
Usually this is the first field trip in the program, so students' first snorkeling experience is in the calmer waters of the seagrass areas.
Mangroves form a biologically rich and environmentally crucial transition zone between land and sea. On the way to the mangrove creek snorkeling site, instructors discuss the importance of the mangrove community. At the site, students explore the intricate, fascinating world of life on and among the mangrove prop roots. Instructors collect small invertebrates for further examination and discussion back aboard the boat.
The Coral Reef Ecology discussion precedes the first trip to the coral reef. It includes information on the biology of reef-building corals, the abiotic parameters necessary for reef formation, types of corals, reef preservation, and snorkeling etiquette. Students are then taken about four to five miles offshore to snorkel on a variety of coral reefs, such as Key Largo Dry Rocks, Grecian Rocks, and Molasses Reef.
This discussion is an interactive presentation on fish morphology, habitat, and behavior and provides students with the "field marks" needed to identify a fish. With drawn visual aids and slides of local fish, students practice their identification skills prior to their second snorkeling trip to the reef.
Students collect an algae covered rock from the beach off MarineLab and take it into the lab to "shake" it into a tub of seawater. The various free-swimming and sessile creatures and plants are identified and classified into phyla. The biological significance of diversity is discussed. An AP version of this lab is available starting in 2010.
Students are taken on a short nighttime boat ride into Largo Sound. Drifting on the gentle waves, they are introduced to astronomical and earth science concepts, given a guided tour of the skies, and shown celestial navigation methods. While returning to the dock, a plankton net is towed behind the boat. Once ashore, the plankton is placed into deep well slides and magnified on a viewing screen. The plankton are identified and classified according to phyla and type.
Rodriguez Key is just offshore of Key Largo and features an interesting bottom community that is based on the coralline algae Goniolithon. Students snorkel the area and instructors collect large chunks of the Goniolithon. Back at the boat, students break up the algae to find and identify the invertebrates inside. The second stop on this field trip is usually to a patch reef community, populated with tropical fish and smaller corals, sea whips, and sea rods, or a small wreck with resident nurse sharks, rays, and balloonfish.
This activity starts with a short powerpoint discussion on sea turtle species, life history, threats to their individual and group survival, and how these threats are currently being addressed. Students work in groups acting as members of the Cooperative Marine Turtle Tagging Program. Using lifelike scale models of injured or diseased turtles, they complete actual data forms used by CMTTP. The activity is wrapped up with a short video on actual turtle salvage and treatments. This activity may be coupled with a trip to the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, FL. (Photo from the Turtle Hospital).