Coastal Waters Laboratory

Transcription

We are on an island called Appledore Island which is a small island, about 95 acres. When I was a student, I thought this was just the greatest place. I mean, I do still think this is the greatest place on earth. So I actually chose UNH as my undergraduate school, because of the Shoals Marine Lab. It's a very special place, because this place is primarily geared for undergraduate education. So this summer after my freshman year, I came out here and took underwater research. So now I come back every summer from Alaska to teach the underwater research class. The second day out on the float we give them a slate and an assignment, and they're going and collecting data. Every year we have the students come up with their own proposal. We don't spoon feed them anything. We want them to go out and look at things and make their own observations, and then we'll guide them in trying to develop a question that can be answered in a variety of ways. It's very real, you know? We learn basic driving safety and ecology and then we can just jump right in and ask questions ourselves. A lot of universities will offer a diving class where they can get certified to dive or an advanced certification, but very few places offer a scientific diver course, where they're also learning underwater research methods, sampling methods, data collection methods, for the experimental design of how you go about answering questions in the subtidal. And the academic portion that Jim and I give them of the organisms and the ecology that they can take forward and apply to any system, not just underwater. This is a really amazing experience. It's really special. I think it's extremely valuable that we get such a variance in our learning experiences. All the components, whether they're in the classroom or in the dive locker, on the float or underwater, all have really useful cross communication and it's very different being underwater and trying to conduct research. We told them on the first night, going over the syllabus and what they'd be graded on, and we have an organism exam. We're going to take you underwater, and you're going to have to identify 20 things. And they said, well how will we remember? We come back on the float and we write down? And I said no, you'll have a slate with you, and you'll write down underwater, and take the exam underwater. And every year they're like, I've never taken an exam underwater. I am so glad I decided to come here, because it's given me an opportunity to see if marine biology is right for me. Because I'm doing it and living it. I've always loved the ocean and growing up here it's really great to be able to take tide pooling to the next step, and be able to look at the environment in a different way. The unique part about Appledore Island is, first of all, it is an island. So students who come out here not only get an intense experience in academics, but they also get an intense social experience. And almost 100% of the time, students come out here with lifelong friends, or they leave here with lifelong friends.