This year's course was filled with many exciting learning experiences for the teacher-leader participants. We had discussions about climate change and how we could best integrate is concepts withing existing curriculum. We took a scenic van ride to the otherside of the island and examined a rare Native America Midden, probably left over from the Gabrilano Indians over 2000 years ago. We had awesome dives with schools of Leapard Sharks and colonies of bat rays. We hiked with naturalist Ellen Kelly and learned interesting facts about the endemic flora and fauna. We experienced flying fish sailing up and over the front of our kayaks as California Sea Lions pursued them. The pinnepeds would actually force the fish to fly out of the water only to slam head on into the boat dock and fall stunned back into the water -- at which point, they would promptly swallow them. We conducted authentic scientific research on a variety of questions concerning territorial behaviors of Garibaldi, feeding behaviors of sea hares, predatory behavior of kelp bass, species distributions within the intertidal zone, as well as unique observations of brown kelp. We are grateful to USC doctoral students, Alma Porada and Jacob Cram, for sharing their research projects and providing feedback on our research questions and designs.
Videos:
Conducting Scientific Experiments Part I
Conducting Scientific Experiments Part II
Underwater Part I
Post Teacher Interview
v
