Marine Bio 2021: What is this course about?
The goal of this class is to give the students a field research experience in which they come to understand how to work as a team to conduct experimental studies in marine science. Students will be off campus on Hurricane Island off the coast of Maine, where they will be involved in a variety of new and ongoing projects. They will study the structure of intertidal communities, develop hypotheses, and then implement a research study that will provide baseline data for future work in the area. The students will also study lobster biology and the historic management of the fishery so they can start to look critically at the current state of the Maine lobster industry. In the larval settlement project, students will study organisms that recruit on docks and in the intertidal of Penobscot Bay, and consider the role of invasive species and climate change in affecting biodiversity. Finally, they will learn about the efforts on Hurricane Island to design a sustainable campus and to reduce the carbon footprint. They will help monitor energy use and also learn about various innovative solutions to the problem of living “off the grid”.
Off-campus Information
We will be staying at the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership off the coast of Rockland, Maine from Wednesday, May 21 until Friday, May 28. Please see the documents describing logistics and packing.
Project
All the members of the class will work together as a scientific team to develop baseline studies in a variety of areas including a comparison of high and low energy intertidal areas, lobster population dynamics and larval settlement patterns and preferences. Students will keep a daily scientific journal and write an extensive research project that they will present to the community once they return.
CSW—a gender-inclusive day and boarding school for grades 9-12—is a national leader in progressive education. We live out our values of inquiry-based learning, student agency, and embracing diverse perspectives in every aspect of our student experience. Young people come to CSW to learn how to learn and then put what they learn into action—essential skills they carry into their futures as doers, makers, innovators, leaders, and exceptional humans who do meaningful work in the world.