In the News

November 18, 2007

Students come face to face with environment
DARTMOUTH — Fifth-grade students from Quinn Elementary School visited the Lloyd Center for the Environment recently as part of the Turn-the-Tide Education Program.

Donning hip boots and nets, students were conducting a field study at the estuary and discovering for themselves the species that inhabit the salt marsh, estuary and tidal mud flats. Students also recorded data and collected samples to take back to the school.

One fifth-grade boy, Townsend Wenzler, said,
"This is great. I never knew that crabs ate dead things. That makes them decomposers, instead of producers or consumers."

Students found an unidentified crab, and through a bit of research, it was determined that it was a shamefaced crab, a subtropical species uncommon to the area. Shamefaced crabs are so named because they hold their large claws in front of their face. During the day they hide in sand; at night, they come out to search for snails and clams. Shamefaced crabs need a deep, sandy substrate and are basically nocturnal, students were told.

"It's fabulous to see the children walking through the estuary, looking through the mud, collecting specimens, and dip-netting jellyfish, crabs and the many inhabitants that reside in the estuary. Their excitement is tremendous," Lloyd Center naturalist-educator Bruce Hutchings said. "It is our hope that we can instill in the students a sense of community, a connection to the natural environment and an understanding of the fragility of the ecosystems that surround us.

"The Turn-the-Tide Education Program will also help students develop their critical thinking skills and teach them how to apply these skills to real-world environmental issues. The sooner we make our children aware of the environment and the impact humans have on it, the better chance we have of getting them involved in taking care of it. We need to remember that these kids are our future," he said.

During the yearlong course, students will be shown the importance of the estuarine habitat and their connection to it. Students will learn how to identify local estuarine species and how these organisms fit into the marine food web, and will see how pollutants affect the food chain. Each classroom has an aquarium for local estuary organisms for the students to study.

In addition, students are shown what a watershed is and how human activities within it can affect the health of that watershed and Buzzards Bay, as well as the importance of groundwater and ways to protect it from pollution. They are given the opportunity to use scientific equipment in the field, and are shown how to interpret results and predict the impact on species diversity. Students will have access to data collected by scientists. Students will compare it with data they collected, providing an opportunity for the students to participate in a real scientific study.

The Turn-the-Tide program is a partnership of the town of Dartmouth, the Lloyd Center, the Coalition for Buzzards Bay and the UMass School for Marine Science and Technology. It is part of the standing fifth-grade science curriculum in all Dartmouth public schools. The program consists of four in-school programs and two field trips.