Third grade students in the gifted and talented program (SAIL) spend the year studying marine science. This program sparks students' interests because it involves them directly with live specimens in a hands-on fashion. These specimens are animals which, because of our proximity to the beach and marsh, we see frequently. Before we began caring for live animals on a weekly basis, however, not one of us had observed a whelk or starfish feeding, heard the crack of a pistol shrimp, or seen the regenerative powers of a sea anemone.
Students learn that the marsh is one of the most productive ecosystems on earth. Using marsh metaphors, they discover how these wetlands are beneficial to marine ecology.
In studying properties of oceans , they use the scientific method as a means of problem solving. They conduct experiments and make hypotheses to learn about density, temperature, currents, and wave action.
Chief Petty Officer, Jane Quatrocchi from the SEA PARTNERS program relies on student participation and many visual aids to give students an unforgettable experience while learning about marine debris and pollution .
Students learn about invertebrate
taxonomy as they dissect crabs, clams, and squid;
categorize 
the animals in the
tank by phylum; and learn the characteristics of each phylum.
In caring for the two aquaria that are homes to our starfish, whelks, brittlestars, tube worms, shrimp, crabs, horseshoe crabs, urchins, and other invertebrates, students learn about chemistry, feeding behaviors, and how to solve problems when they inevitably arise.
Critical thinking skills are utilized as students analyze and evaluate the information they have assimilated. They learn to use research skills to obtain information from a wide variety of sources. This information is then synthesized as it becomes an original filmstrip, a touch tank demonstration, or a student-created game.
Creative thinking
skills are sharpened as students consider new approaches
and apply problem solving techniques to marine issues
such as pollution and beach development.
Students combine content learning and process skills to create a variety of products:
FIELD EXPERIENCE:
After having studied barrier island ecology at the Barrier Island Environmental Education Center on Seabrook Island, students travel to the Tugaloo Environmental Education Center in the foothills of Oconee County, South Carolina. There students learn how river ecology affects the quality of our oceans. Later, they spend the day on Dewees Island to learn about sustainable development on our coastal islands.
With a grant from Naturescene, James B. Edwards Elementary will be building a new and larger touch tank with a filter system that can be a permanent home to marine animals.
