Elementary School Projects

Grade 1 - Mentors from the 3rd grade teach the 1st grade students what they have learned about marine animals from FHL scientist.

Grade 2 - Is it an Animal or Plant Inquiry Lab: Friday Harbor Labs Science Outreach personnel take marine organisms to 2nd Grade classrooms for an inquiry-based lab: Is it an Animal or a Plant?

Grade 3 - Introduction to Marine Invertebrates and Ecosystems: Students receive instruction about the major marine invertebrate groups through a series of classroom visits from two dedicated FHL scientists, Megan Dethier and David Duggins. In the field they conduct a quantitative survey of the invertebrates on Argyle Beach with particular attention to the invasive clam, Nuttallia obscurata. Students collate and graph their data, create hypotheses about population change and distribution, and present their results to their peers and their university partners. This grade also takes a field trip on the University's Research Vessel Centennial to learn about marine organisms and basic marine water properties.

Grade 4 - Watersheds and Eelgrass Beds: Through a series of classroom activities and labs focussing on watersheds, fish metabolism, eelgrass ecosystems, and fish species diversity, students learn about the importance of two vital ecosystems. The unit is culminated by a series of beach seines that are taken through local eelgrass beds. With the help of staff and scientists at the Friday Harbor Laboratories, fish from these seines are identified, counted, sized, and returned to the eelgrass beds. Students collate and graph their data, create hypotheses about population change and distribution and present their result to their peers and their university partners.

Grade 5 - The Friday Harbor Marina Water Quality Sampling Project: Students conduct a water sampling study in the Friday Harbor Marina. Five times a year students take measurements at six sites to test for Marina water quality. During each sampling period the following parameters are measured in the field: water temperature, salinity, and direction of water movement. A water sample is collected and processed by each student at the Friday Harbor Laboratories and is examined the following day for fecal coliform counts. These data are recorded, graphed and shared with the Port of Friday Harbor. To find out more about this project go to our Monitoring Projects page.

Introduction to Cell Diversity: Several classroom sessions use video mircroscopes(stereo and compond video microscope systems that were contributed to three local schools by FHLSOP in its first year) to look at a diversity of living and fixed cell types.

Check out the projects we are doing at the Middle School and High School level.