For Teachers and Parents

Exotic Tunicate Activities and Science Inquiry Skills

We hope you will find the activities described in this website useful tools for engaging students in inquiry learning. Through these investigations, students can participate in key processes at the heart of all scientific investigation:

Designing experiments based on their own questions and interests. Deciding what to measure, how much, often, and what measurement tools to use. Taking and recording data. Making sense out of data; using statistical and other tools to find patterns; comparing findings to the results of others. Presenting results to peers, family and community.

(Above photo: Port Townsend Marine Science Center Summer Camp)

Exotic Tunicate Activities can also help students meet the National Science Education Standards. The following content standards for grades 5-12 are addressed:

      

        
Content Standard
        A: Develop abilities and understanding
        in field of scientific inquiry
        

          
Students design, conduct, and
          interpret a scientific investigation.
        
      

      

        
Content Standard
        C: Expand understanding of life
        sciences.
        

          
Students explore ecology of
          dock fouling populations, conditions affecting species diversity,
          and adaptations of invader and invaded populations.
        
      

      

        
Content Standard
        F: Explore an important issue of
        science in a social perspective.
        

          
Students examine the ecological
          and economic consequences of introduced species in coastal waters.
        
      

Some Practical Considerations

1. Resolving Safety Issues. Adult assistance and supervision are essential for students working over the water. Depending on student age and maturity, the use of life jackets may be also advisable. Some marinas routinely require flotation devices on young people.

2. Overcoming Liability Concerns. Liability issues may be raised in school districts and public marinas for students working over the water. Other concerns include adequate supervision of students, placement of experimental materials to minimize inconvenience to marina users, and expected duration of the project. Good planning and adequate communication with school and marina administrators well ahead of the date of student activities can help address these concerns.

3. Avoiding Vandalism. There is a potential for vandalism of student experiments left in public places. This can be reduced by placement of equipment in less conspicuous parts of marinas. It also helps to have students label their experimental materials with a brief description of the project and a contact telephone number, using laminated tags.

4. Working with Seasonal Dynamics. Plates or other experimental substrates set out in the early winter will accumulate some recruits, but most recruitment and growth takes place over the summer. Teachers may want to collaborate between grade levels so that materials are placed in the water in the spring for students to observe in the fall when they return. Some plates can also be left in the water more than one year to follow successional changes over longer periods.

5. Identification of Organisms-Don't give up! The numbers of unfamiliar animals and plants living under docks can be daunting. Although some organisms are not difficult to identify, it is unrealistic to expect students to identify everything that settles onto experimental materials. More challenging organisms can be classified to general taxonomic groups. Categories such as "Colonial Tunicates," "Polychaete Worms" or "Filamentous Red Algae" are more practical for students and nearly as useful as identification to species.