National Earth Science Teachers Association

During the webinar I asked about how this activity could be re-purposed for other locations and other species. How are you planning to do that? Where will this fit into your curriculum? What phenomenon will you link this activity to?

Remember that you can attach files to your post too.

Hi. I live in Florida and in our Indian River Lagoon we use oyster bars to help clean the environment. I think it would fun and beneficial to teach students, parents, friends, and the community about being a friend to the environment by creating a "mini oyster bar " in a classroom environment. We could all learn about the system of an oyster bar works, especially relating to making water filtered and pure. This could be a year long STEM curriculum with strands of identifying oysters, their "insides" as shown in the beneficial webinar using the diagram of oysters (science), using NOAA media resources showing clips about oyster life (technology), designing & engineering the "mini oyster bar" (engineering), using real oyster shells as counting manipulatives (math). I really appreciate the awesome opportunity to join today's webinar about oysters and thank everyone at NOAA for their terrific educational experience. Best

An organization on Long Island called Friends of the Bay wrote : October 20, 2017: Summer saw the inauguration of a pilot oyster gardening program in the village of Laurel Hollow (on Long Island,NY). The program drew enthusiastic support from local residents and was led by Laurel Hollow Village Trustee Jeff Miritello. Volunteers were trained and built oyster floats and performed frequent cleaning and measuring. Volunteers placed nearly 20,000 oysters in bags to overwinter them until next season. The remaining 10,000 oysters were released onto nearby hard bay bottom. The oysters, which averaged 18 mm when obtained from Cornell Cooperative Extension in mid-July, grew to an average size of 60 mm by the middle of October.

Fortunately this program continued this summer for 2018.
Unfortunately, schools are not in session, but some local clubs are. Perhaps schools could be designing new models for the oyster floats or mapping of the oyster beds using drones for STEM involvement during the school year. I am not sure of the species name of oysters we have, but a comparison of data trends from the Maryland/DC area and other States oyster beds would be interesting to follow to relate to other factors (invasive species effect on oysters, water pollution, over harvesting, disease).

Friends of the Bay have been an advocate for the future of our waterways through education and action plans - to include monitoring. They have some educational resources and volunteer options on their website.
http://friendsofthebay.org/

Great idea Heidi! Would you have students document their experience over the course of the project? Maybe via a website?

Hi. Thank you for thinking of me. Yes, definitely documenting using KWL Charts, video media of the "mini oyster bar" being created, and a video game of moving oysters to create an oyster bar. Best

I'm making an Oyster KWL Chart for public education at a local library in Florida. They have books and audio for all ages and keep our community interested in our beautiful Florida environment. Pass along learning through the community at a good time as we are in hurricane season.

If anyone could please help me fill in thre chart or have ideas to add, please don't hesitate to share.

KNOW
have a hard shell
Live in water
Can be baked and then add hot sauce

WANT TO KNOW
how long do they live
How fast do they grow
Do they communicate like dolphins do
Could oyster shells be used as a hard building material such as a type of concrete
I think that oyster shells would make cool windchimes. Fun for kids to paint in warm colors. A great sea life decor around a fire place instead of brick or tile.


LEARNED


Best

Heidi,

Why don't you contact me directly about this - molly.harrison@noaa.gov.

Molly Harrison