Honor Marine Science Senior Project

For this course we received a hands-on opportunity to view science in an outdoors setting at Nixon County Park. I attended a training session to learn more about the practices and procedures of nature education and assisted two grade levels of children that visited the park. I helped first graders on a nature walk and fourth graders on an indoor lesson about animals. Both were unique experiences that helped me learn to become a better teacher of science.

I am delighted to announce that I am running for the presidential position of Science National Honors Society, which has truly been one of the most active clubs at Clements High School this year! In doing so the club has genuinely lived up to its motto of "Promoting Science, Service, and Leadership". Hearty congratulations to all the current officers for successfully re-establishing the SNHS standards at Clements High School after a year of hardships. From the establishment of Pat Cave to volunteering at Westbury Community Garden, active involvement in SNHS has given me a rigorous introduction to application of scientific concepts to real life problems. At the same time, this club has taught me how to sincerely appreciate nature, specifically

Because this school offers both AP Environmental Science and magnet Environmental Science, the student body has a better awareness of how to behave in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Every week in this class we discussed and explored ways in which we (as humans) are able to ecologically restore the Earth and contribute to environmental sustainability in different ways and on different subjects such as oceans and agriculture. This class teaches and equips students with information on the downsides and effects of what we are currently doing that negatively impacts the environment but also to contribute to fixing the problems through environmental restoration. For example, the volunteer project I worked on had many end goals including cleaning the surrounding water, prevent soil erosion, and restoring the park

Today’s oceans contain more pollutants than they ever have before. With this increase in pollution, it has affected the way marine animals live. From recent studies that have been conducted there is an estimated 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean (Duncan, et al., 2016). The amount of pollution that enters the ocean can be attributed to the fact that 85% of the debris comes from landfills and less than 7% of plastic is recycled around the world (Fardim, et al., 2016). The harm of such debris has been detrimental to the Sea turtles and the areas in which they live. In some cases, sea turtles have tried to venture to new parts of ocean to escape from the plastic that is in their current areas. Schuyler, et al., showed in 2016 an area in the Pacific Ocean roughly the size of Texas known as “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” contained 3.5 million tons of trash and would double in size by 2021. This caused the Sea turtles in that area to migrate south and out of their normal habitat. When they had migrated out of their normal environments the turtles begin to struggle as they were not accustomed to the area they were in. Furthermore, Duncan, et al., in 2016 said that nearly 70% of the sea turtles that occupied that area of the Pacific Ocean had been

“It is not always apparent to the students how or when new learning will be applicable, so it is important to convey how this knowledge will be useful” (Vasquez, Sneider, & Comer, 2013, p. 18). Why should students care about writing expository text, reading non-fiction, or using mathematical and computational thinking? The Animal Lifecycles unit provides students with opportunities to apply skills and content knowledge to accomplish a relevant task. Second grade students are naturally curious about their world and the interest in animal lifecycles supplies a relevant topic through which science, literacy, and mathematics skills and knowledge are authentically employed and assessed.

When I was twelve, I visited the Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI) on a school trip. Over the course of that weekend, I got my first hands on experience studying the Pacific Ocean and it’s marine life. We learned about the growth rates of kelp, the different ecosystems in the Catalina area, and even went snorkeling in their bay.

~ I will conduct research on the turtles routien, diet, and where they lay eggs.

Marine Biology and Ocean Conservation is a very important major. It consists of many fields that deal with marine ecosystems and how they affect the world around them. Some fields of study are focused on conservation work, which is cleaning up the ocean, protecting wildlife, and rehabilitation.

The trips we have taken over the past two weeks have opened my eyes to the teacher’s perspective and their reason for taking students on such trips. The trip to the aquarium could easily be incorporated into science class, specifically biology, when studying Earth’s varying biomes. The 6th grade standard, “GLE 0607.2.4 Analyze the environments and the interdependence among organisms found in the world’s major biomes”(tn.gov). As students go around viewing these different habitats, the teacher can push them to consider why their habitat looks like it does and why does each animal have the certain features that it has. These two questions incorporate the lesson of animal/environmental interdependence in an engaging setting, that being the aquarium.

This semester every class is focusing on an aspect of the environment in Adaptive Thinking. Kindergarten is learning about plant and animal adaptations, first grade is continuing their compost project and will begin exploring vermicomposting, and second grade is continuing their project to turn our garden space into a protected wildlife habitat.

My interest in wildlife biology was sparked by a trip I took the summer before my senior year. I was given the opportunity by my AP Biology teacher through Ecology Project International to join her and a few of my classmates in Costa Rica. While there, we worked with researchers from WIDECAST (Wider Caribbean Sea Turtles) who taught us how to properly catch, measure and release sea turtles. They also later took us to their mangrove conservation area where we helped in the recovery process of Costa Rica’s diminished mangrove population by planting more than 80 trees in an afternoon. Mangroves provide a safe and essential habitat where sea turtles can go to find food.

My personal goal in my educational career is to achieve a major in Genetics and a minor in Marine Biology. To strive closer to accomplishing this goal, I am currently enrolled in my high school’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) of Marine Biology. Over the past three years, I have been working on my own research project, Survival and Growth Performance of Crassostrea virginica in the NYC Harbor; comparing two types of spawning methods of the Eastern Oyster, which I presented at the New York City Science and Engineering Fair, and was awarded The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award. On peaceful days, I manage the lab and its 15 tanks ranging from Mollies to Tilapia. After School, I

There are five characteristics that all adolescents have. These characteristics are biological growth and development, an undefined status, increased decision-making, increased pressures, and the search for self. The brain and the endocrine system control biological growth and development. During the early stages of adolescence, individuals experience growth in height and weight, changes in the body, the development of sexual characteristics, and skin problems. For example, I started getting curves in my body when I hit puberty. My body started to develop changes. Our society’s expectations for children and adults are clear, but for the adolescent, expectations are inexplicit. Some adolescents are treated like children, but some are treated like adults. There is an undefined status. For example, my parents pay for my lunch, but I have to have a job so I can support myself.

There are over 1 million known species of plants and animals that in habit the plant’s oceans, and scientist estimate that there are over 9 million more species that have yet to be discovered. Those numbers seem to have great value, but when put in perspective there are only 7 species of sea turtles in the vast ocean, those numbers don 't seem so big after all. Even more so when you say all 7 species are on the endangered list of extinction. One of the biggest threat against sea turtles, and all other oceanic life, is the pollution crisis of plastics, glass, and all other trash. But as long as people dump their trash in the oceans, and it doesn 't violate the government’s dumping regulations, then it’s perfectly