UNE student researchers teach elementary school students about aquaculture

Baxter Academy's Darcy Ross helps deploy a kelp farm to assist UNE student researchers in Kelp4Kids program
Baxter Academy's Darcy Ross helps deploy a kelp farm to assist UNE student researchers in Kelp4Kids program

Student researchers in UNE’s Marine Sciences program recently taught elementary school students on Peaks Island about kelp aquaculture and marine ecology as part of the Kelp4Kids initiative.

Kelp4Kids is a 12-week curriculum for second-through-fifth graders at the Peaks Island School. The program is run by Darcy Ross with help from Aurora Guecia, students at Baxter Academy in Portland. Support for the program is provided by the Island Institute.

The Peaks Island students learned how ocean acidification, bacterial pathogens and nutrients affect both kelp aquaculture and the marine ecosystem at large.

“Sharing what you do as a biologist is so important to get kids enthusiastic about sustainable interactions with our local marine ecosystem,” explained School of Marine Programs graduate student Olivia Barberi (’19). “Hopefully they can start including science into approachable conversations at a young age.”

Barberi discussed the importance of microbial testing to ensure that bacterial pathogens are not present where kelp is farmed. She also showed the students how to use Whirl-Pak bags to take sterile water samples.

Alexandra Geisser (Marine Science, ’19) taught students the importance of nutrients and water quality sampling to determine the nutrient quality of the water in which the kelp is growing.

“It was a great experience to teach the kids about the interconnectedness of the marine ecosystem, aquaculture and the importance of sustainability and stewardship,” Geisser commented. “It was rewarding to get them excited about science by giving them hands on experience with research tools.”

The students each tried using a Niskin bottle, a device used to sample water below the surface.

Gretchen Grebe, EPSCoR SEANET University of Maine Ph.D. candidate based at UNE, spoke to students about the effects of acidification on kelp aquaculture and on the marine ecosystem as a whole. The students took turns testing the nearby water with litmus paper to learn about the range of healthy pH values in organisms living in seawater.

Grebe, Geisser and Barberi are members of the lab of Carrie Byron Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Marine Science.

UNE Marine Science Center staff members helped install a demonstration kelp farm near the Peak’s Island Pier for future use in the Kelp4Kids program.

 

Gretchen Grebe, Ph.D. candidate based at UNE, helps students test water pH values
Gretchen Grebe, Ph.D. candidate based at UNE, helps students test water pH values
UNE student researcher Alexandra Geisser teaches the children the importance of nutrients in aquaculture
UNE student researcher Alexandra Geisser teaches the children the importance of nutrients in aquaculture

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.