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Summary: Now you can take your students out on Lake Champlain! Work with scientists and educators at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain to conduct scientific research aboard the University of Vermont's Research Vessel, Melosira. This state-of-the-art boat is staffed by University researchers and professional educators, and is fully equipped to enable your students to conduct real Lake studies. Students learn about current research and then apply scientific tools and techniques to collect their own data. Throughout this hands on experience, students are challenged as they follow the scientific method, raise questions, and apply critical thinking skills in comparing the data they collect to historic data.

Essential Question: How do scientists study the complex system and environmental problems in Lake Champlain?

Focusing Questions: What can we learn from studying aquatic plants and animals? Why is it important to keep track of long term trends (i.e., water clarity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, plankton communities, and zebra mussel populations)? How do scientists measure and track those items? How do human activities affect the Lake?

Vermont Standards and Grade Expectations:

7.13 Organisms, Evolution and Interdependence
S9-12:36; Students demonstrate their understanding of equilibrium in an ecosystem.
7.16 Natural Resources and Agriculture
S9-12:49; Students demonstrate their understanding of processes and change within natural resources

Key Program Activities

• Understanding the natural history and unique regions of the Lake
• Physical and chemical characteristics: Lake water clarity; dissolved oxygen and temperature measurement from the water's surface to the bottom
• Lake ecology: overview of Lake Champlain ecology, collect and analyze a plankton sample
• The zebra mussel story: learn zebra mussel basics, collect zebra mussels to estimate the population density

Consider combining your experience with a visit to ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center. View ECHO'S Teacher's Choice Programs. Other options at the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory: Rubenstein Laboratory Class: Keeping the Balance in Lake Champlain. For more info visit the Watershed Alliance website Details Trips will be scheduled on a first come, first serve basis from May through early October, weather permitting.** Fee: $250 (~2 hour program) for a maximum of 22 participants (including all chaperones and teachers) Grade Level: 8-12 To register, contact Erin De Vries at 802.859.3086 x305 or erin.haney@uvm.edu **Trips may be rescheduled due to weather. What to Bring: Wear comfortable, stable shoes, and dress warmly as conditions on the lake can be much different than on those on land on any given day. Please remember motion sickness medicine if you require it. A camera and/or binoculars are nice to have. Other suggested items depending on the weather: sunglasses, sun hat, sunscreen, rain coat and hat. The Patrick and Marcelle Leahy Center for Lake Champlain is a 2.2 acre campus at One College Street on the Burlington Waterfront recognizing Senator Patrick Leahy's lifelong dedication to the stewardship of the Lake Champlain Basin. The Leahy Center is home to ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory, the Lake Champlain Basin Program Resource Room, Lake Champlain Sea Grant and Watershed Alliance, and the Lake Champlain Navy Memorial.