LAKE CHAMPLAIN LIVE! A FLOATING LABORATORY
A
Unique Science Opportunity
Aboard UVM's Research Vessel Melosira
Presented By The Leahy Center for Lake Champlain
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 will be challenged
as they follow the scientific method, raise questions, and apply critical
thinking skills in comparing 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?
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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 Bethany Hanna at (802)
859-3086 x305 or bethany.hanna@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.
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