Coastal Habitats & Species—Squid Dissection

Summary: Students will dissect a squid, learn about squid anatomy and adaptations, and then compare their dissected specimen to an octopus. Students relate the phenotypic traits they observe to the process of biological evolution.

Concepts to teach: Squid anatomy and adaptations, comparative anatomy, evolution, natural selection

Goals: Students will investigate and discuss internal and external squid anatomy. Some features of the squid will be compared to similar features on an octopus.

Standards:
H.2L.4

Specific Objectives:

1. Observe the external and internal anatomy of a cephalopod
2. Identify adaptations that allow this organisms to survive in a marine ecosystem
3. Identify organs and structures associated with major body systems

Activity Links and Resources:

• Squid Dissection: From Pen to Ink COSEE adaptation from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
• Summary of Squid Dissection from Liz LaRosa
• Squid background material from Hatfield Marine Science Center
  • Don’t want to lead a squid dissection in your own classroom? Oregon Sea Grant offers a 1-hour Squid Dissection Lab class at Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.
• Background information on the Humboldt Squid from the Gilly Lab at Standford University
  • Multimedia links about squid
  • Kids and Squids PDF—Humboldt squid dissection guide for educators from the Hopkins Marine Station, NOAA NMFS Santa Cruz

• Information about Giant Squid from the Smithsonian’s Ocean Portal website
• NOAA news article from 2009: NOAA Scientists Catch Rare Giant Squid

Assessment:

• Student worksheets included the COSEE and LaRosa guides.
• Students research a particular squid characteristic (for example, large eye size) and prepare a referenced report that uses scientific evidence to describe how this trait may have evolved.

Stewardship—Storm Drain Marking

Summary: Many people erroneously believe storm drains connect to sewer treatment systems. But in most communities, whatever enters the drains is discharged directly into a neighboring body of water (lake, river or bay) without benefit of treatment. In this activity, students mark storm drains to warn citizens not to dump polluting materials.

Concepts to teach: Storm drain, pollution, public awareness

Goals: Students take what they have learned about nonpoint source pollution and storm drain routes and devise an action plan that will improve the health of the ecosystem. They mark storm drains to increase public awareness of watershed pollution concerns.

Standards:
SS.08.GE.07

Specific Objectives:

1. Identify unmarked local storm drains and determine where the waters end up.
2. Obtain marking materials and work with local officials to gain permission to mark storm drains.
3. Stencil/mark storm drains and document the activity through written articles and photos for the local media.

Activity Links and Resources:

• Use Stormwater Pathways topic guide to learn about local stormdrains and their routes.
• Remember to get permission from the city BEFORE marking storm drains.
• The Storm Drain Marking how-to video from Clark County, Washington explains what is needed to embark on a storm drain marking project. Ask your local county about the procedures, materials, and programs available in your area. Some areas may have programs tailored to student groups.
• Oregon Surfrider often holds storm drain marking events.
• Portland has more than 55,000 storm drains that can be located using a searchable map
• Students document the activity through reports, photographs, and video and share the information with the local media.

Assessment:

• Students present information to local officials explaining the need and rationale for storm drain marking.
• Students document their storm drain marking activity through reports, photographs and video, and share the information with the local media.

Place—Stormwater Pathways

Summary: Where does rainwater go after it hits the ground? In this topic guide, students find out where stormwater around their school or other local area goes, and what environmental contaminants might get picked up along the way.

Concepts to teach: Stormwater, storm drains, sewer system

Goals: Students work with storm drain maps to ground-truth their location and function, and determine pathways for stormwater in the local area. They also identify potential pollutants that could contaminate stormwater.

Standards:
HS.3S.1, HS.4D.5
SS.HS.GE.04, SS.HS.GE.07

Specific Objectives:

1. Use storm drain map to determine where local storm water ends up.
2. Identify potential sources of stormwater contaminants in a local area.

Activity Links and Resources:

• Contact your local city planning department or soil and water conservation districts for maps of storm drains around the schoolyard. Remember to ask them for a KEY to go along with the map! Examples:
  • Example of a storm drain map near Taft Elementary School in Lincoln City, Oregon. This map was obtained from the Planning Department.
  • Stormwater tours in the Portland area, provided by the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services
  • Clean Water Services in Washington County has maps, tours, and links to local resources
• Discuss the function of stormdrains and the underlying engineering principles that allow them to function effectively. Invite a city engineer to the classroom for further information and discussion.
• Trace the route stormwater takes from the schoolyard to its outflow site. Discuss how and the extent to which the stormwater may reach aquatic and marine ecosystems.
• Take the maps outside and locate the drains, their contents, and the direction stormwater (if any) is running inside the drain. Survey the area round storm drains for potential contaminants to stormwater, including: sediment, sewage, oil, nutrients, toxins, etc.
  • Note any discrepancies between the maps and student direct observations, and if necessary, report problems to the city or other authorities
  • Remove debris that may be clogging storm drains or gutters.
  • Visit the drains in dry and wet weather conditions.
• Survey the area round storm drains for potential contaminants to stormwater, including: sediment, sewage, oil, nutrients, toxins, etc.
• Create a Quest that traces the pathways stormwater takes when it falls on and around your school. Example: Taft Stormwater Quest

Assessment:

• Probe: Rain on the Parking Lot—The purpose of this OCEP probe is to elicit students’ ideas about how rainwater interacts with impervious surfaces.
• On a map, trace the route stormwater takes from the schoolyard to its outflow site, and then determine the ways in which the outflow is connected to larger bodies of water and the ocean.

Coastal Ecology—Surveying the Shoreline

Summary: Wrack, the debris cast ashore, wash up along many tidally influence shores in Oregon and are often a main nutrient source for communities living along a shoreline habitat. The source of the wrack varies depending on the location, but time and again evidence of the watershed to ocean connection is visible along the shore. This activity can be adapted for classroom use by collecting wrack and using it inside or for field use depending on location, time availability as well as the presence of wrack at the field site. This activity is appropriate for estuarine shorelines as well as beaches and shorelines along the open coast.

Concepts to teach: Cycles, productivity, balance and interconnectedness.

Goals: Students will learn about the watershed-estuary-ocean connection by exploring and identifying shoreline wrack and identifying the organisms that live and depend on it.

Standards:
6.2E.1, 6.3S, 7.3S, 8.3S

Specific Objectives:

1. Students will be able to identify wrack and how explain how it occurs onshore
2. Students will collect data on the contents of the wrack and make a graphical representation of their findings
3. Students will analyze their data and provide an explanation for the results
4. Students will be able to define at least 2 species in the community that depend on the presence of wrack

Activity Links and Resources:

• Summary for Surveying the Shoreline
• Flotsam, Jetsam and Wrack is an Oregon Sea Grant guide to common (primarily biotic) materials that end up on beaches. Students can use this as a model for making up a similar guide to the common abiotic materials found on beaches.

Assessment:

• Examine worksheets for completeness and detail