Category: beach science (Page 3 of 9)

Sea Turtle Science For Kids

Today we were inspired by two books about sea turtles. The first is Sea Turtle Scientist (Scientists in the Field Series) by Stephen R. Swinburne. This book for middle grade students reveals Dr. Kimberly Stewart’s efforts to investigate and conserve sea turtles on the Caribbean Island of St. Kitts. See a full review of the book at our sister blog, Wrapped in Foil.

For younger readers, we found Leatherback Turtles (Reptiles) by Mandy R. Marx with consulting editor Gail Saunders-Smith PhD. This is part of a series of informational books about reptiles featuring short sentences and carefully controlled vocabulary perfect for beginning readers.

Learn about sea turtles:

Sea turtles are pretty amazing creatures. There are currently seven recognized species:

  • leatherback sea turtle
  • green sea turtle
  • loggerhead sea turtle
  • Kemp’s ridley sea turtle
  • hawksbill sea turtle
  • flatback sea turtle
  • olive ridley sea turtle

The leatherback sea turtle is in a separate family from the other species. It is the largest turtle, and it is also unique because it lacks a hard shell. Baby loggerheads hatch out of eggs laid in the sand on beaches. The little loggerhead turtles crawl to the sea where they live for 20 to 30 years before they reach maturity. Amazingly, once they are fully grown, the females return to the same beach where they hatched out to lay their eggs.

The Kemp’s ridley and olive ridley also return to the beaches where they hatched to lay eggs. These two species, however, are a little different because many, many females return to the same beaches, all at the same time. These mass landings of female sea turtles are called “arribadas.”

This video shows a sea turtle arribada from Costa Rica. WARNING for little viewers:  The video does show eggs coming out of the female’s body. There’s also a graphic scene of vultures feeding on a dead sea turtle around the 2:20 minute mark (near the end).

Scientists are studying how sea turtles can remember the beaches where they hatched and how they know which way to swim to return. One thing they found is that sea turtles can sense the Earth’s magnetic field and use it as a guide.

 Did you know that…?

Like whales and dolphins, sea turtles must return to the surface to breathe.

Ways to help sea turtles:

Light pollution is a hazard to sea turtles. Newly-hatched sea turtles use light from the stars and moon and reflections on the water to navigate to the sea. If there are bright lights from human sources around their hatching sites, the sea turtles become disoriented and head inland instead of out to sea, which is usually deadly. Efforts are being organized to cut down excessive lighting along beaches while the sea turtles are hatching.

Finally, sea turtles mistake floating plastic bags for their natural food, jellyfish, and swallow them. The bags are not digestible and can cause death. Protect sea turtles and other animals by making sure plastic bags are properly recycled, or even better, use reusable cloth bags instead.

Related activities and links to lesson plans:

Download the discussion and activities guide for Sea Turtle Scientist at Steve Swinburne’s website, as well as posters, leaflets and find links to other great websites.

See Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Plastic in the Water Column lesson (scroll down to see link to .pdf lesson) as well as their open sea cam where you might spot a sea turtle.

For more information about related creatures, see our previous week of ocean-themed books and activities at Growing with Science.

Why not combine your STEM lesson with some great art by creating a watercolor sea turtle? Drawing and painting animals requires the same close observation skills so useful to scientists.

Sea Turtle Scientist (Scientists in the Field Series) by Stephen R. Swinburne

Age Range: 10 – 14 years
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers (January 7, 2014)
ISBN-10: 0547367554
ISBN-13: 978-0547367552

Leatherback Turtles (Reptiles) by Mandy R. Marx with consulting editor Gail Saunders-Smith PhD

Reading Level:  K-1
Publisher: Capstone Press (January 1, 2012)
ISBN-10: 1429666463
ISBN-13: 978-1429666466

Disclosures:  Sea Turtle Scientist was provided by our local library. Leatherback Turtles was provided by the publisher for review purposes.  I am an affiliate for Amazon, and if you click through the linked titles or ads and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Proceeds will be used to maintain this self-hosted blog.

 

Come visit the STEM Friday blog each week to find more great Science, Technology, Engineering and Math books.

 

Gyotaku Fish Print Activity for Kids

Today we are going to continue with our ocean science-themed activities for kids, with a fish printing activity based on the Japanese art form, gyotaku.

Gyotaku is wonderful because it incorporates both art and science into a combined learning experience. While making colorful prints, children observe the fish closely. In the process they learn about fish external anatomy, and also details useful in identification of individual species. See this index for an extensive list of examples of gyotaku fish prints by artist Joe McAuliffe.

fishprint- gyotaku

Gyotaku started in Japan as a way for fishermen to record their catch. Traditionally, gyotaku prints were made by applying inks to an actual fish and then pressing thin, but tough paper onto it. Today you can buy rubber or plastic replicas to use for printing. You can print on paper or cloth as you choose. The fish example above is printed on cloth.

You will need:

  • Fish or fish model
  • Block printing inks
  • Cloth or paper
  • Plates or trays for holding the ink
  • Brayer (hand roller for loading and applying ink)
  • Newspapers, old tablecloths or sheets to cover printing surface
  • Fish external anatomy illustrations, such as at South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

The process is relatively simple, but may require practice to achieve the desired results. If you are using actual fish, you will need to wash it with water to remove mucous/debris from the surface. Dry the fish. Place some block printing ink into the plates or trays, and ink up the brayer by rolling it through the ink. Apply the ink evenly to the fish. Now you may either press the paper onto the fish or press the fish onto the paper, as evenly as possible. Play around with the technique to see which way works best for you and how much ink is needed. Set the paper or cloth aside and allow to dry.

Traditionally not much else is added to the print, but you can use your imagination. This gyataku print includes seaweed.

There are loads of places to learn more about gyotaku on the Internet, just load up your favorite search engine and go.

Where to get supplies:

Acorn Naturalists sells a number of gyotaku supplies.

 

Models to use for printing are also available on Amazon (photo is affiliate link).

_______________________________

This post is part of our ocean science series. Visit the landing page for links to all the related posts.

ocean-science-week-badge

Invertebrate of the Week: Jellyfish

Usually we have the Bug of the Week series on Wednesdays, but since we are going with an ocean science theme this week, let’s take a look at a group of marine invertebrates, the jellyfish, instead

 

jellyfish

Jellyfish live in oceans throughout the world. They can be a variety of shapes and colors.

jellyfish-parts

In general, jellyfish have a bowl-shaped main body called the bell. They also have slender tentacles that usually contain the stinging cells or nematocysts. The jellyfish in the photograph above have long, slender strand-like tentacles, but some species have only a tiny fringe of tentacles along the edge of the bell, or even no tentacles at all. The frilly, lighter colored parts are the oral arms, which help capture and move prey.

Jellyfish range in size from those having a bell about 2 cm in diameter to some that are over 40 cm in diameter.

You can see some of the diversity of sizes and shapes in this video:

One concern that marine scientists have, which was mentioned at the end of the video, is that as the numbers of predators of jellyfish rapidly decline that jellyfish will become much more abundant and have more frequent blooms.

Jellyfish Craft Activity

Learn about jellyfish anatomy by making a jellyfish model.

 

jellyfish-craft

Gather:

  • Coffee filters
  • Markers
  • Construction paper
  • Scissors
  • Yarn
  • Tape, glue and or stapler

Color the coffee filter with markers. It will represent the bell. If you have time, wetting the coffee filters will allow the marker inks to run and bleed together, making an interesting effect. If you wet them, allow the coffee filters to dry (on paper towels or wax paper to prevent the ink from staining other surfaces).

Fold the construction paper lengthwise. Have the children either cut strips to be the oral arms, or cut arm shapes as shown in the example, depending on their skill with scissors. Cut the yarn into 10 to 16 inch lengths, 6 or as many as desired.

Staple, glue or tape the oral arms into the center of the coffee filter “bell.” Tape, staple or glue the yarn to the edge of the coffee filter to form the tentacles. You may want to attach another piece of string or yarn to the top and center of the coffee filter for hanging.

If your children are familiar with a particular type of jellyfish, modify the pattern accordingly.

Related:

Are you going to a beach sometime this year? Are you interested in learning more about jellyfish? If so, you might want to look into the citizen science opportunity known as JellyWatch.

________________________________________

This post is part of our ocean science series. Visit the landing page for links to all the related posts.

ocean-science-week-badge

« Older posts Newer posts »