Oceanography in Three Parts: Division 2 MST Field Trip

By Division I Media & Journalism reporter Alex

Three weeks, ago the Division 2 students went on a field trip for their oceanography unit. But they didn’t just visit one new place; instead they took tours of three separate locations. Their first stop was the Inner Space Center. There, they looked research equipment, including cameras, pressure and ph sensors, robotic arms with lots of clamps, and finally “The Hercules,” a retired ROV submersible. The students also got to see a vase from Ancient Greece that was over 2,000 years old!

Next, the students went to the aquarium. They saw many amazing animals, the most interesting of which was the blue lobster. They also saw several small sharks. Another thing that the saw were some of the actual projects that are going on right now. One was about the relation to day and night cycles with skates (a type of fish). The students enjoyed it a lot, particularly with the help of their tour guide, whose name was Ed Parker.

Their last stop was at the National Marine Fisheries Service. There, they saw a lot of equipment. The students also looked at zooplankton, which is a very small type of plankton that creates half of the world's oxygen! They also saw huge shark skulls, krill, and different types of fishing nets to help save turtles. Students also learned about how people tag sharks, how fishers keep track of the ocean’s population, and how they keep the ocean food chain intact. All in all it was very interesting and enjoyable.