Category Archives: Activities
Natural Resources in Your Watershed
Now that students have identified natural resources within their watershed in Maine: A Natural Resource Rich State and My Paddle to the Sea, they will have the opportunity to explore those resources and the issues and questions scientists, natural resource managers, and resource users are asking. Students may have shown interest in or have identified ...
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Predator vs. Prey
A natural influencing factor on lobster populations is the level of predation. Known predators of lobsters are groundfish (bottom dwelling fish, especially one of commercial importance such as cod, haddock, pollack, or flounder), primarily cod. Students will examine biomass (population estimate) graphs of both cod and lobsters in the Gulf of Maine to determine whether ...
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That’s Why
Students will work as a class to make sure their Evidence Wall (created in Idea Fishbowl) contains all the evidence they have collected throughout their investigations (Lobster Farming, Predator vs. Prey, and Through the Eyes) to understand why there are so many lobsters in the Gulf of Maine.
If students have participated in GMRI’s LabVenture! Lobster: ...
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Through the Eyes (of a Lobsterman)
For generations, lobstering has been embedded into Maine’s culture and is one of the most valuable fisheries in the United States. Today there are approximately 6,000 commercial harvesters in the state contributing about 75% of all lobsters landed in the US.
The first recorded lobster catch in Maine was in 1605, and although lobsters were plentiful ...
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Lobster Farming
Even though lobstering efforts are at an all time high, so is the lobster population in the Gulf of Maine. Scientists have considered the potential positive impacts that lobstering may have on the lobster population. Students will examine scientific evidence as they consider the question, “Are we farming lobsters?” Evidence that students collect will be ...
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My Paddle to the Sea
“Please put me back in the water. I am Paddle to the Sea.” Holling Clancy Holling’s story, Paddle-to-the-Sea (1941) tells the tale of the journey a carved 12-inch canoe and Indian figure as it follows the watershed from Nipigon country in Canada through the Great lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. This story illustrates how water ...
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Headline: Resources and Us
Often times, the health and availability of one natural resource relies on the health and availability of another. Natural resources interact with, depend upon, and influence each other. Students will read articles featured in Maine’s local newspapers that highlight natural resources and their interactions with people, the environment, and the issues they face. Students will ...
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Idea Fishbowl
Students will work as a class to define a hypothesis and parameters for forming a “good” hypothesis. Each student will form a hypothesis about the question, “Why are there so many lobsters in the Gulf of Maine?” If students have participated in GMRI’s LabVenture! Lobster: Untold Tales program, they will use that experience to inform ...
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Finding Balance
To help students understand that there are different categories of natural resources, they will model different types of resources to discover the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources. They will apply this knowledge by labeling resources identified in Maine: A Natural Resource Rich State as either renewable or non-renewable. This activity can be done inside ...
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Raising Awareness: Maine’s Natural Resources