By RONNIE BLAIR
rblair@tampatrib.com
Published: September 6, 2009
DADE CITY - When agriculture teacher Tracy Weaver won a $2,400 grant to incorporate a mini fish farm into her lessons, someone asked where she planned to put the 480-gallon tank to hold the Nile tilapia she and her students would raise.
Weaver had a quick answer. She would place the mammoth blue tank right there in her Centennial Middle School classroom, where it now serves as the room's prominent feature.
"Isn't it cool?" Weaver said last week as she awaited the arrival of an eighth-grade class.
All of Weaver's students learn about aquaculture and the impact it has on countries across the world, but the eighth-graders go a step further. They also clean the tank and use the dirty water they drain from it to water Weaver's numerous plants.
On Fridays, they become young scientists, conducting pH and water-quality tests.
"I think it's pretty fun," said Jessica Balderstone, 13.
Weaver became inspired to transform a portion of her classroom into a fish farm a year ago when she visited Harbor Branch, an oceanographic institute affiliated with Florida Atlantic University in Fort Pierce.
Harbor Branch, which offers workshops to teachers and students, promotes an aquaculture-in-the-classroom program.
"I said, 'Gosh, I could do that,'" Weaver said.
She just needed the money to pull off the vision. So six months ago Weaver applied for a grant from Florida Agriculture in the Classroom Inc., a nonprofit association dedicated to expanding young people's awareness and understanding of Florida agriculture and natural resources. She was awarded the grant June 1.
Weaver and her husband then took a trip to Morning Star Fishermen, a nonprofit organization that fights world hunger. Morning Star, on Old St. Joe Road in Dade City, raises tilapia and has a hatchery and training building with more than 110,000 gallons of tank space, wet labs and classrooms.
Weaver plans to take her students on a field trip to Morning Star this month.
Weaver acquired 10 tilapia from Morning Star that would serve as her project's starter fish. Eventually, she plans to keep 50 fish in her classroom.
She initially kept the fish in a lobster tank her husband secured for her, but later transferred them to the larger tank purchased with the grant money.
During the summer, Weaver traveled to Harbor Branch again to participate in an aquaculture workshop. She returned to Pasco County eager to put all her fish-farm preparation into practice when school began Aug. 24.
The project experienced a shaky start when three of the tilapia died because of a problem with the tank's filtering system.
"The first day of school I had three dead fish so I was panicking," Weaver said.
That problem now solved, the seven surviving fish appear to be thriving and the eighth-graders are starting to learn their roles in the fish-raising experiment. They rotate among several jobs, with a central task being to clean the tank, draining out some of the dirty water and replenishing it with clean water.
One day last week that duty fell to Chris Ciulla, 13, and Brett Blommel, 14.
"I don't mind getting dirty," Chris said.
With their duties behind them, the students rejoined their classmates for oral reports based on research they conducted about aquaculture. The students worked in teams of two, with each team assigned a country to research.
Zack and Summer Buchanan, 13, reported on Canada.
Canada is an excellent place to catch salmon, they learned.
Those salmon are destined for someone's dinner table, as are the seven tilapia living in Weaver's tank.
Come November, Weaver plans a fish fry.
Source: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/sep/06/pa-kids-soak-in-lesson/#atabc
rblair@tampatrib.com
Published: September 6, 2009
DADE CITY - When agriculture teacher Tracy Weaver won a $2,400 grant to incorporate a mini fish farm into her lessons, someone asked where she planned to put the 480-gallon tank to hold the Nile tilapia she and her students would raise.
Weaver had a quick answer. She would place the mammoth blue tank right there in her Centennial Middle School classroom, where it now serves as the room's prominent feature.
"Isn't it cool?" Weaver said last week as she awaited the arrival of an eighth-grade class.
All of Weaver's students learn about aquaculture and the impact it has on countries across the world, but the eighth-graders go a step further. They also clean the tank and use the dirty water they drain from it to water Weaver's numerous plants.
On Fridays, they become young scientists, conducting pH and water-quality tests.
"I think it's pretty fun," said Jessica Balderstone, 13.
Weaver became inspired to transform a portion of her classroom into a fish farm a year ago when she visited Harbor Branch, an oceanographic institute affiliated with Florida Atlantic University in Fort Pierce.
Harbor Branch, which offers workshops to teachers and students, promotes an aquaculture-in-the-classro
"I said, 'Gosh, I could do that,'" Weaver said.
She just needed the money to pull off the vision. So six months ago Weaver applied for a grant from Florida Agriculture in the Classroom Inc., a nonprofit association dedicated to expanding young people's awareness and understanding of Florida agriculture and natural resources. She was awarded the grant June 1.
Weaver and her husband then took a trip to Morning Star Fishermen, a nonprofit organization that fights world hunger. Morning Star, on Old St. Joe Road in Dade City, raises tilapia and has a hatchery and training building with more than 110,000 gallons of tank space, wet labs and classrooms.
Weaver plans to take her students on a field trip to Morning Star this month.
Weaver acquired 10 tilapia from Morning Star that would serve as her project's starter fish. Eventually, she plans to keep 50 fish in her classroom.
She initially kept the fish in a lobster tank her husband secured for her, but later transferred them to the larger tank purchased with the grant money.
During the summer, Weaver traveled to Harbor Branch again to participate in an aquaculture workshop. She returned to Pasco County eager to put all her fish-farm preparation into practice when school began Aug. 24.
The project experienced a shaky start when three of the tilapia died because of a problem with the tank's filtering system.
"The first day of school I had three dead fish so I was panicking," Weaver said.
That problem now solved, the seven surviving fish appear to be thriving and the eighth-graders are starting to learn their roles in the fish-raising experiment. They rotate among several jobs, with a central task being to clean the tank, draining out some of the dirty water and replenishing it with clean water.
One day last week that duty fell to Chris Ciulla, 13, and Brett Blommel, 14.
"I don't mind getting dirty," Chris said.
With their duties behind them, the students rejoined their classmates for oral reports based on research they conducted about aquaculture. The students worked in teams of two, with each team assigned a country to research.
Zack and Summer Buchanan, 13, reported on Canada.
Canada is an excellent place to catch salmon, they learned.
Those salmon are destined for someone's dinner table, as are the seven tilapia living in Weaver's tank.
Come November, Weaver plans a fish fry.
Source: http://www2.tbo.com/conten
No comments:
Post a Comment