Pre-trip Science Activities



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Follow up:

• In what season would you expect to catch the most estuarine life in a trawl net?

• Where does each creature live in the Bay's water column? How do they move? Why?

• Ask the students to organize feasible food chains.

• Are these balanced food chains? Which estuarine organisms are the most important? Why?

• Analyze your own diets. Where do you feed in the food chains?

• Assign a student to write down any estuarine life caught or seen during your field trip, as this can be valuable information for post-trip classroom discussion.


Again the Chesapeake Bay Program has some great, easy to use materials on their website.


Land Use Activities

During your trip students will be asked the different ways people are using the land. These activities prepare students for the different ecology-based stations.


1. Have your class think of the ways in which people use the land. The categories below may be a helpful guideline:
a. Residential (houses, apartment complexes, townhouses)

b. Industrial (steel, electricity, sugar, coat, gas)

c. Commercial (timber, resorts, hotels, marinas)

d. Institutional (schools, hospitals, research centers).



e. Natural or protected areas (parks, protected shoreline, forest)
Once your class has produced a thorough list, have them rank their examples in order of importance. Discuss the importance of each. Instruct you class to watch for these on their voyage.
2. Ask students to find different ways people have used the land in their community. How would the land be different if they were not there? What factors contribute to the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed? Using a map of the Chesapeake Bay, highlight the areas of major development along the shore.
3. Discuss: Which areas of the Bay have the best water quality? Which would have the worst? Where would you find the most aquatic life? The least? Where would you rather go swimming? Where would you rather catch the most crabs, oysters, or fish?

Bay Habitats
1. Have your students list all the habitats that can be found in the Bay’s watershed. Name some of the plants and animals found there. Are any endangered? Are any unique to this part of the world? Do any have a special significance ecologically or commercially? How do invasive species interfere with the success of habitats?
2. Have your students find a natural habitat nearby their school or their home. Ask students to list natural and man-made structures in the area. Discuss in class: How has man changed the surroundings? What impact does this have on the habitat? In what ways would the area be different if man had not interfered? Have your students rate the area on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being in its most natural state, 10 having man’s greatest impact. What would the water look like after a storm? From what surrounding areas does the water drain? Have your students’ rate how they think the area will look in 5 years.
3. Read chapter 5, "The Chesapeake Marshes" from The Bay by Gilbert Klingel to the class. Have the students write a short essay describing a past experience relating to marshlands or one they might have in the future.
4. Have the students find an example of erosion near their home or school. Ask them to list the causes, and discuss the final destination of the sediment. What is runoff? How does it affect marshlands? The Bay?
5. Visit the Chesapeake Bay Program’s habitat pages for more information on the habitats found through out the Bay.

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