The COVID-19 epidemic has caused the Aquarium to be closed temporarily and our program of fifth grade field trips and other tours of the Aquarium to be suspended for the time being. But YOU CAN STILL MARVEL AT THE BEAUTIFUL FISH (and light, colors, plants, tank settings, and building) at the Belle Isle Aquarium. Come with us on a virtual field trip and ecology lesson at the BIA.
NEW from the Belle Isle Conservancy:
A Virtual Field Trip and Ecology Lesson at the Belle Isle Aquarium
This field trip is not only a great introduction to the Belle Isle Aquarium but also a wonderful "home-schooling" introduction to food webs, water quality testing, and invasive species.
Fifth Grade Student
Field Trips
Due to the COVID-19 epidemic fifth Grade field trips are temporarily suspended until DPSCD schools open again. However, you can now take a "virtual field trip" that covers the same parts of your curriculum. See above.
Teachers'
resource materials will be made available as part of this
project in collaboration with the Belle Isle Aquarium (Detroit), Wayne
State University (Dr. Jeffrey Ram, jeffram@wayne.edu; Dr. Sandra Yarema, sandra.yarema@wayne.edu), and Michigan
Technological University.
To
learn more about the Belle Isle Aquarium and its involvement in
education, see:
These Grade 5 field trips are much more than a regular field trip; they
are, in fact, a classroom extension in a very unique setting. Your
students will dive into the fifth grade Science Standard "Matter and Energy in Organisms
and Ecosystems" both in our gallery and our ecosystems lab.
The science practice of using models to understand relationships arises
naturally when students design food webs utilizing our exhibit animals
and explore the phenomena of energy transfer through matter in food
webs. Students will get their hands wet and dirty, literally, as they
meet scavengers, decomposers and invasive species.
In the ecosystems lab, students will work in teams to build a variety
of food webs. This activity concludes with students presenting to their
classmates how energy moves through their food webs and designing
possible solutions to the detrimental effects of invasive species and
human influences on their food web. The geography, history,
and
citizen involvement in the spread of invasive species will
help
your students progress with Social Science Standards.
As we wrap up, we remind them all the ways in which scientific tools,
processes and ways of thinking were incorporated into our day.
We conclude by personally introducing them to current STEM scientists
here at the aquarium, plus others on the Island and around Detroit.
In order for students to get the best educational impact from our Grade
5 DPSCD Belle Isle Aquarium field trips, we invite teachers to attend
our 4-day Summer Teacher Institute, in 2020 before bringing their class to the Belle Isle Aquarium.
To ask questions about the Summer Teacher Institute, contact:
Summer Institute
Coordinator:
Joan Chadde, Michigan Technological Institute,
jchadde@mtu.edu
Belle Isle Aquarium
Field Trip Program Coordinator:
Amy Emmert, Belle Isle Conservancy
emmerta@belleisleconservancy.org
One
of the outcomes of these Workshops will be to create teachers' lesson
plans that will be posted on the Belle Isle Aquarium STEM website.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.