Teaching About Our Connection to the Sea
For the past 37 years, I have been a middle school science teacher in a small Connecticut town. In that capacity I can honestly say that I have spoken to my students for hours about the environment and the delicate balance that exists therein, about the biotic and abiotic factors of our oceans and other biomes, and about the importance of valid scientific research and studies in our work as scientists. Our connection to the sea (even from an inland town like Lisbon, Connecticut) has been an emphasis in my teaching. By bringing students to local rivers and streams for studies, for fall adventures to the Connecticut shoreline to collect animals for the classroom aquarium, or on our annual field trips at Project Oceanology in Groton, Connecticut, to experience marine research on the Research Vessel Enviro-Lab, I have tried to bring science to life with an emphasis on our connection to the sea.
How I Met (and Kept in Touch with) a NOAA Scientist
Early on in my career I became involved in the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization. It was at these monthly meetings that I forged a rather humorous friendship with a parent named Dan Ostrowski. Over the following several years, I ended up teaching Dan’s three sons, Scott, Todd, and Andrew, in my science classroom, as advisees in the local chapter of the National Junior Honor Society, and as members of my Environmental Club. My connection to this family was a strong one—so much, in fact, that it became a tradition for the three Ostrowski boys, as they moved on through high school and even into college, to pay a visit each year to my home on Thanksgiving night for desserts. The Ostrowski boys moved on with careers, marriages, and kids, but our connection has stayed strong.
How I Wound Up on a NOAA Research Survey
Last November, Andrew Ostrowski was back in town visiting family. For old times sake, he paid me and my family a visit on Thanksgiving night. While chatting about our jobs—my move towards semi-retirement, and Andrew’s work with NOAA—he mentioned the “cruises” that he did each year through his work, and also about the volunteer opportunities that were available. He said, “Mr. Brown, you should apply for a volunteer position on an upcoming cruise.” So I did! Andrew connected me with Nathan Bacheler, coordinator of the Southeast Fishery-Independent Survey. After several emails with Nathan—one of which included my insistence that I was up for the job even though “it was a young person’s game” (haha)—I was accepted for a volunteer position with the survey on the Research Vessel Savannah in June.
Learning New Science Skills
The crew immediately made me feel like a valued member of the team. We spent most of our days cruising between 30 and 60 miles off the shores of North and South Carolina and Georgia, along the continental shelf break. As a member of the 6:00 am to 6:00 pm shift, I worked with Andrew and our watch chief Erin Pickett to bait, set, and then retrieve the six chevron-shaped traps in beautifully clear waters with depths sometimes reaching up to 70 meters. The abundance of animals that we caught in some of these traps was thrilling to me. The colors, the patterns, and the sheer variety of animals was astounding. We worked together to collect data (length and frequency) from each of the traps, each set at specific locations navigated by the chief scientist, Zach Gillum.
Not only did these traps collect living specimens, but they also were each equipped with two GoPro cameras, collecting 90 minutes of video feed on each GoPro! That’s 12 90-minute video feeds for each trap series set. And usually there were four or five trap series set per day. That’s a lot of video feed and it was amazing! I learned that the crew spends much of their time analyzing these videos, counting fish and accounting for the species and numbers that were present at each location—a daunting task! Afternoons for me were spent in R/V Savannah’s wet lab, collecting more data associated with the catches (such as weight, length, gender) and, my personal favorite, retrieving otoliths from most of the specimens. I became pretty adept at this!
A Truly Rewarding Experience
This was a truly rewarding experience for me. Having the opportunity to work side by side with Andrew Ostrowski, who credits his interest in marine science and his career with NOAA to his middle school years with me as his teacher, was amazing. It was wonderful to be a part of the team, conducting scientific research that has been ongoing for decades along the southeastern coast of the United States. This experience reaffirmed my belief in the importance of authentic science instruction to elementary and middle school students. Being part of the Southeast Fishery-Independent Survey was something that I wish I had done years ago. I will be a better teacher because of this experience, one that I would love to be a part of again. Thank you to the team for including me on this survey, and especially to Andrew for making that initial invitation. I sure am glad that I participated!
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Meet the Blogger
Steve Brown
Steve Brown is a science teacher at Lisbon Central School, a pre-k through 8th grade public school in Lisbon, Connecticut. Steve just completed his 37th year of teaching. Photo courtesy of Andrew Ostrowski.
