Winman Students Learn on the Bay

PROVIDENCE (May 11, 2009) – Some 182 seventh grade students and 14 teachers from Winman Junior High School in Warwick took part in seven full days of programs on Greenwich Bay aboard Save The Bay’s The Bay’s Alletta Morris in late April and early May.

The purpose of the trips, underwritten by Defenders of Greenwich Bay, was to connect these students to Greenwich Bay which feeds into Narragansett Bay right in their own backyard.

The focus was to teach them the reasons of what has gone wrong in Greenwich Bay in the past and how, as members of the Bay Community, they can help improve Greenwich Bay in the future.

Onboard Alletta Morris, students were divided into three groups to examine three different aspects of Greenwich Bay. The Water Quality group used an instrument to check the temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen at the surface and near the bottom of the Bay.

The Plankton Group examined the plankton sample that was collected on their trip with a microscope, camera and monitor to identify phytoplankton and zooplankton.

The Environmental Conditions group looked at the wind, waves, clouds and tides that influence the quality of the water.

After each group finished its Save The Bay-educator led data collection, students were asked to report back to the rest of the class what they had found. Each group had to describe how their data was collected, the results and what the data means.

After all three groups had reported back their findings, STB educators would then lead a discussion of what the data means for the current health of Greenwich Bay. Over the seven days, the consensus was that the health of the waters was good.

Educators also lead a discussion of what happened leading up to and during the massive August 2003 fish kill in Greenwich Bay, which was literally half a lifetime ago to these students. Educators explained how the combination of a rainy summer, low tidal flow, warm waters and a huge plankton bloom all combined to cause the low oxygen conditions that led to the massive fish kill.

“There is nothing that beats the hands-on experience students get as they explore the Bay, working with marine educators and using scientific instruments to ’take the Bay’s temperature,’ if you will,” said Save The Bay educator Amy Wright. “We are as thrilled as the students when we see their brains click in to the science that defines the Bay’s health. Creating this understanding today is one way the Bay will be healthier in the future.”

“Civilization is often a race between education and catastrophe," noted Jack Early, President of Defenders of Greenwich Bay. "We had a catastrophe with the fish kill in 2003 and we need these young hearts and minds to be the watchdogs and the scientists that help preserve this wonderful Bay.

"The role of a child’s engagement with the Bay is part of a the broad education programs provided by Save The Bay that we avidly support When the child feels the wind in their hair and the marine life in their hands we help connect these kids with the water and it will forever be in their veins. That feeling will hopefully make them feel more responsible for the Bay’s care and protection.”

Save The Bay’s Explore The Bay education programs, first launched in 1987, complement the organization’s advocacy, habitat restoration and community outreach efforts. In 2008, Save The Bay provided programs for close to 20,000 students in the region.

A highlight of all Save The Bay shipboard programs is the bottom trawl. Winman students trawled Greenwich Bay to see if the relatively healthy water quality data would mean finding critters on the bottom.

Some of the typical critters that were found include spider crabs, comb jellies, moon jellies, whelk snails, black-fingered mud crabs, and in one trawl, a winter flounder. Students would have the chance to identify and touch all of the animals they caught in Greenwich Bay.

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