NEWPORT, R.I. – Biology and education majors visited Sullivan School at Triplett this week where they conducted hands-on science lessons for fourth-graders, helping them build their own eco-systems in aquariums that they will continue to maintain in their classrooms throughout the year.
The visit was part of an “Ecology Comes Alive” partnership, funded by a $950 mini-grant from the Rhode Island Campus Compact Partnerships for Success. The program is a collaborative effort between Salve Regina’s biology and education departments. It partners Dr. Kathleen Nickerson, Dr. Kathleen Vespia and Dr. Jameson Chace with fourth-grade teachers in the Newport Public Schools.
In addition to the hands-on lessons, the program funds the donation of books and a field trip that will bring Sullivan students to Salve Regina’s campus to tour its hydroponics lab.
Salve Regina students who conducted the hands-on science lessons at Sullivan School this week included senior Maggie Kane and juniors Ricky Burke, Alex Igo, Andrew Baik and Caitlyn Farragher.
Fourth graders learned about the Rhode Island eco-system, then produced their own in four different aquariums. They sketched every item and organism that went into the tank, including rocks, salt water, seaweed, periwinkles, mussels, clams, oysters, crabs and fish.
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
Salve Regina junior Andrew Baik shows a spider crab to Sullivan School fourth-graders (from left) Andrew Robertson and Lochiel Noel Nance.
Sullivan fourth-grader Malachi Perkins drops seaweed into the tank.
Fourth-grader Alannah Muniz holds a periwinkle before putting it into the aquarium.
Salve Regina junior Caitlyn Farragher shows a small hermit crab to Sullivan School students (from left) Jamari Woodlen-Jones, Andrew Robertson and Lochiel Noel Nance.
Jameson Chace, associate professor of biology and biomedical sciences at Salve Regina, checks out the eco-system sketch by Sullivan School fourth-grader Brenda Perry.