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All material is my personal opinion,
and not that of any other organization.Copyright 2000. Permission
is granted for individual teacher use. All rights reserved.
Feedback is invited: Email me!
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Bret Harte Middle School students, in Oakland, California, were
not experts in marine life. So to prepare for our trip to the
tide pools, we investigated some animals in our class first.
I went to the docks in a nearby marina, and on the side of the
floating dock, under the water line, I discovered a rich collection
of organisms, many very similar to those of the tide pools.
These animals are called "fouling"
creatures, and they are the bane of a boat owners' life, as they
grow on the hull of a boat, weighing it down and increasing resistance.
A small collection was readily removed from the dock and carried
to the
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class in a bucket. A small
group of shore crabs was collected from a nearby rocky shore.
Each table of students got a collection to observe and investigate.
Students discovered mussels, which
in turn had a variety of animals growing on them, including barnacles,
anemones, sponges and bryozoans. Small isopods swam around in
the water, and several different types of worms were found as
well. Students recorded observations of the animal's behavior,
took note of their adaptations to their environment, and drew
sketches of them.
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Oakland
Unified School District
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