Finding ways to get kids outside and study the marine environment is not simple. You need special equipment like big rubber boots, and you have to be prepared to get wet – and muddy. You also have to find a way to get to and from the water from school within the regular school-day schedule. These are some of the challenges that educators from around the state discussed at a recent Professional Development workshop put together by Aquaculture me!, an initiative started by Morgan Cuthbert, a teacher from Yarmouth to promote aquaculture education.

“Making Connections” was the title of the workshop, which was held Jan. 24th at the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center in Walpole. The event was put on with support from Maine Sea Grant. The workshop included presentations on research, community, economy and the classroom. The goal was to provide teachers with resources and opportunities to make new connections that could enhance their teaching.

Andrew McCullough, a teacher from Brunswick High School (BHS) attended to share his experiences in developing marine science curriculum both in his classroom and at the outdoor classroom at Wharton Point. He’s been working for the past five years or so on including more coastal content in his teaching thanks to a series of grants from the University of Maine’s EPSCoR program, Maine Sea Grant, Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, the Brunswick Community Education Foundation, and the Maine Community Foundation.

BHS’s program started in 2016 when McCullough and Service Learning Program Director, Rick Wilson set up a growing area for soft shell clams at Wharton Point, just down the road from the High School. Students planted seed clams and monitored their growth as well as trapped green crabs and collected data about that invasive population. From there, the project has grown to include more classroom components like an aquarium room that McCullough has set up with Zoology teacher Sue Perkins. Here, they are able to keep locally collected sea creatures and study them up close. They’re also working on being able to grow phytoplankton to help support their tank ecosystems.

“It has been a really worthwhile adventure,” says McCullough. “At the workshop, we shared the things we’ve been doing that have worked well and those that have been challenging. I was up front in saying, “we haven’t figured that out yet, but we’ll try it and see what works. If the spaghetti doesn’t stick, try something else.” Logistics came up repeatedly as the biggest challenge – how to schedule a bus or where to store wet gear. Sharing ideas and talking with other teachers was a good start in finding solutions to some of these issues.

For example, one of the teachers from Lisbon may bring students to BHS in the spring. The presentations sparked new ideas as well. “It reinvigorated my interest in trying new things,” said McCullough. “I met several people who own farms and were eager to have kids come and learn about the process.”

As for what’s next at BHS, McCullough and Perkins are looking forward to expanding their work with students in the aquarium room and will be bringing students from other Brunswick schools to visit in the spring. In the future, they are also hoping in to find a deep-water site where students can further their experiences. For now, there’s always spring at Wharton Point where students will take a look at how the clams fared over the winter and make plans for the next growing season in the fall.