Thanks to generous support from the Casco Bay Estuary Partnership and Yokogawa Fluid Imaging Technologies, the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust is now able to provide three high quality microscopes as well as hands-on educational programming for Cape Elizabeth 6th graders.
In addition to providing generous support to CELT’s overall education programs, Yokogawa will introduce the students to its team of Ph.D. scientists and state-of-the-art FloCam water quality testing system as part of their hands-on class to be held at Turkey Hill Farm.
These students currently participate in the Portland Water District’s “Trout in the Classroom” program, in which they raise trout from eggs and release them into a local stream. The students monitor the water quality, habitat, and growth of both tank environments and the stream where the trout will be released.
Students are currently using hand lenses to observe and document the development of the trout. They also have a single 1970’s era microscope. Last year, students borrowed a more advanced microscope from the high school, and the difference in the detail they were able to observe was described as “eye opening” by their teacher, Josh Chase.
By providing one of these advanced microscopes for each classroom, we will help middle schoolers for years to come to more keenly observe not only trout development but many other wonders of the microscopic world, increasing the scientific and educational value of many lessons, such as the water quality monitoring portion of this project, and the unit on cell development as well.
Classroom instruction will engage representatives of the Portland Water District and South Portland Water Resources for presentations on water quality and the stream area where they will be releasing the trout.
CELT’s education coordinator Ali Gustavson will host a hands-on class at Turkey Hill Farm where the 6th graders will test water quality, collect the data, and evaluate where the trout are being released. Traditional water quality testing kits will be contributed by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
