MarineLab
MarineLab is a self-contained campus located on
Key Largo which introduces students to the marine environment. The
facility and fees include expert instruction, all classes and hands on lab
activities, air conditioned dormitories, cafeteria meals, snorkeling equipment
and boats. All programs are customized to fit the group's needs and
requests.
MarineLab provides the perfect setting and staff for a cumulative,
holistic approach to learning about the ecology of the Florida Keys through
interactive discussions with marine biologists, snorkeling investigations
of sea grass beds, mangrove creeks, and coral reefs, and laboratory explorations
of plankton and other small sea life. Student groups spend two to six days
learning about these marine habitats of Key Largo through snorkeling. Snorkeling
gear and instruction in its proper, safe use is part of every MarineLab
program.
Over 20,000 students from the United States, South America, Canada,
Korea, and Japan have participated in MarineLab programs since the facility
opened in 1985. Ranging in age from 8 to 80, these students
experience ecological concepts and observe marine creatures in their natural
habitats through the use
of mask and snorkel.
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MarineLab's Curriculum
MarineLab programs consist of lab and lectures in the evening
and snorkeling field trips by day. They have a core curriculum,
consisting of sea grass ecology, mangrove ecology, and coral reef
ecology which is the basis for every MarineLab program. Lengthier
programs add hardbottom and coralline algae ecology, contain more
trips to the coral reefs, and may include Everglades hydrology.
| The core curriculum consists of sea grass ecology, mangrove ecology,
and coral reef ecology field trips. Each program includes these three field
trips. See the descriptions below for details. Students and teachers experience
the marine community through snorkeling. They provide all snorkel
gear and instruction in its proper, safe use, including the buddy system,
hand signals, use of the dive flag and snorkeling etiquette. |
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Sea Grass
Ecology: Sea grass beds are a commercially crucial habitat where
spiny lobster, stone crabs, and baitfish abound. Students learn about the
grass bed as habitat, identifying characteristics of the three local species
of
sea grass, distinguishing characteristics of algae and grass, the role
of
sea grass, abiotic factors affecting sea grass distribution, and the threats
to
sea grass communities and Florida Bay and other regions.
Mangrove
Ecology: Mangroves are a biologically rich and environmentally
crucial transition zone between land and sea. Students learn about the
geology of the Keys, characteristics which mangroves share, distinguishing
characteristics of local mangrove species, the roles of mangroves and as
a
habitat, abiotic factors controlling mangrove distribution, and the detritus
based food web. A favorite mangrove site is the Grotto.
Coral Reef Ecology: The coral reef tract, extensively developed
off of Key Largo key, has been compared to the tropical rain forest,
due to the high levels of biodiversity, the fragility and susceptibility
to human impacts, and the importance commercially if properly
conserved. In an introductory lecture, students learn about the reef
habitat and its organisms, the abiotic limiting factors affecting coral
reef growth and distribution, behavior and structural adaptations of
reef organisms, the mutualism present on the reef, coral
reproduction, and the importance of the mangrove and sea
grass habitats to the reef ecosystem. Students then snorkel
various reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Most programs include at least two trips out to the reefs. |
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Field
Identification of Reef Fish: This field trip is preceded by a slide
discussion which covers identifying reef fish by use of field marks: shape,
habitat, behavior, pattern, and color. Students are also introduced to
fish
biology and taxonomy. Students are then taken to various reefs in the
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary to practice their identification
skills.
Invertebrate
Diversity Lab: This lab is preceded by a discussion relating
diversity to health and stability. Algae covered rocks are collected from
the
beach and brought into the lab, where students "shake" the rocks in
sea water and collect the resident invertebrates. These invertebrates are
identified and their taxonomy discussed.
Astronomy/Plankton
Tow: Students are taken on a nighttime boat ride to
just outside the MarineLab harbor. There, away from the light pollution
of
the shore, important constellations are pointed out and students discuss
the
moon's effect on tides, the plane of the ecliptic, celestial navigation
and
other pertinent "sky" facts. On the way back into the harbor, a plankton
net is
deployed behind the boat. The collected sample is then placed in deep well
slides, put in a projector, and the instructor leads the students in a
discussion the characteristics of the local planktonic fauna.
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MarineLab's Staff
ARTHUR W. MITCHELL, Director & Vice President, Education
B.A. in Chemistry at Florida Atlantic University, 1970; M.S.T. in Marine
Ecology at
Florida Atlantic University, 1976
Mr. Mitchell has been involved in science education instruction and administration
as
well as the design and implementation of marine environmental field programs
since
1976. His teaching responsibilities at the high school and college levels
included
advanced chemistry, advanced placement biology and marine biology. As Science
Department Chairman and as President of the Palm Beach County Science
Teachers' Association, he contributed to the drafting of curriculum and
facilities
guidelines for high school science programs and teacher training for the
Palm Beach
County School Board. His research has been in the area of sponge and polychaete
ecology
and taxonomy and environmental impact assessments. He has a background
in water safety
and competitive swimming instruction and extensive small boat ocean cruising
experience.
He is a PADI certified Divemaster and has a U.S. Coast Guard Ocean Operator's
License.
DANA LAWSON, Assistant Director
B.A. in Biology and Environmental Studies, Middlebury College, 1995
Ms. Lawson is a marine biologist with an avid desire for diving. She began
diving
years ago and is currently a PADI certified Divemaster. Through diving,
Dana
developed her love of the ocean and her desire to protect this delicate
ecosystem.
Her background includes assistant teaching in biology and environmental
science,
developing and implementing environmental education supplements, volunteering
for various
organizations and conducting research in conservation biology. Dana has
traveled to Jamaica,
the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Australia to pursue her education
and research.
She has also completed a research thesis on the tropical reef fish community
structure on the
Great Barrier Reef, Australia. In her spare time, she volunteers as a diver
and educator for the
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
BRIAN KLOEPFER, Lead Field Instructor
BS in Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 1997
Brian brings extensive interpretive and teaching experience. He has
worked for the
US Navy as a Natural Resources tech, setting up education programs for
a newly built education
center. He made displays, cared for live animals, and developed programs
for various
groups. He also assisted in a deer management program and tracked
12 canebrake rattle snakes
through the Great Dismal Swamp. Before that, he worked for Walt Disney
World at the The Living Seas
exhibit at Epcot Center, helping to set up an educational department for
the aquarium. During his time
there, Brian learned about all areas of aquarium care, including dolphin
training, manatee & turtle
rehabilitation and release, and feeding including sharks and rays.
He received an environmental award
from Disney for his efforts to get swordfish, a species in decline, off
the menus of company restaurants.
Brian is a PADI Divemaster and has been diving since 1994.
CHRISTOPHER OLSTAD, Operations Director for MarineLab Undersea Laboratory
and Marine Ecology Field Instructor B.S. in Biology, Lynchburg College;
Associate of
Science in Underwater Technology, Florida Institute of Technology
Mr. Olstad is a biologist and underwater technician, with considerable
experience in
undersea research. As a marine biologist he worked as a benthic invertebrate
taxonomist. He worked as a diver/scientist on several oceanographic cruises
to the
Flower Gardens Bank (Gulf of Mexico) using water quality arrays, bottom
sampling
and underwater photographic techniques to assess oil rig impact on the
nearby coral
reef. As a submersible mechanic he has worked on manned and unmanned systems
rated from 1,000 to
20,000 foot depths, including diver lock-out subs, remotely operated vehicles,
and hyper-hypobaric
saturation complexes for the offshore industry and shore based physiological
research facilities. As a
commercial diver he is experienced in underwater cutting and welding, inspection,
search and recovery.
For the last ten years Mr. Olstad has worked for Marine Resources Development
Foundation as
Operations Director for its manned underwater laboratory (MarineLab) directing
over 500 scientific and
educational missions involving more than 1000 aquanauts. Scientific missions
have involved NOAA,
NASA and the University of Pennsylvania (Institute for Environmental Medicine)
researching the effects
of saturation diving. He has co-authored and published scientific papers
on this topic in the Journals of
Applied Physiology and Undersea Biomedical Research.
JULIE LOVELL, Marine Ecology Field Instructor
BA in Biology, Colby College, 1997
Ms. Lovell has a variety of experiences from her visits to several
marine research and
education facilities. She studied Queen Conch and tropical marine
ecology at the
School for Field Studies in the Turks and Caicos Islands; she studied bottlenose
dolphins at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD; she interned at Woods
Hole
Oceanographic Institute, where she studied invertebrates and fishes of
the Arabia Sea. She held a
fellowship at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, FL, working in aquaculture,
and was also an assistant
instructor for two summers at SeaCamp on Big Pine Key. Ms. Lovell
has also been to the Great Barrier
Reef and studied at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
She is a NAUI Assistant Instructor.
GREGG BODNAR, Marine Ecology Field Instructor
BS Marine Biology, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, 1998
Gregg has been interested about Marine Biology since he was nine years
old. In
1992 and 1993 he attended MarineLab’s educational program with Perry High
School
from Ohio, making him our first MarineLab student to return as a MarineLab
instructor. While in college he studied fiddler crabs in North Carolina
and copepod
populations in Georges Bank in the North Atlantic with the National Marine
Fisheries Service in Woods
Hole, MA. While spending over 40 days at sea, he saw everything from humpback
whales to 25 foot
seas.
After college Gregg began to work with the Delaware Sandbar Tagging Project,
tagging and measuring
hundreds of juvenile sandbar sharks off the coast of North Carolina.
Gregg says he had his share of
attacks, but fortunately his gear got most of the punishment. His
boss did the videotaping, safe behind
the camera! Gregg’s fifteen minutes of fame came this past
August when the Delaware Sandbar
Tagging Project was featured on Discovery Channels Shark Week.
MAREA NEILL, Marine Ecology Field Instructor
BS Zoology, University of Otago, New Zealand
MS Marine Biology, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Following a transatlantic crossing on a gaff-rigged schooner, Marea sailed
into
MarineLab. Prior to her sailing exploits Marea completed a BS in
zoology at the
University of Otago, New Zealand. During her time there, Marea worked
at the
University’s aquarium and developed teaching resources for the marine education
programs. In 1995 Marea moved north to warmer waters to carry out
her master of science degree.
After extensive research on New Zealand and Australian abalone species,
Marea graduated with a MS
(honors) in marine biology.
Out of school, Marea was employed by the University of Auckland,
interpreting the national school
curriculum. She then went on to designing marine education programs
including aspects of field work,
various seminars, and laboratory work. Once these programs were implemented,
Marea moved into the
consultation field as an environmental consultant working on projects such
as macroalgae control, water
quality and data interpretation. Marea is now using her diverse marine
experience and teaching skills to
teach MarineLab’s curriculum.
JASON A. MILLER, Marine Ecology Field Instructor
BS Biology & Environmental Studies, Wittenberg University
Jason A. Miller went to Perry High School in Canton, OH. He then
graduated from
Wittenberg University with a bachelor’s degree in biology and environmental
studies.
During his time at Wittenberg he participated in several volunteer programs,
one of
which took him to Kenai, Alaska for four months. During another program
he spent
two weeks studying the ecology of northern forests in Ely, MN. Before
coming to
MarineLab, Jason volunteered for Wolf Timbers in Bolivar, OH as a wolf
biologist,
where he conducted educational program for the visiting public and interacted
socially
with the resident wolf pack.
NATALIA STRATTMAN, Marine Ecology Field Instructor
(bio not yet available)
STEPHANIE FERNANDEZ, Marine Ecology Field Instructor
(bio not yet available)
INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT STAFF
GINETTE HUGHES, MRDF Education Coordinator & Vice President,
Information
Resources
Ginette Hughes has worked for Marine Resources since 1986, almost the entirety
of
the MarineLab Environmental Education Program's existence. She has developed
and organized the coordination of the MarineLab student programs, which
hosted
over 6,000 students in 1998; coordinated nine two-week teachers' workshops
that
involved over 560 teachers; developed a MarineLab Elderhostel program,
in which
hundreds of senior citizens have participated since October, 1990; and
wrote a grant, which was funded
in 1996, for a teachers' workshop for Florida science teachers which explored
the economic and political
ramifications of environmental protection, a very vital topic in Florida
today. Ms. Hughes took over the
coordination of the other Marine Resources Development Foundation education
programs in June 1995.
She is now responsible for the logistics and scheduling of the Tugaloo
Environmental Education Center
(TEEC) in Oconee County, South Carolina, a center specializing in freshwater
and forest ecology, and
the Scott Carpenter Man In The Sea Program, located in Key Largo at the
same center as the
MarineLab Environmental Education Programs. In addition to coordinating
these programs, she is
responsible for the Foundation's computer resources and is involved in
program development and
marketing strategies, including MRDF's presence on the Internet.
LINDA S. MAKEPEACE, MarineLab Coordinator
Linda Sparks Makepeace joined the Foundation in early 1995 and works
closely with Ginette Hughes,
Education Coordinator, in the coordination of the MarineLab Environmental
Education program. Ms.
Makepeace is the primary contact person for anyone attending a MarineLab
program. She is responsible
for program scheduling, information distribution and billing. She also
implements MarineLab's
Elderhostel program, in which over 300 hostelers are expected to participate
this year.
RENEA VALLES, Assistant MarineLab Coordinator
Ms. Valles has been with the Foundation since September 1999. She
assists Linda
Makepeace and Ginette Hughes with implementing all of the Foundation’s
education
programs (MarineLab, including Elderhostel, the Scott Carpenter Man In
The Sea
Program, and the Tugaloo Environmental Education Center). Renea’s
experience in
handling the multiple tasks associated with these programs comes from her
eight
years with Dolphins Plus and Dolphin Cove, which are dolphin swim and education
facilities located here in Key Largo, FL.
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Accommodations
MarineLab's coastal facility is situated on the oceanside of Key
Largo, Florida, adjacent to Largo Sound and the John Pennekamp
Coral Reef State Park. The Key Largo Cut, a man-made waterway
through the island, provides quick and easy access to the Florida
Bay portion of Everglades National Park, and east of their site is the
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. They are 60 miles south of
Miami and 103 miles north of Key West.
All programs are held on their self-contained campus. Program fees
include dormitory accommodations, cafeteria service, labs and equipment
in addition to snorkeling field trips. Their fleet of six 24' Privateer
boats,
powered by 200 hp Yamaha engines, take students safely and comfortably
to the nearby marine communities. Well-maintained, quality snorkeling
gear is provided to each student for the program activities.
The dorms are large rooms, containing 12 to 16 students. Smaller
rooms
are available, usually used for chaperone housing. The dorms are
air-conditioned and carpeted, as are the meeting areas. Students must
provide their own linens and pillows.
The cafeteria menu includes basic, nutritious, and filling institutional-type
meals. They can provide limited vegetarian meals with advance
notice;
however, vegan or kosher meals are not available.
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Water Safety
Participants do not need to know how to snorkel, or even know how
to swim prior to their visit. They carefully orient each student
to the
water and the use of snorkeling equipment in every MarineLab
program.
The first thing their instructors do with any student is administer a "swim
test".
This "test" merely demonstrates the student's comfort level in the water;
there
is no required time limit or stroke to swim the 100 feet. If a student
appears
uncomfortable at all, the instructors pay special attention to that student
while
in the water. Non-swimming students are provided with extra buoyancy
and
extra supervision and are encouraged through patience and care, to become
reasonably confident snorkelers.
Orally inflatable snorkel vests are worn by all participants at all times
in the
water while snorkeling. These vests provide extra buoyancy if desired
by the
individual and are brightly colored to aid visual tracking of the snorkelers.
The buddy system is used among MarineLab students. A novice or
apprehensive snorkeler is usually paired with a more experienced buddy
or
with the instructor. Buddy pairs are instructed to stay within arms' length
of
each other and within 100 feet of the boats.
Their staff are all experienced with instructing students in the water.
They
carry Lifeguard, Swimming Instructor, or SCUBA instructor certificates.
They also have years of experience on the water, with boats and with people
in aquatic situations.
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Teacher Comments
Listed below are a short selection of comments received. Teachers
from elementary through high school, from private and public schools, and
from universities are
all represented here.
"We had an excellent trip as usual. I just read the glowing student
reports I have them write. All say they never expected to learn so
much and have such a great time doing it! The staff gets better with each
year. Thanks for everything! See you next year!" - Shannon Campbell, Agnes
Irwin School, Rosemont PA.
"From both a professional and personal point of view, I would like to commend
you on an excellent program. I discovered that the students learn much
more from their Key Largo
experience than I could ever teach them in a classroom. We were all impressed
with the
courtesy and patience which all of you extended, and also with the amount
of knowledge you
possess. We were also pleased to see that the instructors were involved
with all aspects of the program: lecture, lab, and field trips." Debra Adkins,
Capital Day School, Frankfort, KY.
"Overall, we had a wonderful and educational three days at MarineLab. The
programs and activities were great!" Crystal Menas, Daphne High School,
Daphne, AL.
"You have an excellent staff, both in the office and in the lab/field/lecture
areas. Thanks for helping me relay my love for the marine environment to
my students." John Korstad, Oral
Roberts University, Tulsa, OK.
"One mother told me that her normally very quiet son spent 2 hours 'chattering'
about his adventure when he got home. She said he described it as
a 'life-changing experience'." Jean
Hehn, Marshall Middle School, Plant City, FL.
"This was my third year here with fifth graders...Again, I was impressed
with the staff's expertise in the handling of elementary children - firm,
but caring. Their subject knowledge is incredible - such expertise and so
well-presented!" Marilyn Hester, Cape Elementary, Cape Coral, FL.
"I had the students evaluate the different aspects of the stay/programs
at MarineLab. As you can see, they found all aspects pleasing, interesting,
or just plain exciting!" Jeff Foltz,
Clemson University, Clemson, SC.
"Overall the program was outstanding! The students learned and had
fun doing it." John Rheineck, Merton School, Merton, WI.
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If you would like your child to have a chance to participate
in this special trip, please email
me or send me a note stating such. I will continue with plans for this
trip only if there seems to be sufficient interest among parents. Thanks
for your time.
MarineLab Curriculum