Guest Blogger Nissa: Wednesday's Thoughts

After the anchor for the ChaBa buoy was dropped into the water and the calibration samples were retrieved from the rosette of sampling bottles, we had some downtime. Downtime on a boat can lead to certain activities, depending on how hard you have been working or have been awake. Many times it can lead to naps.  But it’s too exciting for naps. Downtime allows people to sit down and have spur of the moment free-flow conversations about what excites them and when you are on a boat full of scientists and educators, the topic of conversation tends to be science related.  

Tom's notebook and drawing of crab zoea observation device

                I found myself sitting with educators Amy, Paul, and Tom in the galley. I had met Tom before the cruise through the Seattle Aquarium’s Citizen Science Program. Next week I will be helping his, Bainbridge Island High School’s marine science, class learn beach monitoring techniques through the Aquarium’s Program.  All four of us started brainstorming on ways high school students could monitor the marine environment near their schools. The students can now use the new NANOOS portal to create their own scientific questions about oceanography off the coast of Washington.  Paul was jazzed about monitoring crab zoea; which is a larval stage of crab that lives in the plankton.  Some crab larvae are attracted to light, so we brainstormed ways to create light traps out of common household and craft store products. Inexpensive, easy to create, and use are key when creating educational tools.  I think we came up with a bang-up idea for students to construct themselves. It gives them a platform to test their own hypothesis on crab zoea behavior and patterns.  Our downtime had become incredibly productive.  With the community aboard the Tommy Thompson who knows what we will come up with tomorrow.

Nissa Ferm wears many hats. Currently she is a marine science educator for the Seattle Aquarium’s Citizen Science Program. She also attends the University of Washington in Tacoma pursuing a teaching certificate in secondary science education. And in her spare time she also works as a zooplankton taxonomist.