Aquaculture in Action Workshop
July 6-11, 1998

The Aquaculture in Action workshop was held July 6-11 at South Carroll High School and was attended by 14 educators from 8 counties in Maryland. Each participant or team of participants was supplied with materials to construct a recirculating aquaculture system that will be used to enhance science education in their school. Aquaculture has provided a great "hook" for teaching science for Bob Foor-Hogue at South Carroll High School, and by hosting the workshop in his classroom, educators were able to get first-hand knowledge of the potential applications for themselves. The week was full of "hands on" experiences, guest speakers, a surprise flood in the room, field work, a visit to the Aquaculture Research Center in Fells Point and much more.

Participants from the Aquaculture in Action Workshop pose in and around one of the 210-gallon systems that was constructed during the week. From left (kneeling at tank) - Julie Janowich, Bob Foor-Hogue, Doug Romano, Valerie Wesner. From left (standing) - Jim Gilford, Ron Albaugh, Bob Cole, Paul DeRoo, Mike Mumau. Lonnie Lewis, Paula Mitchell, Dale Johnsen, Dale Peters, and John McKenney. Missing from photo - Steve Luette and Doug Stransky.

During the first day of the workshop, veteran educators shared experiences concerning the problems related to water and classrooms. Bob Foor-Hogue, Jim Gilford and John Dunski (workshop instructors and Carroll County science educators) each shared stories about water overflowing, leaking, being left on over the weekend, etc., to drive the point home that accidents will happen. On the second day, the 4 inches of water on the floor on Bob Foor-Hogue's classroom made for a great visual that won't soon be forgotten.

Jim Gilford and Bob Foor-Hogue are busy swabbing the deck on Tuesday morning.

Daily guest speakers from various organizations shared their expertise with the group: Jim Ebeling from the Biological Resources Lab at University of Maryland College Park gave an overview of aqua-culture and filtration system designs; stream assessment techniques were demonstrated by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources; Dr. Andy Kane from the University of Maryland Aquatic Pathobiology Lab delivered a presentation on fish health and reviewed the Fish Guts CD (funded by the National Sea Grant Office for each of the participants); David Minges from the Chesapeake Bay Trust answered questions on funding classroom projects and successful grant writing; water quality parameters and their interactions with each other were discussed by Dr. Dan Terlizzi from the Maryland Sea Grant Extension Program; and thanks to John Stubblefield, participants were able to get a "behind the scenes" look at an urban aquaculture center and current research at the Aquaculture Research Center in Fells Point.

The portion of the workshop enjoyed the most was the construction of each participants 210-gallon recirculating aquaculture system. Each educator enjoyed the hands-on approach of the workshop, in fact, at times it seemed that all that mattered was the smell of PVC primer and the sound of hole saws.

In total 11 new systems were constructed for use in Maryland public schools. Some of the systems (along with supporting classroom materials) will join others in classrooms already, and the remainder will be first-time attempts at aquaculture in the school - let alone the classroom.

Doug Romano, Julie Janowich, Dale Peters and Dale Johnsen are checking the bulkhead fitting on a 210-gallon system.

A strength of the workshop as expressed by many of the participants was the mixture of some educators with experience in aquaculture and those with little experience. This mixture provided opportunities for partnerships between schools that would not normally interact with one another. These partnerships between schools will be expanded by the web network that will be created as a result of each completed project in the fall of 1998.

The potential uses of an aquaculture system in your classroom are only limited by the imagination. For more information on aquaculture in the classroom or to contact an educator in your area who is using aquaculture in their classroom, contact:

Adam Frederick
Maryland Sea Grant
frederic@mdsg.umd.edu
410-234-8850

Jackie Takacs
Maryland Sea Grant
takacs@cblumces.edu
410-326-7356

Bob Foor-Hogue and Adam Frederick stand along side a completed 210-gallon recirculating system.

Get'er done seemed to be the unspoken motto of the group.

http://www.mdsg.umd.edu/Extension/msgsnn/msgsnn01_1/index.html