Marsh Projects

Make An Underwater Viewer

Materials:

3 lb coffee can

can opener

plastic wrap to cover one end

large rubber band

duct tape

Remove the top and bottom from a coffee can. Place the plastic wrap tightly over one end and fasten it on with a rubber band. Put some duct tape on it to hgold the plastic wrap securely.

Put the plastic wrapped end in the water, and look through the can. This gives you a good view of what is going on below the surface.

Make A Sieve

Materials

old pantyhose

metal hanger

duct tape

Pull hanger into roughly a circular shape

cut off legs of panty hose at the top (discard panty part)

slip leg over coat hanger and tie

secure with duct tape as needed

Good for skimming the top surface of the pond

Make A Field Guide

Your day at the marsh can easily result in a class field guide. Discuss the purpose of a field guide with your class and have them determine what will be included in their class guide to the Hamilton/Trenton Marsh. Take a look at some field guides. Select a simple plant or animal that your children are familiar with. Have them discuss how the information in the field guide is useful in identifying a plant or animal. Some of the characteristics you might want to include are:

size

color

shape

where is it found

is it a plant or an animal

how does it move

how does it breath

where are it’s veins

how many legs does it have

what was it found near – describe its habitat

was it found in the sun or shade? on dry land, in a dark, moist place, in moving water, in still water, etc.

a drawing of it in its environment

a drawing of it in detail with labels

what is it – you may not be able to identify it during the field trip – this might require further research in the classroom or library

Make sure some space is left for recording unique conditions or observations that are not included in the class list.

This activity can be done individually or as members of a pair or team. Depending on the age of your students, you might want to assign one team to draw a map of the collecting area. The location of the plants and animals collected can be noted on the map.

If you do make a field guide, we would love to have a copy of it for our website. Just email us at science@inventionfactory.com and we’ll advise you where to send it.

Make a Freshwater Wetland

Materials

10 – 20 gallon aquarium

bucket or two of pond water –the aquarium does not need to be filled . two to three inches of water is sufficient

sand, gravel, or mud – whatever the wetland ground is like that you are recreating

a couple of sticks taken from the water and a rock or two

a minimal number of plants and animals – this could include a tadpole and a small fish or eel, a water insect or two and a couple of small plants and a bit of duckweed

Be sure to research what your critters need to live and that the proper food is contained in the created environment or provided regularly. If collected locally, take note of where each living organism was collected so that they may be returned to their natural habitat. Plan a regular schedule of observations and establish a rotating schedule for cleaning. Dead organisms must be removed immediately. Monitor the water and establish a schedule for changing it. You might want to start with removing ¼ of the tank of water once a week and replacing it with either freshly collected pond water, or tap water that has sat out for 24 hours (gallon milk jugs work well for this).

Obtain your live materials in a place that it is permissible to collect. Use your good judgment. If there are just a few of a particular plant, don’t collect it. Take one or two samples of living organisms that are found in quantity, or obtain your supplies from a nursery or biological supply house.

Compare Water Samples

Materials

test kits for pH, salinity, oxygenation, whatever your school has available

clean containers for the water

test tubes or small clean glass jars

eye droppers for measuring

graduated cylinders for measuring

Your high school or middle school science teachers might be able to help you with some of these test kits. They are terrific if you have an opportunity to take water samples from a variety of sources, such as the still water in a pond; stagnant, brackish water, clear running water from a creek or river, etc. Students should make careful observations of the type of plant and animal life where each sample is taken. Test results can lead to some interesting discussions and explorations about the effects of the composition of the water in meeting the needs of the plants and animals found there, as well as why others are not found there.

Encourage further explorations by setting up some simple experiments, such as planting similar plants in a cut-off soda bottle and watering them with water to which some vinegar has been added to change the pH. You might have several different solutions of vinegar water, all with different pH. This is often used in emulations of the effect of acid rain on plants. Similarly an experiment can be set up with water to which different amounts of fertilizer have been added to simulate garden or farm run off. The same can be done with varied solutions of salt to simulate the effect of the run off of road salt.

Students can explore the effects of filtering, by running the various types of water through sand (use a 16 - 32 ounce cup of sand which has a few holes punched out at the bottom.) Does running the water through multiple times have an effect. The same can be done by pouring the water through charcoal. Are there other materials that can be tested for their filtering capacities?

How does evaporation or dilution effect the sample? There are many avenues ripe for student explorations.