by Suraida Nanez-James
HRI Research Specialist

Only five hypersaline lagoons exist in the world, and we have one of them in our own backyard – the Laguna Madre. This is just one fact Foy H. Moody High School teachers and 9th grade students are learning at the Laguna Madre Field Station (LMFS).

The project is an inter-disciplinary research and education initiative started this fall through the partnership between the Harte Research Institute (HRI) and Corpus Christi Independent School District. Educators and students get to experience a 20-minute boat ride to the field station located on a dredge reclamation island near the Intracoastal Waterway where they spend the night and collect research data.

"One of the primary purposes of the field station is to promote stewardship of the environment, especially the Laguna Madre," said Dr. Roy Lehman, Professor of Biology, HRI Research Associate, and Director of the LMFS. "This project is a perfect example of how this field station can facilitate outreach and education initiatives in our community."

Five trips to the field station will be taken this fall and five more are scheduled for the spring. The overall goals of the project are to:

1. introduce Moody High School teachers and students to the Upper Laguna Madre
2. establish a long-term monitoring research and education project for the area surrounding the LMFS
3. produce an interdisciplinary curriculum guide specific to this location
4. increase the number of individuals in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers

Specifically, teachers and students are taught proper field and sampling procedures, experimental design, data collection protocol, identification techniques for identifying flora and fauna, and most importantly, some of the natural and anthropogenic issues affecting the Laguna Madre.

One unique aspect of this project is that all teachers, not just the science educators, are participating and learning all these techniques alongside their students. “The partnership with HRI is providing my students with multiple first-hand experiences that allow for writing exercises, group discussions, and cohesiveness in the classroom not normally attained,” said Simon Rios, an Innovation Academy ninth grade English teacher.

"It is inspirational to see the teachers get excited about how they plan to incorporate what we are doing in the field into their math, English, geography or science classes,” said Suraida Nañez-James," HRI Research Specialist and Project Leader.

Ninth grade Innovation Academy biology teacher Jay Vasquez explains how he will take the new knowledge he has gained back to the classroom: "Our partnership with HRI allows us to extend our classroom into the environment around us. The Laguna Madre becomes our classroom. I incorporate the ecosystem of the Laguna Madre and the Gulf of Mexico into my curriculum. We are creating a field guide from the information the students are collecting from our trips to the Laguna Madre. The students learn scientific names and identification using the organisms that they see and touch out in the field."

Following are just a few comments from the ninth grade Innovation Academy students.

I thought it would be boring to be a marine biologist, but now I realize they actually have a lot of fun and their work is important." - Richard Reyes

"I have learned many things about myself and my abilities through the activities with HRI and going to the Laguna Madre. It has motivated me to become a marine biologist."
- Stephen Teran

"This experience has changed my thoughts of science dramatically. Now, I would actually love to become a marine biologist. The experience of studying the Laguna Madre was really amazing. I can use these things in my everyday life and in school. I’ve learned how to collect data, make charts, graphs and tables. I’m so glad I could be a part of this amazing opportunity and work with HRI." - Rita Silva

"In the classroom, we read and study about marine life – but when we go to the Laguna Madre we get to experience it for ourselves." - Devon McCoy

"Working with the HRI people, I have learned how to use a benthic sled, a bag seine and I learned how to identify organisms like birds and fish. I think science is really interesting and fun. It makes the classroom more interesting and fun, too."
- Irving Macias

Another important component to this project is that secondary school teachers and students are being mentored by scientists. They are all working together and learning how to communicate with one another; in turn, the teachers and students are beginning to see these scientists as people they can trust and go to for answers or insights about what is happening in their environment.

STEM coordinator Tina Dellinger sums up how HRI is making a difference in our community: "Our Innovation Academy students are generally categorized as minority, at-risk and come from low socio-economic households. The partnership with the HRI opens the door to opportunities they would not experience in a traditional public school setting. Working with the HRI faculty and staff enables our kids to learn about the amazing dynamics of the Gulf of Mexico – and how those dynamics affect their community and their lives. We are so fortunate that the HRI recognizes the importance of educating our students while they are still in middle and high school – when they are forming the habits and opinions that will eventually have an impact on the world."