C-MORE Microscopes in Middle Schools Program

As part of its wide-ranging education program, the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE), based at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, is partnering with the Hawaii State Department of Education (DOE) and the UH STEM Pre-Academy Initiative to distribute digital video microscopes and related supplies (valued at $1775) to Hawai‘i’s public middle schools statewide.

The oceans are of vital importance to life on Earth: they regulate climate, provide food and oxygen and cycle essential chemical elements and compounds. Marine microbes are the drivers of these ocean processes. For example, phytoplankton (plant-like plankton) forms the base of the marine food web and produce over half the oxygen that we breathe. However, phytoplankton and other microbes can be difficult to conceptualize because they cannot be seen without specialized equipment.

So, how do you get students interested in learning about something they can’t even see?

One way is to start with something they can see! If you go up one step in the food web from phytoplankton, you’ll find zooplankton. Zooplankton are a diverse group of organisms that feed upon smaller phytoplankton or other zooplankton, or are parasites. Some zooplankton spend their entire lives drifting in the sea. Others only spend part of their life cycle as plankton and then grow up to become fish, crabs, corals or lobsters. Zooplankton can be easily caught and studied right from shore. After completing this workshop, teachers will be able to collect, observe and study plankton with their students through inquiry driven projects.